In an interview with L'OFFICIEL, designer Maxwell Osborne talks about COVID-19, family heritage, and his new brand anOnlyChild.

Photographed by Bon Duke

Designer and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/public-school-forgoes-fashion-week" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Public School</a> co-founder Maxwell Osborne set out during the worst of the pandemic to do some soul searching. &ldquo;The idea of death was top of mind all the time&hellip;It was dark and I wanted to do something playful,&rdquo; he explains.
And he did: <a href="https://anonlychild.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anOnlyChild</a> is Osborne&rsquo;s new label, inspired by his Jamaican heritage and his family in London and New York. The new label is rich, textured, and unexpectedly colorful&mdash;something that Osborne, 39, has not been known for in the past. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s brought some type of joy, at least creatively. It&rsquo;s interesting to play with these things that I never wanted to play with in the beginning, because I personally don&rsquo;t wear colors or brights at all,&rdquo; he says.

But even a staunchly <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/how-to-wear-monochrome-winter-2021-color-trends" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monochromatic dresser</a> can admit when it&rsquo;s time for a change. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the idea of no rules,&rdquo; he explains, adding that watching his friends shift their office uniforms to sweats and denim was proof enough that workwear was in need of a little reimagination. In the relaxed silks, electric colors, and even the casualness of the collection&rsquo;s more formal pieces (a short-sleeved blazer, loose-knit sweaters, and puddling <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/how-to-style-runway-inspired-wide-leg-pants-fall-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wide-leg pants</a>), Osborne introduces a sense of style that, while elegant, is at ease with itself.
The designer first presented the collection in September 2021 to a small group of friends and family at his family home in Mount Vernon. Absent were any of the usual media attendees you&rsquo;d find at a debut&mdash;this was a celebration for his community. Osborne adds that it was old family photos that served as his primary source of inspiration.&ldquo;
Even with all the darkness, Jamaica is still known as a very happy place,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Growing up [there, my family] didn&rsquo;t have everything, but their clothes were always pressed. They had to go to school with their <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/how-to-style-pleated-skirt-fall-winter-2021-olivia-rodrigo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">skirts pleated</a>, the uncles had to go with their shirts pressed, and they always found joy in that.&rdquo;

Sitting in his apartment, thinking of the &ldquo;plethora of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/dior-b30-sneakers-mens-spring-summer-2022-kim-jones" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sneakers</a>&rdquo; he now owns, Osborne was struck by the progress that can happen in just a single generation. And yet, progress doesn&rsquo;t always equate to satisfaction. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re looking at everything you have. You&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not even happy.&rsquo; So you want to get back to this point of being happy and not caring and having this playful vibe.&rdquo;
So, has the debut of anOnlyChild led Osborne to newfound contentment? Yes and no. &ldquo;Honestly, that was just a taste, and we have a long way to go,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;My brain hasn&rsquo;t even processed the fact of happiness. It did the day of [the show]&mdash; because I drew off of other people&rsquo;s happiness, I felt happy. I took their energy about it more than my own.&rdquo;

"The idea was top of mind almost all the time&hellip; it was dark and I wanted to do something playful."

Osborne notes that the reverberations of the pandemic still linger, and he&rsquo;s still navigating the fallout while in the process of creating. &ldquo;Some things are very clear in terms of what the brand stands for in the community,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Sometimes the aesthetic is clear, but then little things are not. You want more, but then you don&rsquo;t have more. My inspiration is the streets, and energy, and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/top-11-winter-vacation-spots" target="_blank" rel="noopener">traveling</a>, and I&rsquo;ve done very little of any of that.&rdquo;
Still, if diving into a new creative project wasn&rsquo;t an immediate salve for the real pains of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/post-pandemic-dresscode-statement-dressing-maximalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the pandemic</a>&mdash;lost friends and family members included&mdash;it did offer at least a new creative flow for Osborne. &ldquo;Everybody expects you to deliver, and I get it: four times a year; big collections. But if you can&rsquo;t draw the inspiration, then it&rsquo;s forced.&rdquo; So, the designer is setting the rules of creation himself. &ldquo;All the mills were closed [during the pandemic]. Even if you wanted to reach out to recycled mills and fabric textile places, they were all closed.&rdquo;
That required thinking outside of the proverbial box of brand building. Osborne began collecting scraps of fabric from designer friends and experimenting with needle punching, a method of combining fabrics to make a non-woven felt that Osborne had used previously at Public School while working with Eileen Fisher.
&ldquo;I would have never done that if there wasn&rsquo;t COVID. I would not have thought [about] making a silk in a denim, needle punching it, and making fabric and pants or a jacket out of it. It would never have happened. But you had to take whatever you had to create something new.&rdquo;

The resulting collection, while technically made sustainably, is not presented as &ldquo;<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/adidas-sustainable-fashion-pop-up-new-york-city-vintage-upcyle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sustainable</a>.&rdquo; To Osborne, reducing waste and approaching a new collection in a conscious way are requirements, not additives to tout. &ldquo;Trying to lessen our footprint and be socially conscious is just what we have to do, and to talk about it all the time kind of feels like a gimmick when it&rsquo;s just something that should be top of mind.&rdquo;
Still, can one grow a collection of uniquely crafted garments into a global phenomenon? The balance of building buzz and keeping a certain level of preciousness is one that Osborne is still trying to achieve, namely through gut instinct. As someone who is admittedly &ldquo;not a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/parker-kit-hill-tiktok-style-coach-spring-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a> person,&rdquo; Osborne has tasked himself to push the brand forward in an authentic way. During <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/new-york-fashion-week-star-studded-events-parties-kendall-jenner-818-tequila-rodarte-dionlee-diesel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Fashion Week</a> in February, he explored the intersection of fashion and art, presenting a gallery exhibition titled &ldquo;Borrowed Crowns&rdquo; in collaboration with hat designer Gigi Burris.
&ldquo;Obviously, if you do something you want more people to see it and wear it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But in this day and age with social media and so much access, I kind of want to make it personal and keep it close. You want to own something as much as you can.&rdquo;

Public School's Maxwell Osborne Opens Up About Starting His New Label AnOnlyChild

Public School's Maxwell Osborne Opens Up About Starting His New Label AnOnlyChild

Tags

Related Articles

Fashion

30 Black Designers Who Shaped Fashion History

Fashion Week

5 Young Designers to Watch at New York Fashion Week

Fashion

LVMH Announces 2022 LVMH Prize Semi-Finalists

Recommended posts for you

Fashion

11 Beaded Bags to Add a Playful Twist to Any Outfit

Film & TV

8 Upcoming Celebrity Biopics to Add to Your 2025 Watchlist

Fashion

L'HISTOIRE: Thierry Mugler's Outrageously Elaborate Fall 1995 Couture Show

Fashion

Lily-Rose Depp Wears Vampy Red Chanel for 'Nosferatu' in NYC

Fashion

How Haute Couture Blends Drama and Ease in 2024

Travel & Living

Experience Ultimate Luxury: Onefinestay’s Most Exquisite Stays and Dream Destinations

Pop culture

Looking Back on 16 Young Jodie Foster Photos

Pop culture

Is Blackpink’s Rosé Really Dating Evan Mock? Everything You Need to Know