Letter from Adam

I've always wanted to do a cowboy collection, and I've always had a fantasy about more New Yorkers wearing western styles. In particular a guy who wears a suit with western yokes.

I went out west last February to research the collection with the intention of doing a Marlboro Man collection made in Italy. My spaghetti western. But after looking further all the coolest cowboys I spoke with all had one thing in common—Roy Rogers. Roy was known for brights colors, fancy details, and piping, etc. These guys who had amazing style all said, "I'll wear anything that Roy would wear."

They were convincing. And after looking into it a bit further, I found that Roy is in fact awesome. The result was a collection of Roy Rogers meets the Marlboro Man.

There are simple crewneck sweaters and tshirts with western yokes as well as suits and button-downs with piping. Read more

As with every season, I like the fabrics to look a bit rough, which is what I did with the jean jackets and summer riding coats—except when you touch them they're super soft. I developed a plush cotton in a wide twill, which breaths well in the summer time. There are also playful constructions of thee-in-one coats and reversible blazers with the usual soft shouldering for comfort and ease. And then there's the hand-made suiting that comes in cotton silks, summer-weight micro corduroys, and buttery brushed cottons. I also made cowboy boots this season as well as the scarves depicted throughout the photos.

I had the idea to shoot this with the Marlboro Man ad photographer years ago but never thought it would be possible. With the help of my friend Neville Wakefield we contacted Jim Krantz, the man who has been shooting the Marlboro ads for the past 15 years. His works is well known to museums around the world through the appropriations of Richard Prince.

I went out with Jim to shoot the lookbook on a ranch in the middle of Canyonlands National Park just south of Moab, Utah. Our models this season were local cowboys and ranchers as well as our honorary New York cowboy, Dan Colen. Dan really was awesome out there! In two days, we managed to photograph everything from the lookbook to the "beauty shots," which were the landscape and action shots. They were our oe to the Marlboro images we all grew up with.

Written by Adam Kimmel

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