Stepping into Bode’s first storefront in New York City’s Chinatown is like walking into the clubhouse of your dreams. Coffee-stained wood and green billiard table line the walls, the scent of oud and old books wafts through the air of this former gallery space—a fitting home for the artistic menswear line by designer Emily Adams Bode.
Bode launched her eponymous line just three years ago, and in that short time the accolades have piled up: runner-up for a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, shortlisted for the LVMH prize; and most recently, she was named CFDA Emerging Designer of the Year, an honour shared by Marc Jacobs, Kate and Laura Mulleavy for Rodarte, Robert Geller and Alexander Wang to name but a few, launching her into rarified company early in her career. “I feel so honoured to be included. It has been a really exciting year.”
Coffee-stained wood and green billiard table line the walls, the scent of oud and old books waft through the air of this former gallery space—a fitting home for the artistic menswear line by designer Emily Adams Bode
As the first female designer to show at New York Fashion Week: Men’s, Bode moved her show to Paris for her latest collection. “Losing our [New York] presentations made us lose [a] feeling… an emotional quality. [The] store [created] another way for people to visit and experience the brand outside of fashion week.”
Bode draws much inspiration from a childhood spent in Atlanta, Georgia and Massachusetts—but more recently has been finding inspiration in India, a place she spends time in for work, but also with her Canadian-Indian fiancé, furniture designer Aaron Aujla. “My first connection [to India] was Aaron of course. [And early during Bode] I had been working with a company doing patch working in India. I buy textiles in India—every silk, almost every woven, all the khadi, and make the garments in New York. All embroidery, applique, and crochets are done in India.”
“I buy textiles in India— every silk, almost every woven, all the khadi, and make the garments in New York”
Bode continues, “It is just so seamless—the feeling when I am there. It is a way for [Aaron] to connect with his familial heritage when he is there. But we have fallen in love with places like Shimla, which we want to make a part of our life.”
“My first connection [to India] was Aaron [my fiancé]. [And early during Bode] I had been working with a company doing patch working in India”
Next up for Bode? More leather accessories, another store in the US and then eventually Europe. But don’t worry, Bode will also continue making the custom pieces she is known for, the kinds that are destined to become future heirlooms. “That is the goal. It gives you a way to use these textiles that you cherish and put them to use.”
