JF & Son Interview
For today's exclusive Coutorture editorial we popped into Riot Showroom to shoot the Jf & Son Fall 08 collection. Jesse Finkelstein, the designer behind the brand, showed us around the new collection one freezing day before the shoot, right in the middle of the showroom's appointments with buyers from the major department stores. There was some talk of Holiday, there was some talk of exciting prospects on the horizon for the brand. Finkelstein, a young designer who studied at Brown, seems as dedicated to the conceptual elements as he does the design. JF & Son has garnered its own productions facilities, is constantly investing in collaborations, and publishes mad essays on its website. There's a passion behind the brand, the kind of fury and fun that epitomizes (though is not common of) a young designer. Below, our interview with Finkelstein, and our photo editorial of his collection, entitled, 'Who's Afraid Of The Big, Bad Wolf?'.
Jesse, can you tell us a little bit about the conception of JF & Son and what inspired its name?
My great-grandfather started JF & Son in the 1920s, selling various chatchkas that he found while traveling the world. We took the name because our business puts a like premium on the exploration of international design, but with a greater emphasis on collaboration and exchange.
What are some examples of these collaborations and exchanges? Does being globally minded encourage this openness?
Recently we set up a collaboration with a fashion institute in Dehli, working with students to develop new textile ideas. In New York, we've worked with a few young artists to develop print ideas. We're sort of open to anything. No, I don't think being globally minded encourages openness. There are plenty of transnational businesses and organizations that are globally minded, but who conceal their operations.
What kind of woman wears your clothing? How does she wear it?
Any woman. How she wants.
When you were showing me the collection, we discussed it being recently presented to buyers. Can you talk a little bit about the dynamic between yourself, your showroom, and the buyers? To what extent do these relationships inform your designs?
Perfect question. JF & Son is as much about a business model as it is about design. Unlike many design companies, we own our production facilities. I think that the process of working through agents and outsourcing poses both a business risk and an ethical risk. In terms of the latter, there is an ethical obligation to be connected to the means of our production--we must know how the people who are producing our work are being treated, and they must know that they are not replaceable automatons. As a business model this also presents a major and necessary advantage. We've already started this project, but in the next two seasons we hope to give all of our retailers an exclusive JF & Son design. We can't compete with the mass-production capabilities of the H&M's and Prada's of the world; instead, we are trying to create personal relationships with our retailers so that they may receive one of a kind pieces that anticipate the demands of their clients.
So, in a sense, when you say 'Any woman. How she wants.' you really mean it. An exclusive collaboration with a retailer strikes me as an innovation that is conceptually similar to capsule collections, when cult designers team up with big companies. It's about maintaining your own aesthetic but being a bit liberal with your offerings to the consumer. In a sense, they inform YOU. The retailer indirectly speaks on their behalf, and you, the designer, respond to their demands. This business model might be American in nature. That is, like the service industry in America, the customer is always right. Would you agree?
Often when young designers collaborate with companies like Target or whomever, they hand over a couple of designs, which get put through some machine and suddenly a collection is born and then produced by the retailer. So what seems like an exercise in collaboration is in fact a very simple transaction, wherein the retailer gains designer credibility and the designer gains cash. I think in this sense the word "collaboration" has become enormously misused. The goal of JF & Son is retain all the production in house--whether we do mass-market production, or high-end production--we want to retain the relationship with our employees that is so necessary to produce a productive, creative, and non-exploitative environment.
I think that American designers may think of themselves as more retail friendly, but in fact, I think most American designers are anything but--they're just boring. We don't see a lot of interesting and adventurous American design. I think that this timidity is precisely because American designers are not familiar with what Americans really want or what Americans are willing to invest in. The structure of the fashion industry is such that designers are kept at arms length from retailers, as if the thought of the consumer may some how corrupt their designs. Can you imagine if Rem Koolhaas was never allowed to meet with the person for whom he's designing a house for? I'm not suggesting that retailers are always right about their customer, and half the time the customer doesn't even know what he/she wants--but I think (and this is where the other design disciplines are heading, and fashion should not fall short on this) that as designers we need to communicate more effectively with retailers, with consumers, and with the producers. In other words, we need to take what we do more seriously, and take ourselves less seriously.
What are some of your goals for JF & Son in the next few seasons? Is the idea to broaden its scope for reach, or keep it edited for strength?
We just want to have fun and work with more people on different things. We also want to support as much young design as possible.
If you weren't designing clothing what might you be doing? How do your other interests contribute to your designs?
I would probably be getting a degree in another design discipline. For me, all design is the same. Your scope my change, i.e. architecture works on a much larger scale, but the thinking and process of actualization are similar.
There's a section of your website where you write essays on fashion. Why does this section exist?
We want people to think that we're smart.
Haha. I suppose that's what we would call 'branding'. With a globally conscious background, exclusive collaborations with domestic retailers, and written content to encourage the idea that you're 'smart', it seems you're poised to establish a long-lasting JF & Son identity. Is this something that you think of often, or do you focus on the immediate, knowing you will get there eventually?
Well, I guess we focus on the brand identity as much as we focus on our personal identities. Which means that both are evolving and incredibly unstable.
