Around a year ago, Chris Leba mentioned that K-Pop artists had developed an affinity for his work at R13. He found out about it on TikTok, as it often goes these days, when a TikToker was reporting on what these musical “idols” were wearing. When asked if the discovery had influenced his work then, he answered no. The collection was already finished by the time he noticed. Leba is not one to bend the knee to trends, after all.
Fast forward to this year’s resort preview, where Leba mentioned that his algorithm has been serving him an abundance of Korean influencers. He said he’s fascinated by one of the things they wear, legwarmers, and so he made a few pairs in plushy knits to style under over-the-knee shorts and over his signature bulky shoes. Did he design for the K-Poppers? Not particularly. He didn’t only spend time on TikTok this year. What’s fun about listening to Leba run through a rack of clothing is that he loves to cite his references, no matter how disparate or seemingly random they may be.
He recently watched Dune: Part Two, hence the ample sandworm-ish funnel necklines on sweatshirts and the wide foldover collars on his outerwear and knitwear. Another thing the algorithm served him were images of Sigourney Weaver in the first Alien movie. “She wore the coolest sweatpants,” he said, and so he remade them as slouchy low-rise bermuda shorts and pants. Leba has a long-held affinity for military design details, and recently purchased an old Chinese flare parachute on eBay. Its zigzag stitching and seam taping details were applied to everything from a pair of billowing silky parachute pants to cargos, shrunken flight jackets, and oversized jacket liners worn as coats.
Leba’s organizing principle remains his day-one R13 philosophy. The just-a-little-bit-off familiarity of his clothes is why they turn up on celebrities of all stripes: JLo and Sophia Richie Grainge in oversized overalls, Dua Lipa in a plaid wrap skirt and chunky boots, Travis Kelce in a sun-blasted rainbow plaid shirt at Coachella. “I still want you to look at it and say, oh, okay, that’s a motorcycle jacket,” he said of the best piece in this lineup, a cropped black leather moto jacket with zippered shawl lapels in lieu of a regular double-breasted cut. “You still need to know exactly what it is; if you can’t tell, it’s no good.”