Amiri Finds Rhythm in the Spirit of 1970s Laurel Canyon

"Much has been mythologised about Laurel Canyon in the 1970s, the loose hillside network of rented houses, recording studios, informal salons and open doors in the hidden in the Hollywood Hills. Musicians, artists and writers moving between kitchens, gardens and living rooms - stars like Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, The Doors, Frank Zappa are said to have played songs for one another, partied, took drugs and slept with each other, living freely while writing the music we still listen to today."

"Mike Amiri still trades in some sartorial experimentation, but like many designers working today, he focuses less on charting new territory and instead on fortifying the world he's already built, consolidating the language into something more coherent, proposing refinement as its means for progression. As such, meaning is carried through craft and material rather than overt symbolism. "The emotion comes through when you get close," Amiri says referring to the handwork and the presence of human labour in the garments"

""The emotion comes through when you get close," Amiri says referring to the handwork and the presence of human labour in the garments - techniques that accrue value through time, wear and touch; each something to cherish. That logic extends into the show environment, staged as an imagined Laurel Canyon interior: guests are seated in leather armchairs on patchworked Persian rugs, under warm pools of lamplight, with walls stacked with bookshelves, as if entering a private home rather than a runway"

Amiri's Autumn/Winter 2026 collection situates itself within Laurel Canyon's creative geography, capturing a spirit of creativity as a way of life rather than recreating a past era. The collection prioritizes craft, material and the presence of human labour, allowing techniques to accrue value through wear, time and touch. Design choices favor consolidation and refinement of an existing aesthetic over radical experimentation, emphasizing multiplicity and identity woven into daily life. The show is staged as an intimate interior, with leather armchairs, patchworked Persian rugs, warm lamplight and bookshelves, presenting garments as cherished, lived objects.

Read at AnOther