Menswear designer Adam Dalton Blake, who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2016, began college with dreams of becoming a painter. But when he started thinking about other students’ fashion collections as “walking fashion images,” he knew he had to take a chance on designing. He hasn’t looked back.

Blake, who describes himself as “the fruity art kid,” pushes a bold and spirited aesthetic that he hopes will inspire people to “feel that they are part of a narrative and feel excited to be wearing something so quirky and colorful.” His collection for SS18, to be shown this September at NYFW, will explore textiles and textures as a way to “celebrate the wonderfully kitsch and cheeky.”

Blake’s wildly imaginative work advances menswear by turning toward the past and American nostalgia. By finding inspiration in the “smattering of personalities” of his family, and by playing with color, texture, and glitter—never in short supply—Blake reinterprets traditional codes of athleticism and masculinity to include more people into these dominant narratives which have, for decades, defined Americana.

Blake’s artistic collaboration with LIFEWTR makes the eccentricity that he wholeheartedly embraces widely available. He “designs for the man who is not afraid to be seen.” Now, men will find that irreverent and colorful creativity at many stores near them.