Enfants Riches Déprimés

Enfants Riches Déprimés (lit. 'Depressed Rich Kids'), also known as ERD, is a Los Angeles and Paris based avant-garde luxury fashion brand founded in 2012 by the conceptual artist Henri Alexander Levy.

History

ERD was founded in late 2012 by Henri Alexander Levy as an avant-garde fashion collective, in an effort to create a French punk streetwear line based on the movements of the late 1970s and Japanese avant-garde movements of the 1980s.[1]

One of the core precepts of the brand is very high price points, with t-shirts ranging on average from $700 to $1,800, and haute couture jackets and pieces priced as high as $95,000.[2] ERD consistently utilizes the business model of artificial scarcity.[3] In this regard, all styles are sold on an extremely exclusive basis, and thus in small quantities, often making just three to five pieces of any one item.[4] "The price point is not only a marker of value, but intrinsically part of the piece itself," Levy remarked in a 2015 interview with The Guardian. He further noted that "No pieces are alike and everything is limited. I have no interest in making affordable pieces for the masses."[5] The artist further noted in a 2016 interview with Complex magazine that "The best way for me to explain the brand is elitist, nihilist couture (…) The price point eliminates the masses, and the ideas eliminate the people who I don't want, generally, in it, due to the dark nature."[3][6]

The originality of ERD's designs has also resulted in other high fashion brands appropriating similar designs and styles, most notably Gucci, Balmain and Vetements. ERD has made a point to be extremely particular with respect to accepting new stockists.[4] Enfants reportedly informed stores in 2017 that if there is any evidence of carrying brands that copy ERD or feature "mid-level contemporary bullshit," the brand will categorically prohibit those stores from carrying the brand.

Enfants Riches Déprimés began with just a small handful of stockists in 2012. From 2013 to 2014, the label quietly garnered a following amongst celebrities, including Jared Leto, Kanye West, Pusha T, Beyoncé, G Dragon, Sky Ferreira, Courtney Love, Frances Bean Cobain, and Guns N' Roses.[7][8][6][9][10][11][12][13]

From 2015 to 2017, Enfants Riches Déprimés experienced a business growth, notably with its garments being stocked in limited capacity by Patron of the New, Maxfield, 10 Corso Como, Luisa Via Roma, and Trois Pommes. The brand has also earned considerable artistic acclaim in the fashion world with Levy's trailblazing and particularly confrontational and provocative designs.

Enfants Riches Déprimés unveiled its SS18 pre-collection at Christie's Paris in June 2017, the first time a fashion house had shown at the historic auction house, founded in 1766.[14] For its SS23 collection held at Lycée Henri IV in Paris in October 2022, Enfants Riches Déprimés unveiled politically and morally motivated garments that would continue to propel its counterculture brand imagery and ethos, such as criticism of fascist dictators and references to the founder of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong and American serial killer, Aileen Wuornos.[15]

In 2019, Enfants Riches Déprimés opened its first flagship store, located at 79 Rue Charlot in the Marais district of Paris.[16] In 2025, ERD opened their second flagship in the Gangnam District of Seoul.[17]. In 2026, the brand announced plans to open a third store in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City.[18]

In 2024, Levy opened a rare art book and vinyl store next to their Paris flagship called the Anti Public Library (stylised in all caps) that focuses on noise music, post-punk, industrial music, shoegaze and no wave.[19]

Influences

Enfants Riches Déprimés has taken inspiration from a variety of historical sources. In an interview with V magazine, Levy commented that "As far as other painters I am really into Robert Motherwell. I'm envious of the scale of his work. Also, [the work of] painters Cy Twombly, Antoni Tàpies and Jean Dubuffet (…) I find them particularly appealing at this point in my life. I think those that are familiar with Tàpies' work, will see he has influenced ERD from the informality to the way he uses furniture and rags."[20] Levy has also been noted as being influenced by conceptual artists Rodney McMillian, Barbara Kruger, and Andrea Fraser;[19] Japanese fashion designers Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto; the drawings of Raymond Pettibon, and punk rockers Darby Crash and Johnny Thunders.[21]

Collaborations

In 2012, the brand did a limited T-shirt release with Young & Starving, a New York nonprofit organization that works to support budding artists and curators.[22] In 2015, the brand collaborated with Vans to create a custom classic high-top sneaker, featuring hand-drawings and "rebellious scribbling".[23] For their Fall/Winter 2016 collection, ERD collaborated with the estate of Cy Twombly to create a capsule collection featuring interpretations of the late artist's polaroid film works.

ERD has a continuing relationship with the contemporary artist and architect Didier Fiúza Faustino. His sculpture was notably featured as the centerpiece of their Paris runway show in September 2016, which premiered the brand's Spring/Summer 2017 main collection.[24]

In early 2017, Enfants Riches Déprimés collaborated with Daft Punk for their store at Maxfield Gallery in Los Angeles.[25]

In July 2017, Enfants Riches Déprimés launched a pop-up store at Maxfield Gallery, transforming the sprawling space into a pawn shop.[26] The shop featured a capsule collection of archival pieces, as well as a number of new limited edition styles.[27][28]

In June 2019, Enfants Riches Déprimés collaborated on the artistic design of Future's EP Save Me, with the cover being one of his paintings and all the music videos made for the EP directed by him.