How All–in Went from Indie Magazine to the Fashion Brand Everyone’s Talking About

Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø, the designers behind the womenswear label All–in, never intended to launch a brand. “We didn’t start out thinking this would be a business,” says Barron, surrounded by racks of clothes in their studio in Paris, where they’ve lived since 2021. “We’ve just been taking it one step at a time.”

In 2015, after graduating from Bard College, in New York, with a degree in photography, Barron launched an annual indie fashion publication called All–in. “The magazine was an outlet to start conversations with other artists,” he explains. “The collaborative process—that was exciting to me.” He met Vestbø, a Norwegian designer who had just moved to New York, at the magazine’s crowded East Village launch party, and they began dating. Within a few years, they were working together.

Sold in numbered, limited-edition runs, each issue of All–in is printed in a different format: loose-leaf papers bound by artfully ripped pink plastic seals, or tech pack envelopes tied up with ribbons. The issues have explored themes such as fast fashion and the demise of magazines, calling on collaborators who are both established and rising talents, from the stylist Haley Wollens to the writer Natasha Stagg and the young stylist Bianca Raggi. Willem Dafoe was on the first cover; Lily-Rose Depp is on the latest.

The magazine rarely has advertising, so Barron and Vestbø feel free to use thrifted and upcycled clothes in editorials. “We’re always looking for things that attract us and that we find a bit challenging in some way,” says Barron. A shoot from an early, Italy-themed issue featured a haul of refashioned vintage pieces—a bodice with gloves sewn on like a tutu, a knitted vest worn as a skirt. They sourced the garments, all of which cost one euro, from the Porta Portese flea market in Rome. “When you see something you do or don’t like, it’s because you have an idea of what it represents,” says Vestbø. It’s “an exciting challenge to see beyond an accepted idea and create something new.”

That project inspired them to make more artisanal pieces constructed from thrifted items, and in 2019 they officially started selling clothes. They displayed their first collection on a rack in a makeshift showroom: an Airbnb in Paris. Designer Maryam Nassir Zadeh, whom the pair met through a mutual friend, was so excited by the designs that she hosted their debut show in her downtown New York store; the clothes sold directly off the runway. The Paris-based stylist Lotta Volkova, who has collaborated with Vetements and Balenciaga and is currently working with Miu Miu, was among their first customers.

Every collection is based on a storyline featuring an uber-feminine protagonist, from a prom queen to a pop star to a businesswoman who grapples with the status quo. “We’re always inspired by characters who are at a heightened moment of representation or trying to achieve something,” says Vestbø.

Fall 2023’s heroine was a fictional pop star called Allina; her rapid rise and even faster fall was inspired by the 1995 film Showgirls and the reality TV star Heidi Montag. The 33-look collection was shown in the basement of Paris’s Montparnasse Tower—the steely lone skyscraper in the 15th arrondissement and one of the city’s most detested buildings. (For Barron, it felt as close to his native New York City as he could get in Paris.) Tube dresses, lacy tank tops, and skintight denim gave way to draped and deconstructed lingerie-like dresses with sequins. As the show went on, the clothes seemed to unravel.

Their latest outing, titled “Uptown Girl,” was presented on the 40th floor of the same tower—a literal ascent inspired by Melanie Griffith’s ambitious character, Tess McGill, in the 1980s rom-com Working Girl. Unmistakable codes from the decade, such as a reconstructed leather trenchcoat, padded shoulders, bulbous pearls, and Flashdance-esque athleisure, were mixed with twisted silk blouses, draped minidresses, and deconstructed denim pieces. For the latter, Barron and Vestbø collaborated with Guess U.S.A. and were given full access to the jeans giant’s archives. The designers reconfigured denim jackets and jeans into pencil skirts and jackets that appear to be layered upon themselves.

It’s not the first time the duo has had their way with fashion archives: In 2019, they mined the work of Italian designer Romeo Gigli for an editorial featured in All–in’s fourth issue. They’ve worked with the 1990s fashion and art collective Bernadette Corporation, as well as with seminal aughts designers Miguel Adrover and Ann-Sofie Back. The dream, Barron says, is to get their hands on Cristóbal Balenciaga’s archives.

While the pair tries to work with vintage and deadstock materials as much as possible, the challenge has been to parlay that into a scalable fashion brand. (“The quality of vintage pieces is so different,” says Vestbø. “You can tell that something is from the ’90s or ’80s.”) About half of their runway designs are produced and sold at stores such as Dover Street Market, 10 Corso Como, and Ssense, as well as through their growing direct-to-consumer business.

Especially popular are their accessories and shoes, like their double pump, which looks as if a strappy sandal had collided with a classic pump. The level boot—a pointy-toed shoe with eyelets and leather lacing that comes in ankle, knee, and thigh-high lengths—is a hit with both men and women. They’ve also introduced bags, including the Carrie (as in Bradshaw) and the Dolly (as in Parton), which they make by collaging together a trio of vintage clasp purses.

While Barron and Vestbø usually create just one collection a year—a spring-summer one, presented in a show staged outside the official Fashion Week calendar, and often very late at night—they are currently working on their debut fall-winter capsule collection. “We’re interested in exploring garments that are not summer clothes,” explains Vestbø. All the while, they’re at work on the eighth edition of the magazine, which is set to be published in April. “Maybe the clothing can make us some money, and the magazine can stay totally free,” says Vestbø.

Growth is happening in the same way their debut did: organically, driven by a fan base of insiders who recognize and prize originality. Take Volkova, who has gone from a customer to a collaborator, styling All–in’s runway shows for the past two seasons. The partnership is so fruitful because “she has a way of seeing our clothes,” explains Barron. “It’s pushing it even further.”

Hair by Franziska Presche for Oribe Haircare at The Good Company; Makeup by Thom Walker for Shiseido at Art + Commerce. Models: Lamich Kirabo at Select Model Management, Lou Seriot at Elite NY, Yura Romaniuk at The Industry; Casting by Ashley Brokaw Casting; Produced by Producing Love; Photo Assistant: Erik Casla; Production Assistant: Remi Amuah; Hair Assistant: Yuri Kato; Makeup Assistant: Martha Inoue.