Photo by Valerie Silvers.
Indigo People sounds more like the name of a moon-worshipping hippie commune in Northern California than the current darling of the New York City fashion scene. The work of designer Siri Kuptamethee really exists somewhere in-between the two, indebted to both the wild frontier and the urban hordes. “My clothes definitely have an outdoor kind of feeling,” he says from his Chinatown studio, where he sits surrounded by forest prints. “My new collection is all about going into the snow, being way too cold, and watching animals fuck.”
In earlier lines, Indigo People focused on embodying mythic lumberjacks, gold miners, hunters, and even mailmen, all the while maintaining a ballsy and imaginative vision of stark and simple variations on sportswear.
Siri’s newest menswear blends the rad wolf-and-bird prints from those pajamas you had as a kid with the slim, 1960s Yves Saint Laurent suit that you will never have. There is a real sense of sophistication here, especially when it comes to the details.
Plus, with the recent addition of ladies’ gear, Indigo People clearly reiterates the fact that pretty little girls in asymmetrical sweats and skirts are, as we like to say, “cock grenades.”
“Each collection’s like a short story, but American buyers have less confidence when it comes to my work,” says Siri when quizzed on why fashion-savvy Japanese kids were initially Indigo People’s biggest fans. “More often I see American guys spend their money on electronics, computers, and cars. They need something convincing, and this collection will do it.”
MATT EBERHART