Morphine Generation's Erik Hart adds a self-named line
A dressier, higher-priced, more mainstream collection grows out of the onetime tees and hoodies brand.
WHEN designer Erik Hart launched Morphine Generation, his darkly romantic streetwear line, in 2003, imitators came flocking -- ripping off the collection's skull-and-flora silk-screens ad nauseam. "There were people who built their lines around my first collection," said the Los Angeles native, "but I've accepted it and moved on."
Hart stayed one step ahead of his copyists by evolving Morphine Generation from a T-shirt-and-hoodies line into a full-fledged clothing collection, known for black tailored jackets and capes with a "Sleepy Hollow" vibe. The brand picked up illustrious devotees along the way, including Scarlett Johansson, Lindsay Lohan and Brad Pitt.
Now the 28-year-old is hoping to make an even bigger impact (though he could live without the copycats) with his new namesake collection, Erik Hart: Factory of Aesthetics & Dreams.
The higher-priced line, which retails for $98 to $650, is a move into dressier apparel for Hart, who started Morphine Generation out of his garage -- with no formal fashion training under his belt -- after years of cobbling together clothes for the various rock bands he'd played in.
"I thought it was best to take the fashion elements out of Morphine Generation and call it Erik Hart," said the designer, sitting in his sparsely beautiful downtown loft, between drags on a Parliament Light. "Then I could keep Morphine an artisanal streetwear line."
The line, which is pretty but not girly, with a dash of Hedi Slimane-style androgyny, is also a step toward more mainstream designer fashion.
Filled with sporty buffalo-check jackets and little black dresses, the debut collection for fall/winter might have been billed as a capsule collection for Morphine Generation; it shares a similar attitude. But Hart's spring/summer offerings, wrought in black, white and canary yellow, veer into trendier terrain. High-waisted miniskirts and riffs on the classic motorcycle jacket (including a yellow motorcycle vest) would fit niftily on the rack with a number of young designer collections, including Alexander Wang and Jenni Kayne.
Though Morphine Generation pieces are almost instantly recognizable, Erik Hart is more incognito and so infinitely more wearable. "I want the pieces to transform," Hart said. "You should be able to throw a jacket over a dress you've been wearing all day for a cocktail party."
