Advisry presents is an advanced-contemporary fashion label founded by Keith Herron in the city of trees: Sacramento, California. Now based in New York City, Advisry’s history so far has been anything but conventional. “City of Trees: The Formative Years” tells the coming of age story of creative discovering his path ambitiously marking it at the same time. Beginning when Herron was only 13 years old, we follow along as his taste matures, creative skills progress, and perspective evolves visibly through the output during his adolescence. With no formal training in any medium he engages in, each season in Adivsry organically leads to the next, becoming more ambitious as years pass. let this presentation be a map for a road less traveled in a fashion and beyond.
Advisry’s numbered season’s are the canon of the collections that make up “The Formative Years” of the brand, with a collection releasing once a year since the brand’s genesis in 2014. With each season, Herron’s collections grow dramatically in different ways, reinventing themselves completely at moments and introducing artistic themes that find their way into subsequent collections. This evolution is a singular story that is told through examining Herron’s entire body of work. Arriving at Season 10 pre-ented September 2023 during NYFW both formative years and numbered seasons have concluded. In anyways this represents a start for Advisry, as the brand is now established in its voice and design language, while always continuing to evolve.
Commissioned by LAFW
Curated by Jonathan Richettes
The Kreme hoodie, hailing from Advisry’s inaugural collection, is a sublime manifestation of Herron’s fondness for Krispy Kreme—a love that, I might add, knows geographic bounds. At a time when Sacramento was barren of Krispy Kreme offerings, Herron journeyed frequently to satiate his craving for these iconic donuts. The garment’s ingenuity can also be traced to a childhood friend’s inspired idea to invert the logo—an idea Herron executed with aplomb, utilizing none other than Microsoft PowerPoint. Now, let’s not overlook the homage to the Supremes’ iconic box logo. With meticulous attention to embroidery, scale, and placement, this hoodie isn’t merely another piece of attire; it is Advisry’s signature. A fascinating study, indeed, of how personal obsessions and curated taste can translate into commercial allure.
Advisry Season 2 Clipse Tee, 2015: One of Advisry’s seminal moments came with the launch of the Clipse T-shirt. Herron immersed himself in forums, group chats, and hashtags, all devoted to The Neptunes. Unsatisfied with the lack of available merchandise, he took it upon himself to create this shirt as an homage to the album. The sight of Angelenos donning his design served as a revelation: it demonstrated the limitless possibilities that unfold when one introduces their vision to the world.
Advisry/Vans, 2015: This marked Herron’s inaugural, albeit faux, collaboration with Vans. He repurposed photographs of Muhammad Ali into a chic print. On the very day these shoes were released, fate intervened—Muhammad Ali passed away.
Advisory Season 3, 2016: The Leopard Work Jacket marks the genesis of Herron’s love affair with American workwear silhouettes. Intrigued by the potential to infuse workwear with a sense of aesthetic nonchalance, Herron experimented with design elements that deviated from the conventional. His inspiration for this particular jacket was sparked by Pharrell’s “Places and Spaces” book. Unable to find the piece he coveted, Herron took matters into his own hands, crafting his own interpretation. This endeavor catalyzed his approach to sourcing existing garments and reimagining them, a practice he now views as nothing short of appropriation. Nonetheless, the work jacket silhouette continues to evolve under his discerning eye, featuring in his collections to this day.
Season Four: Sunflower Cardigan was undoubtedly the transformative moment in Herron’s career. Until this collection, it’s worth noting that the brand had yet to prove itself as a financial success. Herron observed, “For an extended period, this particular cardigan had an unparalleled reach—albeit not one that benefited me financially. It was counterfeited in China, generating over a thousand unauthorized sales. While I didn’t see any financial windfall, I did appreciate the far-reaching influence it conferred upon me.”
Season Five marked Herron’s debut into the realm of Americana, a design territory he had long yearned to explore. The inspiration was crystalline: John Bender’s iconic denim and flannel ensemble in the quintessential American film, “The Breakfast Club” (1985). Upon witnessing this sartorial moment, Herron immediately grasped the concept for his Worldwide Denim Jacket.
As for the Village Sandal, it was a serendipitous mishap. Herron had ordered a different style of sandals online, only to receive the wrong pair. Undeterred, he wore them to school. The epiphany struck during his first-period digital art course. Adorning the sandals with logos transformed them from unwanted footwear into something remarkably vibrant. The online response was so enthusiastic that Herron was compelled to find a way to recreate them swiftly. That classroom holds a special significance; it was there that Herron first understood the inextricable bond between craft and conceptual design.
Following the triumph of Season Four, Herron admittedly “flew too close to the sun.” Eager to capitalize on his momentum, he accelerated the production schedule for Season Five, only to find that the infrastructure couldn’t support the surge in orders. Compounding this was his recent move to New York and the commencement of his college journey, leaving him bereft of time.
Season Six represents, in Herron’s own words, the nadir of his career. It was a collection born out of an attempt to cater to his Seasons Four and Five clientele. However, the experience served as a harsh tutorial on the perils of allowing one’s audience to overly dictate the creative process.
The Gradient Work Jacket, a standout from 2019, remains among Herron’s most cherished pieces. At the time, the dip-dye process was an uncharted territory for him, introducing a novel technique that would become foundational. The silhouette conceived—distinctively cropped with a boxy fit—served as a seminal building block. This aesthetic has been carried forward, becoming a hallmark in subsequent collections.
Season Seven heralded a seminal shift for Herron, venturing into unexplored territories that included leather goods, footwear crafted in India, and most strikingly, a runway show. Just one month after making the audacious decision to transition into the designer fashion sphere, a call from Gucci provided an invaluable window into the world of luxury, imbuing Herron with both inspiration and the confidence to operate in a realm he had once thought unattainable.
This elevated platform ushered in a new era of creative responsibility. The Split Heart Sweater, an emblematic piece for Advisry, epitomizes this growth. Initially launched in Season Five as a T-shirt, it evolved into a sweater for Season Six and has since been a recurrent staple in subsequent collections, now adorned with a split motif. As for the denim pants, they mark the inauguration of the brand’s denim program. Conceived as a casual, everyday essential, these pants have undergone multiple refinements since their initial debut, continuously evolving in both form and function.
Season Eight, titled “Sometimes Dancing,” was a landmark for Herron, marking his debut on New York’s grander stage following an invitation to NYFW. Opting for innovation over convention, Herron chose to write and direct a short film, a narrative distinctively not focused on apparel but rather on resilience amid turmoil. This season also signified several milestones: the brand’s inaugural in-person runway show, its first comprehensive collection, and a noteworthy foray into footwear, tailoring, and American manufacturing.
As for the pièce de résistance of the collection, Herron introduced the Dancing Knit Shirt in 2021. This standout garment features an evocative drawing from Ernie Barnes’ iconic “Sugar Shack” painting. Serving as the initial offering in a knit shirt program, the piece has maintained its status as a popular staple for the brand.
Since its inception in 2014, Keith Herron’s Advisry has been anything but stagnant, displaying a relentless evolution in recent years. Take, for instance, Season 8, which debuted the brand’s first full ready-to-wear line, followed closely by the introduction of womenswear in Season 9. Fast forward to their Season 10 collection for Spring/Summer 2024, and it’s clear that Advisry has firmly established its unique identity.
Dubbed “Technicolor,” the latest collection is not merely a reflection of Advisry’s growth; it’s a triumphant declaration of its design ethos. The name itself is a poetic synthesis, capturing the brand’s interplay between color, progression, and heritage. The collection is a sartorial smorgasbord, melding elements of formal, prep, sportswear, and street style with seamless finesse.
In a salute to cinematic history, The Advisry’s Spring Summer 2024 Collection takes its cues from the groundbreaking Technicolor revolution. This seismic shift in film, which fused three separate color strips into one singular vision, forever changed not only the way movies were produced but also how they were consumed. The Advisry collection, in a similar vein, narrates a compelling evolution—from an erstwhile monochromatic scheme to a now resplendent array of hues. It’s a sartorial tale of transformation, akin to the brand’s own metamorphosis, capturing the vibrant essence of a life lived in full color.
Photography and Text: Kimberly Mortensen