With so many emerging labels seeking to establish themselves as antidotes to more commercial fashion houses, we feel that it’s time to profile one of the original icons of the anti-establishment, currently undertaking a unique expansion. Based in Perugia, Italy, and founded by Maurizio Altieri in 1996 as an offshoot to Chrome Hearts, Carpe Diem has set itself on a path of innovation which has grown into various collections — each one exemplary with regard to experimentation and craftsmanship. Collectively known as Continues Collection, the line is divided into footwear and leather pieces (Carpe Diem) and a selection of knits (L’Maltieri).

More recently, two new lines (Linea and Sartoria) were introduced at Colette in Paris. Linea is based on a 3×3 modular system: light/medium/heavy — white/grey/black — top/middle/bottom. Linea is composed mostly of laser cut 3/4 length jackets, cotton trousers, and engineered t-shirts — all of which are interchangeable, layered, and conceptually linked.
Like Carpe Diem, Sartoria (the Learjet of the fleet) continues in the “arte povera” aesthetic of crushed, washed, and treated leathers. But for this collection, customers must travel to a trailer truck parked in a Paris garage and get muslin fitted and digitally photographed, and then wait 60 days for delivery of a made-to-measure item constructed out of leathers once buried in the desert of Afghanistan.

As with all “anti-fashion ” labels, Carpe Diem doesn’t advertise, and refuses all editorials in defiance of the standards of the fashion industry. One of the most distinguishing features of the collection is a requirement that the clothing be displayed on meat hooks, a nod to the founding practices of the label as a leather house. But before you go running to A boutique in New York, Maxfield’s in Los Angeles, or L’Eclaireur or Colette in Paris, be warned that their refusal to play the fashion game also has its downside. Carpe Diem never goes on sale.

-Waleed Khairzada

Photos: Carpe Diem at A Boutique