Written by Stefano Imbert in Brands on the 22nd January 2016

Seen recently on the buses and streets of New York City are ads publicizing a true New York brand, both designed and produced in the Big Apple. Public School is the name of this brand, sprung from the creative minds of its two designers, David-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, both born and raised in New York.

Not knowing each other, they each had their curiosity and interest in fashion sparked while in public school when they realized that they could easily identify to which group their fellow students belonged by what they were wearing. After they met while working for Sean John, they felt the need to express their own creativity, and Public School was born. The brand has steadily grown and their success has been cemented after recently winning all the fashion industry’s most prestigious awards, such as CFDA’s Menswear Designer of the Year award and CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund’s top honor.

Chow and Osborne favor street-style and hip-hop, infusing this genre with a fresh sense of sophistication but rejecting any form of “preppyness.” This sense of savvy-street fabulousness is particularly evident in their Fall-Winter collection 2015. Layering is the word with extra baggy trousers (sometimes elasticized calf length) mounted over oversized plaid shirts, which almost hit the knees, and interacting with soft vests, the whole topped by mohair bombers. With the use of luxurious fabrics, and nuances of grays and muted colors, Public School’s collections successfully avoid the clichéd garish colorfulness of the typical street-style vocabulary they embraced, translating their creations directly and gracefully into fashion forward high style.

No wonder that the most exclusive stores of New York make sure to stock Public School couture. Even Donna Karan was conquered by this duo of designers, and recently Chow and Osborne were appointed creative directors of DKNY, the other iconic New York juggernaut brand. There isn’t a more New York success tale than this! 

*Illustration also by Stefano Imbert

We Discover the New York based brand Public School Menswear which is owned by David-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne.