How Henry Zankov Turned the Vogue World’s Go-To Sweater Man

When Henry Zankov was a toddler, he arrange a make-believe clothes retailer in his bed room. “I’d say to my brother, ‘What would you want to purchase right this moment?’ ” he recollects, laughing. “I’d sketch designs, and I even had a catalog. It was loopy however candy.”

Zankov, who’s now 43, has made his youthful self proud. We’re sitting in his residence, in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens neighborhood, surrounded by racks of colourful clothes guarded intently by his Scottish Terrier, Georgina. The area additionally serves as his studio and the showroom for his namesake knitwear model, which he launched in February 2020—simply earlier than pandemic lockdowns went into impact—with a small assortment of daring appears for women and men. Regardless of the unlucky timing, he discovered success along with his exuberant, suave, and technically revolutionary designs. Even the fuzzy upcycled pillows he made to assist hold the model afloat have been a success. In 2021, he landed his first wholesale account, with Web-a-Porter; in 2023, he was a runner-up for the CFDA/Vogue Vogue Fund prize, which means he obtained $100,000 and a devoted mentor: Daniella Vitale, the CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo.

“Henry’s expertise is a novel mixture of artwork and commerce,” says Eva Chen, vice chairman of trend partnerships at Instagram and a longtime Vogue Fund choose. “I had purchased his sweaters earlier than I met him in individual, and it’s been a pleasure to get a glimpse of the poetic means he views the world.”

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Zankov moved to the US along with his mother and father when he was 9. They ended up in Teaneck, New Jersey, due to its robust Jewish group and proximity to his mom’s aspect of the household, who had settled within the state within the Eighties. On the weekends, he’d take the bus into the town to buy groceries with pals. “I keep in mind going to the Comme des Garçons retailer that was once in SoHo and pondering, God, that is so unimaginable,” he says.

In highschool, he took stitching courses on the Vogue Institute of Know-how and ended up enrolling there to check girls’s design, gravitating towards knitwear alongside the way in which. “I’ve at all times been drawn to softer supplies, whether or not it’s jersey, sweaters, or silk,” he says. “I actually take pleasure in creating one thing from nothing. Nevertheless it’s so tedious to knit, and knitting machines are so precarious. So I needed to learn to be affected person.” Whereas at F.I.T., Zankov was inspired by a professor to take an internship on the cashmere model TSE. Proper after graduating, he landed a job at Donna Karan as an assistant menswear designer. “Once I first began within the trade, I used to be actually into black and neutrals,” he says. “It wasn’t till I labored with Diane von Furstenberg that I used to be actually capable of get into coloration, as a result of she’s such a coloration individual.”

Hints of Zankov’s earlier expertise—he spent 5 years at Donna Karan and 4 at DvF—may be present in his fall assortment. Titled “Maintain Me Nearer,” it was impressed by one thing individuals inform him typically about his garments, which is that they “really feel like a hug.” An oversize ruby merino wool sweater, for instance, may be tied on the waist like a wrap costume, and his matching separates embody the identical fundamental concept of sensible class as Donna Karan’s Seven Straightforward Items, although with rather more coloration and aptitude. “I need the whole lot to really feel easy, and I don’t need the garments to ever really feel like they’re taking on the individual; I need the garments to convey one thing out of them,” says Zankov.

A self-proclaimed “sew geek,” Zankov additionally included quite a few touch-me components into the gathering, like ethereal brushed alpaca mohair and hand-knit intarsia with built-in pompoms. “I actually needed to push the textural features,” he says. “It’s really easy to stick with sweaters and tops, but it surely’s enjoyable to experiment with completely different shapes as effectively.”

Trying forward, Zankov is working to develop the vary of his line. “I’d love there to be not a lot novelty on a regular basis, and to supply layers which might be a bit bit extra inexpensive, like a pleasant turtleneck,” he says. He’d like to include extra shirting and wool tailoring as effectively. “We began with simply six sweaters after which grew into this,” he says, gesturing towards the intense, virtually creaturelike confections which have taken over his lounge. “Typically even I’m stunned with how the visible language continues to evolve.”

Hair by Edward Lampley for MR. SMITH at CLM Company; Make-up by Marco Castro for MARCO CASTRO at Born Artists; Fashions: Jermaine Daley, Dilone at The Lions Administration; Dylan Keoni at Elite Fashions; Chloe King, Libania Namam Sa at UC Fashions; Tilly Macalister-Smith, Alex Tieghi-Walker; Casting by DM Casting; Casting Assistants: Brandon Contreras, Evagria Sergeeva; Photograph Assistants: Jupiter Jones, Wealthy Fazo; Vogue Assistants: Kelsey Logan, Jacqueline Moore; Hair Assistant: Marvin Tarver; Make-up Assistant: Emma Ando. Dilone, Macalister-Smith, and Namam Sa put on Sophie Buhai earrings; King wears her personal earrings; Keoni wears Jimmy Choo footwear; Macalister-smith wears Christian Louboutin footwear; Tieghi-Walker wears Vans slip-ons; Namam Sa wears Martiniano footwear.