Re- intro For Union
Union isn't just a pioneering men's and streetwear retail institution on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles; it's also a lifestyle brand.
That was the message Friday night when Chris Gibbs hosted a dinner party to celebrate the fall 2023 collection at a private residence in Baldwin Hills.
“Have you met Jamie?” Gibbs asked the dinner table.
Jamie Benson, that is, head designer for the unisex collection. “Our objective is to reintroduce Union,” said Benson, who's been with the company full time for two years. The aim is to offer “a unique point of view,” focused on luxury-quality garments at an accessible price point. Produced in Japan and China, the collection is priced between $102 and $445.
“It's a value proposition,” explained Gibbs, who recently took on the role of creative director for the brand. “I don't care how dope it is. I don't want it to be insanely priced. And the value proposition on the knits is really good.”
Knits include the $198 Wheatley cardigan, inspired by Gibbs' Canadian roots “with motifs pulled from his late grandmother's old blankets.” There's outerwear — the $445 Dunbar parka is influenced by the Swedish army snow jacket silhouette and made with jersey-like Japanese fabric — as well as trousers and denim.
“Grab something to wear,” Gibbs generously offered those feeling the chill as the sun set and temperature dropped on the hilltop. The dinner party was held in the open air overlooking L. A.
The setting was intentional; Baldwin Hills has been called the “Black Beverly Hills,” because of the prominent Black celebrities and cultural figures who have lived in the area over the years, including Lenny Kravitz ( he grew up in Baldwin Vista in the house owned by his parents, actress Roxie Roker and TV producer Sy Kravitz), Debbie Allen, John Singleton, Ray Charles, Ike and Tina Turner.
The night's menu, too, honored Black history.
“What I specialize in is Black food history,” said chef Martin Draluck of
Black Pot Supper Club.
“James Hemings was really our first celebrity chef,” Draluck said, speaking about the Paris-trained chef born into slavery in Virginia, who worked for Thomas Jefferson at his Monticello estate for seven years, and helped popularize macaroni and cheese in the U.S.
The meal was paired with wine courtesy of Offhand Wine Bar in Santa Monica, owned by Teron Stevenson and Khalil Kinsey — longtime friends who connected Gibbs and Benson.
“It's all family,” said Kinsey, joined by Gibbs' wife Beth Birkett Gibbs, coowner of Union and founder of women's streetwear brand Bephies Beauty Supply; designer and Foot Locker women's creative director Melody Ehsani; shoe designer Salehe Bembury; tattooist Dr. Woo; filmmaker Raj Debah; artist Arthur Jafa; Damian Bulluck of Fear of God, and Ronnie Singh of NBA 2K.
Draluck's menu was also inspired by the recipes of Malinda Russell, a free Black woman from Tennessee who released “A Domestic Cookbook: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen” in 1866.
“The only surviving copy is held at the University of Michigan,” Draluck said, serving fried shrimp and grits, pork roast, creamy rigatoni, buttered cabbage and “forcemeat” with onion gravy.
“It's just meatball or sausage filling at its most basic iteration,” he explained of the latter — the first dish. “Enjoy.”