Jamie Davidson was not one to blend in with his peers during his days at McCallie School, a private boys' boarding and day school in Chattanooga, Tenn. Uh-uh.
Davidson jazzed up his sober uniform by accessorizing it ... with a Razorback hog hat, no less.
"He would wear that around campus with chaps and [fake] six shooters," recalls Davidson's friend, Joseph Wingfield. "He accomplished the dress code, with coat, tie, dress shoes, socks, dress pants, collared shirt, your haircut [that] had to be over your eyebrows, off your ear, off your collar." But then he added those distinctive accoutrements.
"It wasn't like you had to work hard to notice him. He was very noticeable," Wingfield assures.
Since those days, Davidson has continued to make himself noticeable on a wider scale as a fashion designer whose vocabulary doesn't include the words "no" and "can't" -- and who is by no means intimidated by the words "it's never been done."
The Little Rock native first distinguished himself as the co-purveyor of a notable line of men's and women's wear; then, as creator of a second line of men's clothing and women's high-end handbags. Now, the 47-year-old is cutting a swath through the celebrity world as creative director of Strong Suit, a 5-year-old collection of hip, sexy, sophisticated suits, accessories and formalwear that's offered at Dillard's and Nordstrom and is being worn by a number of celebrities.
Like who?
"We just dressed The Rock a couple of weeks ago," Davidson says during a recent interview, sitting on a low-slung seat in the midcentury modern, Heights-area home designed by his grandfather. "The Rock," of course, is the wrestling nickname of now-actor Dwayne Johnson. A Getty Images photo shows Johnson in a striking teal suit that skims over his powerful physique and is worn with a coordinating, open-collar print shirt.
Then there's Emmy Award-winning actor Sterling K. Brown. "I just got an email last night that he wore some of our stuff," Davidson adds. Davidson pauses to go through the photos on Strong Suit's Instagram account. There's Topher Grace, co-star of the 2018 film BlacKkKlansman. Armie Hammer, co-star of 2013's The Lone Ranger. Alden Ehrenreich, who portrays Han Solo in this year's Solo: A Star Wars Story. James Marsden from HBO's Westworld. And Walton Goggins, co-star of Ant-Man and the Wasp and a personal friend of Davidson's -- "He's a great actor."
Rami Malak (of the USA Network series Mr. Robot) was the first big celebrity to appear wearing the line when he was chosen for GQ magazine's list of The 10 Best Dressed Men of the Week.
The Strong Suit line, Davidson says, speaks to the man who takes care of his body and who wants everybody to know it. The collection consists of sleek, smart, slim-fit ensembles in solid blues -- including the brighter blue that abounds in today's menswear -- grays and black, as well as patterned sport coats. Also part of Strong Suit: shirts, ties and pocket squares, along with tuxedos and dinner jackets. Prices range from $495-$695.
Strong Suit has been written about in some big-time magazines in the past few months -- not only in GQ but Esquire, Forbes, the Los Angeles Times. In fact, the line has made its way into the GQ 10 Best Dressed List several times. Right up in there with such names as Gucci, Prada, Zegna. "We've had some really good press lately," Davidson says.
The line incorporates two notable menswear trends: one, performance fabrics; most of the fabrics in the line have 2 percent to 3 percent elastane. The other trend: the unconstructed, or empty, shoulder, with no pads. "It gives a more natural silhouette," Davidson says. "And while it still is obviously very tailored and very fitted, it's also more comfortable."
Davidson wanted to focus on suits because, he says, "I thought they were interesting and I thought they were cool." But how did he come to be so successful at what some may call reinventing the wheel?
"The thing that I like about [Strong Suit] is the design aspect. When guys wear clothes ... they want to be interesting but they don't want to wear a costume. Helping define that sense of style ... I think, is what's been appealing to me about it. Strong Suit's certainly been the most successful thing I've ever done."
Davidson's friend, actor Ray McKinnon, would certainly agree.
"There is the phrase, 'thinking outside the box.' That is certainly applicable with Jamie," McKinnon says. "But maybe more accurate is that Jamie can look inside a particular 'box' -- into the dark corners where others might have missed -- and see ways to improve or change how we see or think about that box. Jamie didn't radically change how suits are made or how they look, but he did see an area of the market that was underserved, and perhaps more importantly, he had a pretty good idea of what that segment would like, both in style and price point."
William Dillard III, senior vice president of Dillard's Department stores, also concurs.
"Jamie is extremely dialed in to the trends in the marketplace," he says. "Whether they be fashion trends, marketing trends, entertainment trends, technology trends or social/cultural trends, he has his finger on the pulse. Starting up a fashion company in Little Rock is not easy -- and Jamie has done it multiple times."
Some of the celebrity wear of Strong Suit came about through personal friendships Davidson has. It was through a mutual friend that he met Hollywood stylist Ilaria Urbinati. "Ilaria has become the most powerful stylist in Hollywood for men," Davidson says. "Her client list is long."
So no one would be faulted for assuming Davidson had left Little Rock. But he still has a studio at 319 President Clinton Ave.
Naturally, he travels quite a bit. When not on the road or in the skies, he's at the home in which he once cared for the grandparents he adored, Irene and Julian Davidson. Julian Davidson, an architect and engineer who was first in his graduate class at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and recruited to work on the Manhattan Project during World War II. His grandfather could have gone anywhere, but came home, Davidson says.
A STAR IS BORN
Davidson is the son of Nancy Vincent of Collierville, Tenn., and Randy Davidson of Northwest Arkansas. Part of a family that includes a younger half-sister and two younger half-brothers, Davidson was born in Little Rock but later moved with his family to Cabot, then Tennessee.
"He was not an easy brother to have when we were young -- [he was] a constant practical jokester and troublemaker," recalls his half-sister, Caroline Stephens of Wytheville, Va. "But we are super close."
Growing up, Davidson had no idea that clothing design would be in his future. "I really thought I wanted to be in the movie business," he says. "That's what I wanted to do, and still is what I want to do." His film dreams were realized last year when he produced Dayveon, a film by close friend and writer-director Amman Abbasi and which opened the Sundance Film Festival's Next Fest.
But not long after high school, Davidson found himself living in Memphis, waiting tables, with no interest in college -- "I was a terrible student." Seeing that his paternal grandparents needed attention, he returned to Little Rock, moved in with them and become their caretaker. His need for a job led him to a seven-year stint working at longtime Heights men's clothing store Mr Wicks. While there, he "just kind of fell in love with the business" and dreamed of a design career.
Teaming with a business partner, Padgett Mangan, Davidson co-founded the line Normandy & Monroe. The men produced a high-end windbreaker from Ventile, a soft but dense, naturally waterproof cotton fabric. The jacket was worn by such notables as Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, along with such actors as Robert De Niro and Kevin Costner. Later, Davidson and Mangan connected with Betsy Parkinson Manning to come up with a signature women's piece. The result was a fit-and-flare jacket made of fabric from Scalamandre, a company known for upscale decorative textiles used by interior designers. "It became kind of an overnight success," Davidson recalls. "It was in the book for Neiman Marcus. That kind of took on a life of its own."
Normandy & Monroe rode its wave of success for five years. Then, "literally in the same week, the factory that sewed our garments, which was in a little town called Oneonta, N.Y., and Scalamandre both filed bankruptcy," Davidson recalls. "So we were really stuck with nowhere to go." Luckily, Dillard's had approached Davidson shortly beforehand about developing Tre Vero, a line of men's casual apparel and upscale women's handbags. While Mangan went on to continue the Normandy & Monroe line for a time, Davidson put all his energy into Tre Vero. The handbags were produced for six years; the menswear had a decadelong run.
He'd been thinking about the Strong Suit line for two to three years before starting it, he says. "I wanted it to be very classic; I wanted it to be very sophisticated, I wanted the fit to be very modern. I kind of have this feeling that guys don't really want to dress like their dads, but they kind of want to dress like their granddads. .... My grandfather never left the house without a sport coat on."
The rest, as they say, is history. Last year, Strong Suit was acquired by Oxford Industries, also owner of such brands as Lily Pulitzer and Tommy Bahama.
TIES THAT BIND
Although Davidson has a penchant for vintage cars, his favorite pastime is socializing with family and friends. His friends are quick to say how loyal he has been to them.
"He has been willing to go to my kid's paintball party in the summer -- 100-degree heat -- for about three years running," Dillard says. "It's a true friend that's willing to get hit by a paint ball."
Then, Wingfield tells of how Davidson took an emergency flight from New York to see about Wingfield after he sustained a nasty injury while horseback riding in Colorado's Pike National Forest.
Davidson is the only one in his immediate family still in Little Rock. Julian Davidson died in 1997; Irene Davidson died seven years later. Keeping him here this far: his friends, the legacies of his Davidson grandparents, and the legacy of his step-grandfather -- the late Jackson T. Stephens, chief executive officer of Stephens Inc. and an investor who played an important role in nurturing a number of Arkansas companies to great success.
But at some point, Davidson fears, these legacies won't be enough to hold him to Natural State residency.
"It pains me to say it, because I love Little Rock, but Little Rock is dying," he laments. "And it's dying because this city hasn't innovated in two decades."
One can tell that Little Rock's decline is a soapbox on which Davidson climbs frequently, sounding the alarm in hopes someone will heed it.
"The problem ... is that when Jack Stephens died, there was a vacuum from the investor community that no individual, or group of people, has filled," he explains. "I don't see the next great creative industry happening here, because the infrastructure to allow that to happen does not exist here.
"In this day and time ... if you're standing still, you're falling behind. And we're not just standing still. This city is 15 years behind where it needs to be ... If you're a young entrepreneur and you're starting a business and you're wanting to do something interesting, especially if it's creative, you're doing yourself a disservice by trying to do it from here. And you're talking to somebody who's done it from here. But it is incredibly hard."
As he considers the pros and cons of moving, Davidson is glad for what he was able to accomplish here. And, he says, he has been "incredibly fortunate" to have a family who, no matter what he wanted to do, has been supportive and not told him no.
"I think about my grandparents every day ... Every time I have a decision to make, I think, 'Could I defend this decision to the people that care about me? That's kind of become how I live my life."
SELF-PORTRAIT
• DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: July 15, 1971, Little Rock
• FANTASY DINNER GUESTS: Reinhold Niebuhr [theologian], Mark Twain, Dwight Eisenhower, George Carlin.
• LIFE IS LIKE A WELL-CUT SUIT IN THAT: I don't know that there is a direct analogy here. Or at least one that I believe. But a well-cut suit for the person that makes it is about craftsmanship. And that is important. For the person who wears it, it is about how they want to be perceived. In our world, perception can be a version of reality. Until it's not. At the end of the day, if you are a good person who wears a bad-fitting suit, people will still love you and say you are quirky and interesting. If you are a jerk and wear a great fitting suit, you are still a jerk.
• ANOTHER CELEBRITY I'D LIKE TO SEE IN STRONG SUIT: I'd like to see more regular people in our suits.
• FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURE: Naps.
• PUT ME ON A DESERTED ISLAND IF YOU MUST, BUT LET ME HAVE: Thor Heyerdahl [Norwegian ethnologist and adventurer].
• BEST PIECE OF ADVICE I EVER RECEIVED: It's never the what. It's always the who. -- Bill Dillard III
• THE MAIN THING I'D TELL ANY UP-AND-COMING FASHION DESIGNER: Listen to a lot of advice, but don't take much of it. Advice from people who have done it before can limit innovation. It's only clear in hindsight who was right and who was wrong anyway.
• IF MY LIFE WERE A REALITY SHOW, I'D CALL IT: Go Read a Book.
• ONE WORD TO SUM ME UP: Lucky. As hell.
High Profile on 09/02/2018