Prepping for the CFDA Awards With the ‘Freaks’ of American Menswear

Eckhaus and Latta, who founded the brand in 2011 after meeting as students at RISD, have always cocked an eyebrow at the mainstream fashion establishment. They once hired Heiji Shin to shoot actual couples having sex while tearing off each others’ Eckhaus Latta sweaters, and last September turned a New York Fashion Week dinner party into a guerilla runway show. The clothes have an artsy, democratic vibe; Eckhaus Latta’s signature knits, for example, are made with strange colors or off-kilter shapes or surprising fits (and often all three). American fashion is fundamentally about selling a dream of higher status and a more beautiful life, but Eckhaus Latta promises something different: clothes that will transform you into the coolest, freakiest version of yourself.

Nobody was more surprised at the nomination than the designers themselves. “I mean, when we learned we were nominated, our first reaction was: They ran out people,” Eckhaus joked, as he changed out of a white T-shirt.

“It’s not that we were ever against the CFDA,” Latta added, “but I don’t think we really played the game or kissed the ring. But it’s really nice to have this nomination and just feel seen by the larger establishment that we’ve been alongside but not really working with for a long time.”

When I asked if they had prepared an acceptance speech, Eckhaus and Latta looked puzzled. “I didn’t realize there are speeches,” Latta said. “We’ll wing it if we have to, but I don’t anticipate us having to,” Eckhaus added. (Thom Browne ended up taking home the hardware.)

Traditionally, best designer nominees bring a celebrity guest, and Eckhaus and Latta invited the actor Morgan Spector, who popped out of the suite’s bedroom wearing a three-button suit in a dark, wrinkly fabric. “You guys make such nice clothes,” declared Spector, who was meeting the designers for the first time but was already steeped in the Eckhaus Latta sensibility.