“Wrapping the world in joy” is La DoubleJ’s motto—and even if the world doesn’t seem to listen to such urging, founder JJ Martin bravely marches on as a standard bearer of mood-boasting, spirit-lifting fashion. To celebrate 10 years of turning everyday style into a full-on fiesta of high-vibration prints, she relocated the company to the new LDJ Starquarters, a six-story playground in Milan’s hip Naviglio district. Housing the label’s full operations and serving as a consciousness-raising hub for its community, the new LDJ offices are crowned by the expansive Galactic Deck—a gathering space with sweeping 360 views over the city, where the the brand’s followers come together for spiritual practices, some of which involve a custom-made gong. Encrusted with meteorite fragments, and forged in a fire ceremony at Mount Etna, the gong presides over meditations, healing sessions, and yoga classes. For Martin, the sky’s the limit—quite literally.
Prints may be LDJ’s raison d’être—the pulsing, high-frequency current around which the entire wardrobe orbits—but even Martin herself occasionally finds the signal a little too strong. “Lately I opened my closet and thought, ‘What the heck? How am I supposed to get dressed with all these patterns?’” she laughed. So the volume’s been toned down (just a notch): think solid staples (“always with a little twist to them “), crisp white shirts (“we’ve got seven white shirts in the collection!”), not-so-plain denim (“jacquarded, obviously”), and dashes of nocturnal black.
The prints themselves have also mellowed—motifs have grown in scale, giving everything a bit more breathing room. The visual jazz has softened, yet the trippy, esoteric symbolism is still vibing. Cue the “Fantastic Creatures” capsule, a prismatic loungewear fantasy made in collaboration with the surrealist Ecuadorian artist Beto Val featuring wild alchemies of flora and fauna: flamingos blooming into hollyhocks, leafy parrots with beak-shaped foliage, seashells spiraling into insects-turned-flowers, and a helicopter-bird-root hybrid that defies both botany and logic. Part spirit quest, part slumber party, and full-on LDJ.