Eckhaus Latta

Eckhaus Latta is an American contemporary fashion brand founded in 2011 by Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta. The designers met while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, where Eckhaus focused on sculpture and Latta studied textiles. Their shared practice developed from a desire to work outside the more restricted commercial settings in which they had initially operated. Before establishing the label, Eckhaus worked as an accessories designer at Marc by Marc Jacobs after moving to New York, while Latta ran the textile business Ruth Prince, supplied prints to fashion companies including Calvin Klein and Proenza Schouler, and designed knitwear for Opening Ceremony. The label is based between New York City and Los Angeles and is associated with a deliberately porous relationship between fashion, fine art, design, writing, performance, and moving image. Rather than treating clothing as an isolated commercial product, Eckhaus Latta has built a practice around material experimentation, texture, tactility, and unexpected combinations of fabrics and other materials. Its work has appeared in gallery and museum contexts as well as in conventional fashion settings. The brand participated in group exhibitions at MoMA PS1 in 2015 and the Hammer Museum in 2016, presenting work that connected sculptural objects, garments, video, and visual art. In 2018, the Whitney Museum presented “Possessed,” an Eckhaus Latta exhibition described as the museum’s first fashion-related exhibition in 21 years. The presentation reinforced the label’s position as a fashion practice with a strong art-institutional dimension rather than simply a ready-to-wear company. That same year, Eckhaus Latta was nominated for the LVMH Prize, placing the independent label within one of the fashion industry’s most visible international emerging-designer competitions. Eckhaus Latta’s output includes apparel, knitwear, accessories, footwear, and collaborative objects. The designers have periodically worked with artists, designers, retailers, and other creative partners. Examples include installing artists’ sculptures in stores, commissioning furniture for the Los Angeles retail space, and collaborating with Camper on footwear. These projects reflect the label’s broader approach of using its retail and presentation environments as extensions of its creative practice. The brand is also recognized for its use of non-professional and otherwise unconventional models in advertising and runway presentations. Its Spring 2017 advertising campaign generated substantial attention because it depicted adult models engaged in unsimulated sex. The campaign became one of the label’s most discussed public statements about intimacy, bodies, and fashion imagery, while also attracting controversy over the explicitness of its presentation. Overall, Eckhaus Latta occupies a niche between independent fashion label, interdisciplinary art practice, and design studio, with a public identity built around experimentation, collaboration, and challenges to conventional fashion presentation.

Eckhaus Latta was established in 2011 by Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta, who had met as students at the Rhode Island School of Design. Their educational backgrounds shaped the label’s later identity: Eckhaus came from sculpture, while Latta came from textiles. Both brought experience from adjacent parts of the fashion industry. Eckhaus moved to New York in 2010 and worked as an accessories designer at Marc by Marc Jacobs. Latta operated the textile business Ruth Prince, whose printed materials were used by designers including Calvin Klein and Proenza Schouler, and she also designed knitwear for Opening Ceremony. The two designers sought a joint practice that could move beyond the limits of conventional commercial fashion work. From its beginning, Eckhaus Latta developed as more than a standard apparel label. The designers used garments as sites for investigating texture, tactility, construction, and unexpected material relationships. Their presentations have incorporated writing, performance, video, sculpture, and other forms of visual art. This interdisciplinary approach placed the brand in both fashion and contemporary-art environments. It showed work in a group exhibition at MoMA PS1 in 2015 and in a group exhibition at the Hammer Museum in 2016, where fashion was presented in relation to sculptural and moving-image practices. The label’s institutional profile grew further in 2018 when the Whitney Museum presented Possessed. The exhibition was notable because it was the museum’s first fashion-related exhibition in 21 years. Rather than treating fashion as a supplementary subject, the presentation reflected Eckhaus Latta’s tendency to combine clothing with broader questions about objects, bodies, performance, and image-making. In the same year, the label was nominated for the LVMH Prize, bringing recognition from the international fashion industry while it remained associated with an independent and experimental mode of production. Collaboration has been an important part of the brand’s development. Eckhaus Latta has worked with creative peers and commercial partners, including Camper on footwear. Its designers have also incorporated artists’ sculptures into retail environments and commissioned furniture for the Los Angeles store. These activities demonstrate a conception of the brand as a broad creative platform, in which stores, objects, images, and garments share a common visual and material language. Eckhaus Latta’s advertising and runway work has frequently rejected standardized casting. The label has used non-professional and unconventional models, presenting bodies and identities that are less typical of mainstream luxury and fashion advertising. Its Spring 2017 campaign became particularly controversial because it showed adult models engaged in unsimulated sex. The campaign attracted attention not only for its explicit content but also because it extended the label’s interest in intimacy, embodiment, and the boundaries between fashion image and performance. The brand operates from locations in New York City and Los Angeles and continues to be identified with experimental contemporary fashion. Its known scope includes apparel, knitwear, accessories, footwear, creative collaborations, and art-oriented presentations. Publicly available reference material does not establish a separate parent company, public listing, or corporate group, so Eckhaus Latta is best characterized as an independent contemporary fashion label with an interdisciplinary practice.

• 2018

  Possessed opens at the Whitney Museum

  [1]Eckhaus Lattaen.wikipedia.org

  The Whitney Museum presents Possessed, its first fashion-related exhibition in 21 years.

• 2018

  LVMH Prize nomination

  [1]Eckhaus Lattaen.wikipedia.org

  Eckhaus Latta is nominated for the 2018 LVMH Prize.

• 2017

  Spring campaign creates controversy

  [1]Eckhaus Lattaen.wikipedia.org

  Eckhaus Latta’s first large-scale advertising campaign uses explicit images of adult models having unsimulated sex, generating widespread controversy.

• 2016

  Work appears at the Hammer Museum

  [1]Eckhaus Lattaen.wikipedia.org

  The label contributes to a group exhibition at the Hammer Museum involving fashion, art, and related visual practices.

• 2015

  Work appears at MoMA PS1

  [1]Eckhaus Lattaen.wikipedia.org

  Eckhaus Latta participates in a MoMA PS1 group exhibition, extending its practice into a contemporary-art institutional setting.

• 2011

  Eckhaus Latta is founded

  [1]Eckhaus Lattaen.wikipedia.org

  Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta establish the label after meeting at the Rhode Island School of Design and seeking a practice outside conventional commercial fashion structures.

An independent, art-oriented contemporary fashion label known for experimental materials, tactile construction, gender-fluid presentation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and unconventional casting.

• Apparel · 2011

  Ready-to-wear collections

  Eckhaus Latta’s core output is contemporary ready-to-wear clothing presented through seasonal collections. The garments are associated with experimental construction, unusual material combinations, tactile surfaces, and a deliberately fluid relationship between conventional menswear and womenswear categories. The label’s clothing is often shown alongside performance, video, sculpture, and unconventional casting, making the collection presentation part of the product’s cultural context.

• Textiles and apparel · 2011

  Knitwear

  Knitwear is a significant part of the label’s material language, reflecting Zoe Latta’s textile background and the brand’s interest in texture and tactility. Its knit-based work forms part of the broader ready-to-wear offering and emphasizes surface, handling, and the physical qualities of fabric rather than relying solely on graphic or logo-based branding.

• Fashion accessories · 2011

  Accessories

  The label produces accessories as part of its wider fashion practice. Accessories connect to Mike Eckhaus’s early professional experience in accessories design and are treated within the same experimental framework as the clothing, with attention to materiality, sculptural form, and the relationship between fashion objects and the body.

• Footwear collaboration

  Camper collaboration

  Eckhaus Latta has collaborated with Camper on a footwear line. The project illustrates the brand’s practice of extending its visual and material ideas into products made with external creative and commercial partners.

• 2017

  Controversy over explicit Spring 2017 campaign

  Eckhaus Latta’s Spring 2017 advertising campaign depicted adult models having unsimulated sex. The imagery generated controversy over explicitness, consent and representation, and the boundaries of fashion advertising.

  Source

Read more

• 2017Spring 2017 advertising campaign

  International

  For its first large-scale advertising campaign, Eckhaus Latta used images of adult models engaged in unsimulated sex. The campaign challenged the conventions of fashion advertising by foregrounding intimacy and explicit physicality rather than presenting clothing through conventional aspirational imagery.

  Outcome. The campaign attracted substantial media attention and controversy because of its explicit content, becoming one of the label’s most publicly discussed projects.

  Source

• 2018

  Museum-scale presentation at the WhitneyStrategy

  Background

  Eckhaus Latta’s work had developed through a mixture of fashion collections, artistic collaborations, and institutional exhibitions.

  Action taken

  The Whitney Museum presented Possessed, a dedicated exhibition of the label’s work.

  Aftermath

  The exhibition gave the label a prominent museum platform and highlighted its hybrid position between fashion and contemporary art.

  Source

• 2018

  LVMH Prize nominationOther

  Background

  The LVMH Prize recognizes emerging designers with significant influence or creative potential in international fashion.

  Action taken

  Eckhaus Latta was nominated for the 2018 edition of the prize.

  Aftermath

  The nomination increased the label’s visibility within the global fashion industry.

  Source

• 2015

  Expansion into contemporary-art institutionsStrategy

  Background

  The label’s work already crossed the boundaries between fashion, sculpture, video, and visual art.

  Action taken

  Eckhaus Latta presented work in a group exhibition at MoMA PS1 and later at the Hammer Museum.

  Aftermath

  These presentations strengthened the label’s identity as an art-oriented fashion practice rather than a conventional apparel brand.

  Source

• 2011

  Founders establish an interdisciplinary fashion labelStrategy

  Background

  Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta wanted to move beyond the restricted commercial environments associated with their earlier fashion and textile work.

  Action taken

  They created a joint label combining clothing design with sculpture, textiles, writing, performance, video, and material experimentation.

  Aftermath

  The interdisciplinary structure became a defining characteristic of Eckhaus Latta and supported later museum exhibitions, collaborations, and experimental presentations.

  Source

1. 1Eckhaus Lattaen.wikipedia.org