Alexander Julian at Everard’s on May 13
By • May 9, 2022 0 1490
On Friday, you have the chance to meet an American fashion icon. Alexander Julian will be at Everard’s Clothing for a trunk show, introducing his newest signature label, “Alexander Julian American Made” — men’s jackets and shirts. It’s an exclusive for Everard’s at 1802 Wisconsin Ave. NW on Friday, May 13, with Julian hinting he’ll stick around part of the weekend.
“Louis Everard and Jennifer Nygard love what they do and are so great at it,” said Julian of the husband-wife team that runs one of the classiest clothing stores in Washington, D.C. during an exuberant conversation over the phone with The Georgetowner. “They’re so talented. I cannot wait to be in the store. It exudes joie de vivre.”
The fashion designer, who made his big splash in the 1980s with his “Colors” is no stranger to Georgetown. “For me, going to Georgetown was like going to Mecca. It’s one of my favorite parts of the world,” Julian said. During his days at the University of North Carolina, he and his buddies would drive up to D.C. He had a bachelor party at Clyde’s on M Street and opened the first ever Alexander Julian store on Wisconsin Avenue.
Clothing retail and design are in Julian’s blood. His father ran the family store on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Julian designed his first shirt at age 12 and first jacket at age 15. He has designed his own fabric — “If you have the right cloth, you’re three-fourths there.”
In Chapel Hill, the Ivy League met the colorful South and made the preppy style pop, the sartorial splendor of Julian reminds us.
His business and brand have gone through the corporate grinder over the years. Today, Julian talks about men’s fashion post-Covid. He calls it “the Californication of the East Coast.” Think “indoor outerwear, dressy windbreakers… luxury sports coat fabric — field jackets In Italian silk.”
The 74-year-old designer boasts product lines and awards — ranging from furniture to bicycling shirts — but he has his eye to the future.
Ask him about that or anything else when you meet him at Everard’s. His optimism and style are so classically American that you’ll have a big smile — perhaps not as wide as his — for the rest of the month.
