Justin Great is a fashion and style blogger turned designer, who has released two collections of ready-to-wear designs for both men and women. This past Friday, Great held a launch party for a launch of his latest.
While Great attended college, he produced a blog called, The Upper Echelon, that caught the attention of other brands and publications. Due to his collaboration with well-known publications such as GQ, Fortune, and New York Times, Great received requests from his followers that he come up with a collection of his own.
Great is inspired by everyday art culture — whether that be through photography, film or architecture. Because of his desire for art, he embodies his interest in the many concepts of design through his clothing in the hopes that he can bring to his audience a contemporary taste.
“One word I would use to describe my fashion would be effortless,” said Great. A lot of Great’s designs follow the concept of simplicity so that his customers are allowed a blank canvas to express themselves by adding a little bit of their own swagger that will compliment his pieces. “I really like to wear things that I feel like I can wake up and just go. I enjoy being able to use the elements of congruency and everything coming together to put together an entire ensemble,” he said.
Another way one could say Great’s designs are effortless are by accessibility. Great feels that having his designs made ready-to-wear makes them universal and easily attainable for his followers. Though his collection is typically only available for purchase online, Great had his newest designs on preview during his launch party in which attendees were able to buy.
Typically when a designer chooses to announce a launch of their newest products, it is either done through social media or made to be an exclusive kind of event. Great wanted to open the doors of Urban Mix coffee house to as many people in Denver as possible to see his work. “It’s different when you can actually touch and feel something versus just seeing something online and thinking ‘oh yeah I like that’, but what if you can actually touch [the designs] in person and shake the hand of the person who made it, and tell them ‘hey, its nice to meet you? There’s something about that,” said Great.
Great, in this sense, used the concept of architecture and incorporated that with his designs by having the event held at a coffee house rather than a club or a bar because he felt that it would fit the aesthetic of his brand more. “I want it to look proper. I want the experience to be top-notch,” he said.
Great accomplished just that. Besides showcasing his designs, Great entertained his attendees by bringing in local Denver hip-hop dance group, Crenatives, and even gave a performance himself of his newest song.
Great showed mad love to his audience with performances, free food and drinks, and free giveaways and prizes. His audience showed him love back by purchasing items from his newest collection. Great ended the night with nothing but a smile on his face and plenty of gratitude for his followers.
All photography by Meg O’Neill.
