Christopher John Rogers is the type of designer any young creative talent would aspire to emulate, given how rapidly his star has ascended the Hollywood firmament. He counts the likes of Lady Gaga, Cardi B, Lizzo and Zendaya among his A-list clientele, along with former first lady Michelle Obama.
A CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner in 2019 (which saw him receive a cool $400,000), the Louisiana-born, New York-based Rogers, who worked for Diane Von Furstenberg from 2017 to 2019, created his eponymous label in 2016. With it, he launched a brand that, according to the 27-year-old designer, "creates emotional and sensitive clothing with a focus on effortful dressing, directed towards an individual with a strong sense of self. We deliver clothing with an emphasis on quality and timeless appeal, while encouraging our customer to take up space." It caters to glamour and the girl-next-door simultaneously in the same outfit.
Intriguingly, Rogers is fine-art centric, too. The Journal section on his Instagram is festooned with works by the likes of Helen Frankenthaler, Lynda Benglis, Ettore Sottsass, Franz West, Raoul Dufy, Willem de Kooning, John Chamberlain and Erwin Wurm.
For spring/summer 2021 (known as "Collection 007"), Rogers turned to drawing, crayons and an abundant use of colour, suffusing his simple yet elevated creations with an almost childlike wonder and energy. "I just wanted to have fun and express myself. It's about getting back to the way children see the world through very simple shapes," says Rogers of his inspiration for the collection.
Go check out his cheerful take on new-and-old-world salon chic at Joyce in Hong Kong to get you beyond COVID-19's endless kind of pandemic blue.
