A-Line: Celebrity StyleWill Adam Levine Rock the World of Fashion?
At first glance, it seemed like Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine was just jumping on the celebrity fashion design bandwagon with his new clothing line, 222. I mean, c'mon, everybody's doing it these days! From Victoria Beckham and Justin Timberlake, to Gwen Stefani, Jessica Simpson, and Madonna, the number of stars who are designing clothing collections under their own name or for big brands have multiplied like teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert. At press time Bieber doesn't have a fashion line, but give him a few minutes...
Anyway, after looking more closely into the Levine fashion adventure, it becomes clear that he's not one of those flaky celebs who visit the cutting room, glance at a stencil or two, and then head off to their next red carpet event. Levine's family has been in the rag trade for decades. His partner in the business is his dad, Fred, who has run the M. Fredric boutiques in Los Angeles for over 30 years.
"This is a family affair," Levine told WWD. "What I wanted to avoid was the typical pitfalls that someone in my position can fall into. This is something grassroots. Most importantly, it's something that I work on myself. I collaborate on and approve every single piece of clothing in the line. I'm not just hawking something because I'm in a famous band."
The men's and women's collections, which will debut at the Project trade show in Las Vegas this week, consist of jeans ($150-$180), T-shirts ($30), leather jackets ($1,250), dresses and wraps, and resemble Levine's current pared-down wardrobe. "It's very simple and pure and durable," said Levine. "There will be no bedazzling in this collection. I like subtlety in design. These days so much stuff looks like someone vomited all over it."
The Maroon 5 singer admits he went a bit overboard with the designer duds after hitting the big time in 2002 with his hit album "Songs About Jane," often gracing the stage in custom-made Yves Saint Laurent suits. Says the star, "As materialistic as that was, it was also a valuable learning process where I learned about fashion and the craft that goes into it. It's like playing music -- you have to learn everything and then you can underplay what you know, if you do it tastefully."
And though he would like the 222 brand -- named for his lucky number -- to succeed on its own merits, he admits that having a famous face doesn't hurt when it comes to sales and marketing. "I would love for it to be successful without my celebrity playing into it," said Levine. "But it would be a waste not to use it, as gross as that sounds. But I just want to put it out there in a tasteful way. I wear it every day, and I'm wearing it during every show of my tour."
