This story was originally part of the 2023 Glossy 50 feature. Click here to see all of this year’s honorees.
Colm Dillane wants to be the Andy Warhol of our time.
“My mom always talked about New York City in the ’70s, where everyone was an artist and a musician, and they were all collaborating. It was Warhol, Willem Dafoe — they’re all icons now. I was like, ‘Why can’t I be that of this generation?’”
Based on his accomplishments this year alone, the 32-year-old designer behind the 13-year-old KidSuper brand is bordering on icon status. In January, as Louis Vuitton’s first and only guest designer to date, he showed his fall 2023 menswear collection for LV at Paris Fashion Week. That led to a CFDA nomination for the Menswear Designer of the Year award. And, Dillane said, it opened a lot of doors.
“I never had my sights set on specific accomplishments or awards, but I love the opportunities to make things. And with each successful moment came more opportunities to make things,” Dillane said. “Enthusiasm for making is what got me here, and I think that enthusiasm was somewhat contagious.”
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This year, KidSuper released product collaborations with the Rolling Stones, the NBA, Ugg, Stuart Weitzman and Starbucks, among other brands. In addition, Dillane rounded out his team with hires including a CEO. He said he’d always intended to “figure out the business stuff” after the brand, its ethos and its mission statement were well-known.
Prior to his work with Louis Vuitton, Dillane made a name for himself, in part, by leveraging unexpected mediums for his seasonal KidSuper fashion shows. Those have included an art show, a short film and a stop-motion cartoon. The KidSuper fall 2022 show took the form of a 20-minute “pilot episode of a TV show” dubbed “The MisAdventures of KidSuper.” This year, he adhered to that habit by putting on a comedy show for fall 2023 and a theater play for spring 2024.
“KidSuper is a fashion company, but I like that it’s built less on a brand and more on a state of mind — this childlike sense of wonder that anything’s possible,” Dillane said. “I can apply that to TV, art, music, whatever I want.”
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Dillane’s plans for 2024 include releasing several collaborations and opening “the KidSuper building.” The 10,000-square-foot building, which Dillane is renting in Williamsburg, will feature a gallery, two recording studios, a storefront, a podcast room, a photo room, an art room and a bar. “And, if all goes well, I’ll put a little soccer field on the roof,” Dillane said.
“It will very much be a physical representation of everything I’m trying to do. … I’m obsessed with having physical spaces for people to meet and collaborate and create a community. … And I love that I’ve gotten to a position where I can fund any idea.”
Otherwise, Dillane said he will be figuring out where to go next. As for whether that could include taking on a creative director role at a large fashion house, he said, “Who knows? It could.”
He knows better than to make firm plans.
“The fashion cycle is never-ending. And you’re only as good as your last trick, which makes it a tough art form,” he said. “You can be like, ‘Oh, I just did this amazing thing.’ And everyone will be like, ‘Cool. What are you doing next season?’”
He added, “I consider myself to be tripping upstairs; I’m tripping as I go, but at least I’m going up instead of down.”
Image via Matteo Prandoni/BFA.com
