This article is a mobile-friendly adaptation of the piece I wrote for my sister site, Hooked-on: "C Diem." If the subject interests you, I encourage you to visit the original on Hooked-on as well.
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If asked what I wore most in the early 2000s, I would answer without hesitation: C Diem. At the time I was cycling through a horsehide single rider's jacket, this leather shirt, a linen shirt, a raw-edge long-sleeve T-shirt, zip-up boots, and lace-up boots on near-constant rotation. The jeans I wore with them were West Coast-style denim — the combination that felt most right was a heavy-weight boot-cut from Stitches with pronounced distressing, paired with a wide antique-finished studded belt from HTC. That was my casual look. This article is about C Diem.
C Diem.
C Diem was a brand by Maurizio Altieri, active from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. What distinguished it was not surface-level distressing but something closer to the visual language of decay — wrinkling, oxidation, the way objects deteriorate with age — applied to leather and linen to create a world that was, in the best sense, decadent. It was a brand with a singular vision.
It produced not broad popular appeal but a small, intensely devoted following. The word "artisan" is used more often now than it was then, but C Diem belongs to that lineage — and the designers who have come after it, working in a similar spirit, carry forward something of its philosophy in the clothes they make.
Uncompromising Mode Fashion
In terms of concept, the brands closest to C Diem are Carol Christian Poell and Paul Harden. I never bought Paul Harden in the end, but I did own a Carol Christian Poell tailored jacket in cotton — a piece with reversed panel construction — and wore it occasionally. I wore it alongside C Diem at the time.
These are clothes for inhabiting a designer's vision, not for comfort or warmth in any conventional sense. What separates them decisively from the high-end fashion houses is the complete absence of the ornamental — there is nothing luxurious about them in the conventional sense. I remember hearing that the members of Blankey Jet City wore C Diem on stage, which feels right — it's the kind of clothing rock musicians reach for.
Things That Are Loved for a Long Time
C Diem and Carol Christian Poell have always had a following among people in fashion and beauty. My C Diem single rider's jacket, the Carol Christian Poell tailored jacket, a long-sleeve T-shirt, and lace-up boots all went to a junior colleague in the beauty industry. He was delighted — genuinely taken with them — and has been wearing them carefully ever since.
What I held back at the time — reluctant to let go — was this leather shirt, the linen shirt, and the zip-up boots. Those eventually went to the same junior colleague who received the Berluti, along with the leather shirt, linen shirt, zip-up boots, and long-sleeve T-shirt. Like the Berluti pieces, he has taken to them completely and wears them with care.
C Diem, like Berluti — things purchased nearly twenty years ago, still wanted, and worn with the same attachment by whoever receives them. The difference with Berluti is that Maurizio Altieri has retired and the brand no longer exists, so there is no longer a support structure for care and repair. But both colleagues found a skilled person who can also do alterations — someone who handles repairs and adjustments — and have been taking their pieces there.
Clothes I wore with attachment and care, now worn with the same attachment and care by the people who received them. As with Berluti, I find something genuinely wonderful in that — a word that connects to sustainability in the truest sense. I look at what I'm absorbed in now, and I hope the same thing happens with those pieces in time.
Shirt and Boots
Zip-up boots in horsehide, treated to look as though they have been washed and worked over with abrasive — a surface that reads as worn rather than finished. The low, upturned toe creates a distinctive silhouette at the hem.
A shirt in leather — calf, most likely — washed and wrinkled. This treatment became one of the defining looks of the mid-2000s. A linen bag is included with the piece; after hand-washing, place it in the bag and allow it to dry, and the characteristic wrinkling develops on its own.
Conclude.
As with Berluti, C Diem is a story of things worn with attachment, passed on, and worn with the same attachment by the people who received them. At the root of it is the quality of the making — a quality that may not be recognised by many, but is recognised by those who encounter it, and who, given the opportunity to have it, wear it with care. I find that genuinely moving, and I hope that what I am absorbed in now will follow the same path in time.
Everything covered on this site is something I wear with attachment and take care of. There is the maker's knowledge and craft, the universality and beauty that follows from it, and the satisfaction of wearing it — but also, in each piece, a sense of the maker's and the seller's commitment to something beyond the object itself. I hope that comes through, and that it sparks some interest in what is introduced here.
Purchasing Store.
Barneys New York Official Website
The C Diem pieces introduced here and others from the same period were purchased at Barneys New York Yokohama in the early 2000s. I visit less often than I once did — current trend-driven pieces don't hold much interest for me — but the stock is consistently excellent, and whenever I do go, I find things I want. A few years ago I picked up an Alanui cashmere knit and a SLOWGUN stadium jacket there. There are always new discoveries, and the staff are good at finding interesting things to show you. Last season I noticed they were carrying Paul Harden at the Ginza store — something I'd like to pick up when the opportunity comes.