Bode Is Bringing Its Signature Cool to Active Wear

Emily Adams Bode Aujla gleefully holds up a pile of yellowed vintage magazines to the Zoom camera. Emblazoned with black-and-white photos of former president John F. Kennedy, they’re the latest thrifted treasures for her collection of ephemera. Bode Aujla, 35, has built her namesake fashion label by weaving together both figurative and literal scraps of the past. These latest bits of inspiration could eventually lead to a print, a coat, or even an entire collection. 

Since launching her menswear brand in 2016, Bode Aujla has sourced antique fabrics and crafted sartorial stories around 100-year-old college traditions and old-money estates. Her earliest quilt jackets, sewn from collected antique blankets, remain core to the Bode aesthetic. Years into the business, the designer is finding ways to expand the brand’s wheelhouse. What’s new is still old.  

Bode quickly rose to popularity among an in-the-know crowd of magazine editors and Lower East Side residents—quirky, preppy, and traditional—a radical, softer alternative to the hyped-up streetwear that dominated the early aughts. But the Bode universe has continued to balloon, launching a steady stream of imitators and largely shaping the way that many fashion-focused men dress. Bode Aujla is grateful for the swell of support, but honing a vision in a room of yes-men and superfans isn’t inherently an easy thing to do. 

“You need to ask yourself a lot of questions all the time,” Bode Aujla says softly. She’s sitting in her West Village apartment in a logoless brown crew neck and wearing gold jewelry designed by her friend Jean Prounis. Behind her, the walls are painted with a lily pad mural. “Constantly going back to the original mission, which is that of preservation.” Having started with one-of-a-kind designs, she’s had to navigate expanding ready-to-wear in a way that allows a voracious fan base to buy in, such as loading her Brooklyn studio with vintage fabrics that will be used in tandem with newer materials. Bode Aujla walks a fine line between giving the brand’s now devoted fans what they already like, and what they don’t yet know that they want. Her signature embroidered shirts and quilted coats are styled alongside fish-print trousers, espadrilles, or fringed suede jackets.

When Bode Aujla was a senior in high school in Atlanta, she’d take extra-long lunch breaks to visit Goodwill, hoping to pick up a new vintage find. Now, she finds herself popping into shops around the world, bringing her discoveries back to the New York apartment she shares with her husband and business partner Aaron Aujla. Most recently, Bode Aujla was in Tokyo, wrapping a series of events celebrating the launch of her collaborative collection with Nike. 

As part of her process, Bode Aujla pored over Nike’s extensive archive and spoke with Nike’s first employee, Jeff Johnson. The resulting collection, which debuted in April, introduced pieces steeped in Nike’s history and infused with Bode’s signature details: rich fabrics, hand beading, a reissued sneaker from the ‘70s, and nods to early American history (in this case a 1756 boat race). Family history is another constant source of inspiration for Bode Aujla, and her dad’s time playing college football was another creative inspiration as she built the collection. 

This September, Bode continues its expansion into the athleisure space by releasing Bode Recreation, a collection of sportswear staples that are machine washable yet still carry Bode’s signature DIY charm. Bode Recreation is durable enough to work out in, which was vital to Bode Aujla, a former tennis player, and current pilates and strength-training enthusiast. “A rugby short for us has typically been [made with] antique textiles, but this gym short is really made to be worn,” says Bode Aujla. A lower price point also opens the door to a new customer, or perhaps a long-time fan who has waited for the chance to own a piece but couldn’t afford it until now.  

By opening new stores abroad down the line (Bode already has shops in New York and Los Angeles) and branching into womenswear, the brand is taking a multifaceted approach to pushing its boundaries. Still, the throughline remains: anyone can have an emotional reaction to clothes and the story they tell. “I was more interested in designing for men originally because it wasn't designing for myself,” she says. 

And yet, since the 2023 launch of womenswear, the new Bode woman has emerged. “Women from the very beginning have worn Bode menswear; I'm that girl too,” she says. “When I launched women's, I really wanted to make sure that I wasn't just putting menswear silhouettes on a woman.” She started to build an entire wardrobe for a different kind of female customer, from formal gowns to bralettes and beaded bags. “It was important for me to show that this is a new girl we haven't given a wardrobe yet,” she says. Tomboy or feminine, Bode can speak to both.