It’s a mild day in early November, and Chris Benz is at the spacious Bill Blass showroom above Fifth Avenue reflecting on his decision to join the iconic American brand.
“When they first called, I thought, ‘Bill Blass?’” Benz, who serves as Creative Director, recalled. “It’s been relaunched so many times. Is this where my life is?”
Clearly, it didn’t take him long to figure out that the answer was a resounding “Yes.”
Benz demonstrates a confidence that would have made Bill Blass proud. The designer whose namesake line went on a hiatus was more than ready for the new challenge.
“It was taking an analog company and ushering it into the 21st Century as a global, consumer-focused brand,” he said of his mandate at Blass.
In tandem with President and COO Stuart Goldblatt, he put together a team to launch the e-commerce-based business, which recently went live featuring a full range of product—ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags, small leather goods and jewelry – available via monthly capsules.
The brand is now also positioned at the upper contemporary level.
“For the most part, it’s thinking about Bill Blass as a design company first, making products specific to the customers’ needs,” Benz said.
The new customer, he added, is “the young professional woman who is into her career. She is graduating from fast fashion but is not a designer customer. Every piece can be the cherry on top of our customers’ outfits.”
The results are delightfully playful, as in the cashmere T-Shirt that appears splashed with pink paint, layered apron dressed and the short coat made of layered raw edge ruffles.
The charm extends to the accessories, which come with functional features such iPhone 6-fitted interior pockets. Benz is clearly keen to bring the brand to a new customer.
Mr. Bill Blass, a founding member of the CFDA, was one of the most influential American fashion designer of his time and a favorite designer and friend of New York’s social set from Diane Vreeland and Brooke Astor to Gloria Vanderbilt. He retired in 1999, and was succeeded by Steven Slowik whose stint was short-lived, then Lars Nilsson, Michael Vollbracht and Peter Som.
For Benz, inspiration can come from a variety of sources. Rather than a literal riff on Blass’s extensive oeuvre, this designer prefers to take a different route.
“For me, the best approach is to take the farthest away, Google Earth view,” he said. “For the most part, Mr. Blass’s aesthetic was not so dissimilar from my own. It was irreverent with beading, color and print. It had so much personality.
“We have a huge archive, which is fantastic,” he added “It’s not limited to ready-to-wear, but it’s every video reel, every sketch, even sketches Mr. Blass did on napkins.”
The 33-year old designer looks at Blass much like a start-up that is online with a direct-to-consumer marketing philosophy that operates on its fashion calendar.
“Our customer is now mobile and global,” he added. “She doesn’t need to be dictated to in that old fashioned way.”
But what would Mr. Blass think of Benz’s online take? “It seems to me that if Mr. Blass were running the company today,” said Benz, “he would be on Twitter having a conversation now.”
