FOCUS: GAUNTLETT CHENG
Gauntlett Cheng began as a loose conversation in the back of a taxi. Today, it has become a legacy in the hands of designers Esther Gauntlett and Jenny Cheng, a duo that constantly surprises the audience with its clearly rough but slightly effeminate aesthetics. The brand is a remarkable and fresh appreciation of two distant but harmonious sources, the fierce and unscrupulous and the sexy and delicate. Gauntlett Cheng makes fashion without apologies, creating an extraordinary niche in the New York fashion scene.
Gauntlett’s interests lie in the actual production of the clothes, while Cheng is resident textiles expert. The brand’s handmade quality stands in stark contrast to the slick offerings of other designers, and that’s exactly the point. After days in the corporate world, they head to their Williamsburg studio - the same workshop where they met working as interns for Eckhaus Latta - to keep creating together in their own basis, focusing on what they’re really passionate about.
“Our clothes tend to reflect fairly honestly our environment and our immediate realities”
The American design duo creates powerful and slightly fetishistic clothing, always starring a deeply contemplative palette of colours. Gauntlett Cheng is a brand that also has a remarkable way of bridging the extremes while feeling cohesive, attracting celebrity provocateurs such as Rihanna or Beyoncé.
Gauntlett Cheng is a company in continuous development. New York does not offer much institutional support to young fashion designers so they are adapting to a more sustainable model, no seasons, a big show every September, keeping the spirit alive.
“We really wanted to make decisions that would preserve the brand, that would preserve our mental health. We really want this brand to exist forever."
Gauntlett Cheng is undergoing a constant metamorphosis. They specialize in textured and touchable clothing that joyfully shows the body with, as Cheng said, “sexy energy”. Both designers like to add an extra magic touch to their ideas, collaborating with artists such as Jared Madere, who decorated selected pieces from Gauntlett Cheng SS19 collection.
Many designers have problems to present a particular vision without losing the seal or the essence, but through the juxtaposition of styles -between conservative and modern- Gauntlett Cheng constantly sends A+ pieces to the catwalk, which literally and metaphorically - presented by a very generous casting- are the representation of diversity, freedom and counter-power.
Gauntlett Cheng is a brand that pushes the boundaries shaping the fluid gender landscape driven by the New York underground fashion community. A label elevating the evidence of diversity, achieving comfort with one's shape, giving seduction a little twist, mastering one of the things that seem to be the most difficult to keep in balance: how to be just the right amount of sexy while cutting edge.
If anything distinguishes LaBoutik it is the constant support of innovative and distinctly powerful brands that not only have a high design value but also have the strength and vision to represent the best of today's socio-cultural movement.
Enjoy our selected products from the noteworthy brand and don't miss Gauntlett Cheng's upcoming collection, soon available for purchase both in-store and on our website.
