"I think of what we do at Gallery Dept. as more than just a clothing brand," Josué Thomas, Gallery Dept. founder, told Complex. "We just happen to make clothes."
That line says a lot about how the Gallery Dept. founder sees himself and the world he has built in Los Angeles and beyond. Ask him whether he is a designer or an artist and there is no hesitation. "Artist-first. 100% artist-first," he says. It is a distinction that has defined Gallery Dept. since the beginning, long before the brand became a fixture in closets and on red carpets around the world.
We caught up with Thomas at Le Bar, his private café and creative **** e located just a few blocks from the Gallery Dept. store on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. The room doubles as a gathering spot for artists and creatives to make music, host listening parties, and trade ideas, and it is lined with posters, artwork, and pieces pulled from Thomas's personal archive. On the day of our shoot, the team was setting up for a private listening party later that evening, the **** e being used exactly as it was meant to be.
COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what's next. Buy. Collect. Obsess.
Gallery Dept. started through Thomas' desire for the vintage pieces in his parents' closet and digging through thrift stores before it was a widespread phenomenon with a full resell economy. He began altering what he found, most famously deconstructing Carhartt workwear pants into his now-signature Flair jeans, adding panels cut from scraps of other pairs and exposing the faded contrast under a double knee. "I've always made clothes for myself, even now," he says. "I do collections of just literally stuff I want to wear." The items have become a piece of the modern hip-hip uniform. Major artists and athletes like Drake, Migos, and LeBron James have all supported the brand.
#thomas #shop #make
That line says a lot about how the Gallery Dept. founder sees himself and the world he has built in Los Angeles and beyond. Ask him whether he is a designer or an artist and there is no hesitation. "Artist-first. 100% artist-first," he says. It is a distinction that has defined Gallery Dept. since the beginning, long before the brand became a fixture in closets and on red carpets around the world.
We caught up with Thomas at Le Bar, his private café and creative **** e located just a few blocks from the Gallery Dept. store on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. The room doubles as a gathering spot for artists and creatives to make music, host listening parties, and trade ideas, and it is lined with posters, artwork, and pieces pulled from Thomas's personal archive. On the day of our shoot, the team was setting up for a private listening party later that evening, the **** e being used exactly as it was meant to be.
COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what's next. Buy. Collect. Obsess.
Gallery Dept. started through Thomas' desire for the vintage pieces in his parents' closet and digging through thrift stores before it was a widespread phenomenon with a full resell economy. He began altering what he found, most famously deconstructing Carhartt workwear pants into his now-signature Flair jeans, adding panels cut from scraps of other pairs and exposing the faded contrast under a double knee. "I've always made clothes for myself, even now," he says. "I do collections of just literally stuff I want to wear." The items have become a piece of the modern hip-hip uniform. Major artists and athletes like Drake, Migos, and LeBron James have all supported the brand.
#thomas #shop #make
19 hours ago
