Exclusive: John Elliott's New Collection Asks You to Join the Dark Side

John Elliott gives Complex an exclusive look at his fall/winter 2016 collection.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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We're officially just three days away from the release of a new John Elliott collection. The first delivery of the Los Angeles-based designer's fall/winter 2016 offering is hitting his webshop on Monday, and we have an exclusive first peek at the lookbook. 

The lookbook and collection is a culmination of everything we've come to love from Elliott. "I had to start with T-shirts. I had to start with denim. I had to start with sweatshirts because if I started with something crazy, like say a leather hockey jersey, then it’s just a gimmick," he told Complex after he presented this collection at NYFW in February. Elliott's devotion to the basics shines through in this collection and remains the staple of his brand. 

This strategy works brilliantly because Elliott now has such a strong base on which to throw other, newer pieces. It's like an artist starting with high-quality canvas, as opposed to construction paper from the drug store. The hoodies, highly stackable sweatpants, and obsessed-over denim are all there—in different, sometimes gloomier shades of grey and black. It all provides familiarity among the new pieces like the striped shacket, the strappy bomber, or the athletic four-pocket jacket that looks like a field jacket re-imagined for a Michael Bay movie.  

"FW16 explores the darker shadowy themes of tension, disorientation, & intense energy," a press release about the collection reads. This is apparent in the darker palette. Hoodies are cast in hard steel grey, tonal stripes on jackets are almost undefinable, and the only pop of color appears on a dark cherry red flannel. It also shows in the distressed hems on denim where Elliott would typically have meticulously clean edges. 

Elliott continues to challenge himself and proves that although he may have mastered the basics, he continues to perfect and grow beyond them. 

Delivery 1 of Elliott's fall/winter 2016 collection will be available on his website on Monday, July 25.

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