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Freddie Cowan, guitarist for the band The Vaccines, was in a position most guys can relate to. He was in search of some new threads and, at first, couldn't find anything in his style lane. "I had trouble finding the things that I wanted," he says. "And then I started getting into Japanese reproduction brands, because I wanted a beautiful white shirt or a beautiful T-shirt. Those were the only places I could find them, where the quality was really high and they had taken care of everything."
But there was a problem.
"I really resented the idea of paying $150 for a white T-shirt or, like, $300 for a sweatshirt," he says. And when he did buy something off the rack, it ended up needing extensive tailoring. "Finding great trousers in particular...it's not a vintage look, but you see these men like Paul Newman wearing beautiful trousers, and it's a really hard thing to find," he says.
Enter Brianna Lance, the former designer of the popular womenswear label Reformation, and the duo's idea to start a label of affordable and elevated classics took off. Called Basic Rights, the line launched earlier this year with an edited lineup of tops and bottoms that could seamlessly integrate into any guy's wardrobe.
And considering that Cowan's used to putting clothes through the wringer on stage, these garments are meant to withstand, you know, real life. "Dressing musicians...they're probably the hardest people to dress," he says. They want to look stylish, yet have the freedom to move, and they want to know their clothes are built to last. "I didn't see anything out there that reflected me and my friends. We want something that's honestly produced that doesn't cost some crazy price. Where's the middle?"
Basic Rights borrows a lot of imagery from the leading men of the Golden Age of Hollywood, transplanting that timeless feel into current-day fashion. A glance at the label's look book (above) or its Instagram account tells you it walks the line—quite well, if you ask us—between something retro and something right on, the type of stuff we'd expect to spot on a Williamsburg dweller in 2016. That you can't nail down a period or point of inspiration is intentional; anonymity is what Cowan and Lance are going for. "We were inspired to have absolutely zero branding visible in all of our clothes," he said, noting that he'd like the fit and design to stand out. "The clothes are a blank canvas, so that the person's personality is what comes through and they're not, you know, overshadowed."
To make sure his own frustrations (and most other men's) were fixed, the label has prices ranging from $45 for a T-shirt to $200 for a jacket, and the offering only keeps to pieces that could and should be the foundation for a modern man's wardrobe. Starting today, the brand is expanding its current core collection, adding popover shirts and its signature styles in new colors (black denim, tan pants, a white denim jacket are all especially easy on the eye), which you can see below.
And while the line just launched, it's showing no signs of slowing down. "After designing for [The Vaccines’] tour, I just had so much fun," Lance says. "I'm not saying this is forever, but I'm just having so much more fun designing men's right now," Cowan says. "It's different—the way men feel attractive versus how women feel attractive is so different. I want clothes that are masculine and elegant. And that I can wear to the studio and then to dinner."
Mission accomplished.
