Jay Kos: Fashion and Food
While most fashion designers cite exotic locales, vintage films or style icons as inspiration behind their collection, Jay Kos often turns to the “amazing colors, texture and
taste” of food to come up with his eponymous clothing line. Though Kos himself is a raw vegan, the former dental student regularly cooks for his family, often resulting in both a delicious meal and a new colorway for his collection of dapper menswear. He chronicles the process—like the favorite Italian egg-and-artichoke dish that led to a striking yellow cashmere blazer pictured above—on his blog, including interviews, facts and stories about the food he cooks.
A search for quality chocolate to use in a new recipe recently brought Kos to the bean-to-bar Brooklyn factory of artisan chocolatiers the Mast Brothers. Armed with curiosity and a photographer, Kos scored a behind-the-scenes look at the duo’s outstanding chocolates, adding to his arsenal of gastronomical inspiration.
The upshot of Kos’ undeniably passionate approach (he calls himself a “bon viveur”) is a line that dispenses with seasonal collections, instead offering luxurious “Essentials,” like goat leather jeans or sheared mink pea coats, along with designs Kos comes up with according to his fancy. Frequently making one-off pieces, his aesthetic—defined by traditional tailoring with modern textures and colors—has garnered loyal fan base among NYC’s more daring residents of the Upper East Side, where Kos has had a shop since 1996.
For a full view of the Jay Kos collection check out his website or visit his NYC boutique.
Jay Kos
475 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022 map
tel. +1 212 319 2770
Photos by Erica Simone
