LILEKS (James) The Dorcus Line of Menswear

The brand is long forgotten; the name itself has not been uttered by a fashion critic for decades. The days when doors opened at the mention of these two simple syllables are gone, long gone. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised; this company never had the glamour or prestige of a Saint-Laurent, a Givenchy. It never sought the adulation of the fickle scribes, the playboy set. It simply wanted to make interesting clothes for everyday people.

In a broad, generous definition of “interesting,” one can certainly say they succeeded.

The following pages contain archival material, interviews, photo-shoots and other bits of history from the company records. We are indebted to New York magazine, which published an interview with the company founder a year before his death, as well as Institute researcher Bob D. Johnson III, who located a rare copy of the founder’s autobiography.

You can read the history for necessary context, or skip right to the clothes.