The Society Archive Makes Its Runway Debut
Images via The Society Archive
Words by Juan Eckersley
Marcus Allen takes The Society Archive from collecting to creating with its first full collection. Dogma turns his obsession with American style into something entirely his own.
Marcus Allen has spent years making a case for the clothes many people once walked right past. Old Abercrombie, Gap, Banana Republic, military pieces, board shorts, battered tees and the sort of American mall staples that were rarely treated as objects worth archiving have become the foundation of The Society Archive, his ever growing collection and creative world. This week in New York, Allen took that obsession somewhere new, debuting The Society Archive’s first full collection in a Nolita loft and proving that all those years spent collecting were leading to something much bigger.
The collection, titled Dogma, feels immediately familiar if you know Allen’s taste. There are low slung board shorts, loose trousers, worn looking tees, military references and tailoring that feels better the less seriously it is worn. But rather than simply recreating the vintage pieces he has collected for years, Allen played with their proportions and materials. Swim trunks appeared in shimmering plaid silk taffeta, camisoles came in sheer chiffon, and a linen suit was finished with a tropical print belt inspired by the waistbands of board shorts. Allen calls the idea “evening surf,” and that might be the easiest way to understand it. Think Montauk lifeguard who knows exactly what to wear to dinner afterward.
That collision is where the collection becomes particularly good. A suit does not need a pristine loafer when it can be worn with a water shoe. Plaid pajama trousers become something entirely different when covered in beads. A sarong can double as a plush beach towel, while seashells find their way onto caps and bags. The references move between sixties flannel, nineties sportswear, early 2000s Abercrombie and traditional tailoring, all tied together by the same distinctly American sensibility. Allen has always been interested in the strange chemistry that happens when an ordinary American piece is placed next to something far more precious, making the two feel like they were always meant to be worn together.
There is also something refreshingly loose about the whole thing. The collection is not trying to scrub away the sexiness or silliness of the era Allen loves; instead, it leans into it. The models look like people who have spent all day at the beach and somehow ended up at a party. Timberlands and water sock slippers ground the looks, jewelry by Eli Burch adds another layer, and the final look, draped in an antique beaded spread dating to the early 1900s, pushes Allen’s habit of mixing seemingly unrelated objects to its most romantic conclusion. Tony Irvine styled the presentation, with casting by James Scully.
It makes sense that The Society Archive would eventually arrive here. Allen began collecting while still in high school and later built an archive spanning the American mall brands he grew up with alongside Prada, Calvin Klein, Gucci from the Tom Ford years and other designer pieces. What once looked like an eccentric fixation has become increasingly relevant as an entire generation has rediscovered the appeal of late nineties and early 2000s American style. The difference is that Allen is not discovering any of this now; he has been living with it, buying it, cataloguing it and wearing it for years. With Dogma, he finally stops simply showing us what was good about the past and starts showing us what he thinks should come next.