Rier Is the Definition of Mountain Essentialism
When Andreas Steiner left his role as senior designer at Louis Vuitton in 2017, he had a vision.
Inspired by his upbringing in southern Tyrol, a mountainous region sandwiched between Austra and Italy, Steiner launched unisex label Rier in his current hometown of Paris. Wherever its headquartered or worn, however, Rier will forever represent Steiner’s deep attachment to the picturesque region in which he was raised.
“It’s all about the attitude, childhood memories, and my fascination for pure mountain essentialism,” Steiner tells Highsnobiety. “Growing up in a stark, vertical mountain context you quickly learn to adapt to contrasts, and Rier is about items you can easily wear in either the city or the countryside.”
Rier, by Steiner's own declaration, has offered “flawlessly decontextualized heritage luxury garments” since it was founded in 2019, which aligns nicely with Steiner’s CV. Prior to his two-year stint at LV, he was a menswear designer at Prada before heading up womenswear at Miu Miu.
These previous roles have clearly informed Rier's excellent grasp on all-purpose indulgence. But even more than shaping his label, these experiences shaped Steiner as a person.
“Prada was a great school. I learned how to organize creative work and understand processes, attention to detail, finishings, and quality,” he explains. “Not only in the sense of technical work, but life experiences shaped me somehow too. So, of course I bring a lot of this into Rier, which is my current state of life and a reflection of myself.”
Rier is currently striding from one peak to another. Just two years on from its debut collection, Steiner was shortlisted for 2021's LVMH Prize and the young label's design voice has never been sharper, honed by collaborations with utilitarian-meets-elegance partners as disparate as Salomon and industrial designer Martino Gamper.
“Martino grew up in South Tyrol too and I always wanted to meet him, but never had the chance until a mutual friend introduced us,” explains Steiner. “We created a one-of-a-kind loden — thick, weather-resistant wool — for the 2022 collection, featuring a limited-edition set of loden coats, jackets, skirts, and trousers.”
That collection, and every one since, was available in tastemaking stores like Highsnobiety Shop, SSENSE, Isetan, and The Broken Arm, which know a good thing when they see it. Each new Rier offering builds atop the last, adopting a raw color palette from the organic materials that comprise them, matched to heritage flower embroidery or interrupted with blooms of indigo. Lots of wool, lots of cotton, absolutely zero cheap disposable fibers.
The signature here is Rier's exquisite fleece, a supersoft sweater made entirely in Austria of local sheep's wool. Its shape is classic hiker quarter-zip, down to the roomy arms and narrow elastic waist, but the artful hardware — nothing but RiRi zips! — and farm-to-table fiber redefines a classic with retro appeal. And the utility remains intact, too: because wool is naturally temperature regulating and weather resistant, Rier's fleece is as all-purpose and at least thrice as nice as any conventional offering.
The summation of the Rier project, in many ways, comes down to that Gamper partnership from a few years back. It reflects Rier's roots, Rier's current POV, even Rier's future. Tyrol forever.
“We had never even met in person before, but we just let the experimental process unfold,” explains Steiner. “Together we were able to embrace and manipulate together, which is what it's all about, really. I’d never have worked the way we did by myself. It was all about the attitude, the rawness, and the appreciation.”
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