About two years ago, Peter Do had an epiphany. Maybe it was time for Peter Do, the person, he got to thinking, to not be so front and center with Peter Do, the brand which bears his name. “I never wanted to be the face of Peter Do—to be one of those very public founder-led labels,” Do said at his studio in Brooklyn’s Industry City last week. “I always wanted the codes of what I do to be the important thing.”
Now, that thought has come to fruition as Do launches a new label, called PD-168. While the PD is obvious, the 168 is the number of hours in the week, which should give you a clue where Do’s head is at: This is a functional, practical, intelligent collection of 20-or-so pieces, riffing on his modernist way with athleticism and tailoring, devoid of gender, and inclusive of sizing (XS to XL, and up to XXL in some instances)—a modular wardrobe, quotidian in terms of inspiration yet elevated in spirit.
“It’s comfortable, easy to look after, and will travel well,” he said of the all-black collection—jackets, track pants, tees, shirts, and tanks, rounded out by an asymmetric (and very Peter Do) pleated skirt to layer (or not) at whim; a slope-shouldered coat; and, a lightly padded blazer, like a tuxedo you could go hiking in.
Everything is priced relatively modestly, at least in terms of fashion today: from $110 for a tank to around $850 for the coat or chunky leather boots. (Shoe-wise, there’s also a soft lace-up and another boot, adorned via a single strap.) Do has used only three fabrics—super-soft cotton terry, a jersey with a delicious drape-y tactility to it, and a liquid satin that he developed in Japan to be like “a modern silk that you can wash.” In fact, you can launder all of these clothes in the machine. (A nation’s dry cleaners weep in anguish.)
Do fit the clothes on himself. After years of dressing others, he said, PD-168 allows him “to create a personal uniform, based on what I’ve discovered about myself as a designer. I feel more confident and concise—and this [PD-168] is exactly how I envisioned my work to be. Everything is derived from this question of, ‘What do we need? How do we reduce things down to a few pieces that can take you through the day?’” He is present in other ways, too, even if he started with the impulse to remove himself. (Designers wouldn’t be designers without their quirks.)
So: A face-masked Do will appear sporting every piece on the e-commerce part of the website (the collection, which will be updated yearly, is only available to buy there, though there is a pop-up with Lower East Side store du jour, Komune, in the works), along with his colleague and long-time friend Trish Do (to underscore how the pieces can work for any gender). The shirting—capacious yet crisp—is inspired by the vintage white cotton shirt he picked up at Portobello Market in London aeons ago.
