Designer Arthur Robert spent the first lockdown scrolling through Google Maps, fantasizing about imaginary escapes and kicking about the idea of launching his own brand.
His a-ha moment was that “even if it’s a fashion label based in Paris, I wanted to have that wardrobe” at the intersection of “the Wild West, the West Coast and Southwestern France.” Hence the name, which emerged from a Venn diagram of the three notions, he joked.
With his decade-long experience at making realistic desirable clothes, he mixed the utilitarian cuts of traditional workwear and regional dress from the Southwestern regions of France with casual-cool surfer-off-duty like windbreaker ponchos cut from metallized Tyvek and casual baggy velour separates.
Details were witty, like tongue-in-cheek versions of postcard messages like “someone on Earth loves me”; a flounce finishing off a thick Navy marine sweater; and the black mottled design of a fleece jacket looked, from afar, like the coat of cattle roaming the plains printed on his decor, but turned out to be flowers.
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His denim, undyed or raw indigo, looked fantastic — especially the denim trousers with a wrap-around panel that felt half apron, half kilt — and felt even better in the hand. Robert was wearing an early prototype that hinted at how well they’d fare over time. The young man (or woman) looking for the right option to head west — straight or in a road trip — need look no further.