admin It’s hard to pinpoint when, exactly, the mall brand resurgence became a topic of conversation in the GQ offices, but ever since Brendon Babenzien’s appointment at J.Crew, the galleria glow-up has dominated our water-cool chatter. Banana Republic is good again, Abercrombie & Fitch is on its way there, too; the names you remember from the heyday of America’s hangout spots are enjoying a bona fide menswear moment.
The latest phoenix to emerge from the ashes? Madewell, the once-mighty workwear manufacturer revived by J.Crew—in spirit, at least—in the mid-2000s. As GQ’s Cam Wolf reported last week, Madewell recently appointed Luke Linder, an ex-Gap honcho, to revamp its menswear, with a little help from design whiz Aaron Levine, formerly of Club Monaco and Abercrombie, and erstwhile GQ deputy fashion director Jon Tietz. (Howdy, Jon!) The trio, as Wolf pointed out, form a sort of “menswear Avengers”, and the new direction they’ve proposed feels as fresh as expected. The silhouettes are spot-on, the styling is perfectly executed, and the whole overhaul has us buzzing about what the brand will do next.
Below, we made note of a few categories the new Madewell excels in, all of which seem destined to keep the resurgent mall brand in the discourse until Hot Topic follows suit.
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