Founded in 2016 by Emily Adams Bode Aujla, the luxury brand Bode has risen in the ranks of the fashion world to stand alongside the greats like Chanel, Gucci and Celine. Bode’s emergence was monumental, not often seen on such a scale in the fashion industry.
Bode aims to create a personal, narrative-driven, historical and family-rooted nostalgia through its clothes. As a lover of vintage fashion, Bode speaks to me like no other luxury brand. I am infatuated with their approach to fashion, production and design processes with the brand and their creations. I am deeply drawn to the authenticity, history, nostalgia and humanity oozing from every detail of this aesthetic and mission.
Using deadstock vintage materials at its inception, such as quilts dating back to the 1840s, Bode crafts one-of-a-kind pieces. The brand presented a collection at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in 2017, showing both men’s and women’s wear. At the 2018 NYFW, they presented a menswear line, which launched the brand into the spotlight: it was the first time a woman designed a menswear brand at NYFW. Workwear silhouettes, vintage designs and unique materials captured the attention of the public and the fashion industry.
Bode shifted production to a factory in India in 2018 to scale up. Although not every piece is one-of-a-kind anymore, the brand aims to capture the authenticity of their original 2017 line and one-of-a-kind pieces. Today, Bode still produces custom and one-of-one pieces, notably their senior corduroys.
Aujla attended Parsons School of Design, studying fashion design and philosophy. Her pieces at Parsons contrasted with those of her classmates, who crafted avant-garde runway designs. The heart of Bode is Aujla’s lifelong love of vintage and flea markets. Her work is deeply rooted in family tradition as well.
In Samuel Hine’s GQ profile on Aujla, he writes, “Emily’s abiding belief is that clothing is meant to be worn and cherished.”
So what makes Bode unique, in terms of aesthetics? The brand is heavily inspired by vintage fashion, particularly that of the 1920s and 1970s. It fuses Americana and Southeast Asian aesthetics and materials. Bode’s silhouettes are workwear-inspired with touches of sportswear blended. Designs are traditional, yet modern and refined. Aujla conveys a desire for Bode pieces to become family heirlooms.
Still, the brand is not without faults. Bode is a luxury brand and prices run high. A pair of pants can run you up to $2,800, and a shirt up to $600. Bode takes inspiration from vintage pieces and styles, crafts their own pieces and prices them exorbitantly high. Luckily for vintage lovers, you can likely find a very similar product at a flea market for a fraction of the price. Although the purpose and roots of this brand are luxury, it is paradoxical that Bode’s primary source of inspiration is vintage wear and family history, typically affordable and accessible, and Bode’s products are largely inaccessible to the broader population.
Bode has also become a celebrity favorite. Authenticity is increasingly valued by audiences due to the ever-growing mess of AI, plastic surgery and photo editing. When celebrities wear Bode, they send a message that they are just like us, the general public: genuine and creative.
Often, celebrities purchase Bode’s custom senior cords. Senior cords became popular among high school seniors in the Midwest from the 1900s through the 1970s. Upon graduation, classmates would draw personal designs and words onto corduroy skirts, pants and jackets. Every piece was unique. These vintage treasures are quite hard to find and extremely expensive these days. Bode offers an alternative: you can submit personal stories and details about yourself to their team and they will create custom designs for corduroy products of your choice. Kendall Jenner has a custom corduroy couch, Harry Styles has pants and Jeff Goldblum dons a jacket, captured by paparazzi and in editorial shoots.
Several pieces by Bode take the design of a vintage item and recreate it. The original general style is credited on the website next to the product, but, in my opinion, it misses details that warrant proper accreditation. These discrepancies include details such as the exact name of the original product, where it was sourced, who produced it and the material.
Bode never claims to copy; they frame their recreations and slight alterations as paying homage to pieces, places, time periods, people and activities. Furthermore, these recreations might bring older styles back into the spotlight for a modern audience to enjoy; that is wonderful! So, is there anything wrong with paying homage? Not explicitly. However, I think Bode needs to improve their approach to accrediting vintage inspiration.
I love Bode. I love their aesthetic and cultural approaches brought to the fashion world. Although I will likely not be able to afford a Bode piece for a while, I absolutely adore and appreciate their work: a commitment to quality, classic, traditional aesthetics; the importance of history; and brand worldbuilding. Bode is simply the best, a refreshing and authentic leader in the luxury world.