Eckhaus Latta
The label: Best pals Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta (inset) launched their namesake label in 2011 after meeting as students at Rhode Island School of Design. Today, they’re bicoastal: Eckhaus, who cut his teeth as an accessories designer at Marc Jacobs, lives in NYC, while Latta oversees production of the line in LA. The style: Deconstructed knitwear, vintage-looking denim and DIYinspired frocks are signatures of Eckhaus Latta, which doesn’t classify its clothes by gender. Recently, the brand has moved from experimental slouch toward a more refined tailoring. The following: The avant-garde label’s approach has reached far beyond the likes of downtown-cool artists and fad-obsessed fashion editors. Kendall Jenner is a supporter, and her selfie-loving sister Kim Kardashian West (right) stepped out in one of Eckhaus Latta’s tight cutout skirts in August.
The buzz: Provocation is the name of the game. The designers are known for sending models of all ages and shapes down the runway — this past September, Lower East Side artist Maia Ruth Lee walked in a clingy dress unbuttoned to expose her very pregnant belly. And then there are the campaigns: Ads for spring 2017 depicted real-life couples having sex (with parts of their bodies pixelated); earlier this month, the brand debuted its new denim line on topless clown models. With more than 96,000 Instagram followers and growing, expect Eckhaus Latta to attract more of an A-list following soon.