“I feel like artists are the best- dressed people — it’s always about their specific, individual design”, says Jon Strassburg, summing up the view of cunning fashion company Meta Campania Collective, which recently presented its sixth collection during.
The unisex, Paris-based label is becoming a catnip for specialty retailers who value understated, properly made clothes with a distinctive hand and just the right amount of fashion currency. “Timeless, but not classic” is how Strassburg describes the balance he’s after.
During an interview at Meta Campania’s Paris showroom, two of his artist buddies, Alice Heart and Samuel Fasse, roamed amid the racks in thin rib knits, floppy trenchcoats, minimalist denim jackets and smooth shirts — clothes that could easily get them to a innovative workplace, an art fair, a gallery opening or a stylish terrace restaurant.
In September 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Strassburg, a 20-year veteran of the fashion industry with a background in merchandising, joined his business partner Heiko Keinath, who runs the creative agency Buero, to launch Meta Campania Collective.
It was initially focused on menswear, with influences from the workaday wardrobes of Pablo Picasso, Wolfgang Tillman, and others. It later shifted to items like roomy drawstring pants and chore jackets.
Today, Meta Compania Collective’s business is split roughly between men’s and women’s, and carried by about 40 specialty doors including Dover Street Market in Paris and London, Trois Pommes in Zurich, Bungalow in Stuttgart, Cement in Tokyo and 10 Corso Como in Milan, plus online platforms such as Ssense and The Webster.
“Passionate simplicity” is how Adrian Joffe, chief executive officer of Dover Street Market, describes the ethos of the brand, whose embroidered muslin labels resemble an artist’s canvas, further telegraphing the artisanal quality of the clothes.
Following a successful Paris presentation that featured fencing champion Race Imboden attacking rolls of paper and creating impromptu Fontana-esque slashes, Strassburg said he is expecting to add new wholesale accounts from Germany, Austria, the United States, and Japan for spring 2025.
The brand operates e- commerce on its website, but mostly “because it showcases the entire breadth of the collection, and we curate it ourselves”, Strassburg said. Additionally, it’s a way for us to have some stock in case some of our wholesalers require some extra stock during the season.
The cofounders, led by Cedric Wilmotte, the company’s CEO, and Claus Dietrich-Lahrs, the former Hugo Boss and Bottega Veneta’s CEO, where Strassburg served as the company’s chief merchandising officer, are taking a long view of the business.
“It’s definitely part of the 10- year plan to have our own retail doors”, Strassburg said, stressing, “it’s important for us to building something that’s long- lasting.”
Strassburg’s résumé also includes nine years at Burberry heading menswear merchandising, plus earlier stints at Dolce & Gabbana and Hugo Boss.
He has a wealth of experience with Italian suppliers, fine European mills, and demanding tastes, so he is adamant that Meta Compania Collective be produced “without compromise.”
Drawing on his own clothing preferences, Strassburg favors cuts that are “uncomplicated, but special at the same time”, natural fabrics without any interfacing or synthetic linings, and subdued colors, especially midnight blue, chocolate brown and an offbeat gray reminiscent of Weimaraner dogs.
He loves shirts but has a pet peeve: The collars, typically two layers of fabric sewn together, sometimes pucker after laundering. His solution? A single layer of fabric with a neatly stitched “frame” that gives Meta Compania’s shirts a nonchalant elan.
In short, the clothes have a lived- in cool he cherishes.
“In general, I want the pieces to feel like they were already part of your personal wardrobe”, he said. “You never have the impression that an artist is wearing something from a brand when you look at them. And ultimately, I love that.”
In his opinion, Meta Campania Collective fills a “white space” between traditional quiet luxury labels and more fashion-driven labels in the minimalist vein.
He stressed that every element is carefully calibrated. “Every piece, every fabric and every color way is very, very thought through”, he said. “I don’t redesign every collection every season. The collection grows and develops, but there’s a big portion that is carried forward”.
The company is also expanding its content, with the release of a podcast series featuring artists like Paris-based photographer Olivier Kervern and German rapper Max Herre.
“The plan is eventually to use the brand as a platform, giving a voice to creatives”, Strassburg said.
