You’ll want to want these! Jason Derulo’s new gig isn’t in music or on TV, although he had a busy summer with his Platinum Hits compilation and his role as a judge on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance. Instead, the “Kiss the Sky” singer, 27, is dipping his toe into a completely different arena. He’s the new face and an investor in LVL XIII, a menswear line where he has a collection of luxe footwear.
“I’ve always been into shoes,” Derulo told Stylish at Kola House, a new restaurant in downtown New York City, on Saturday, September 24. “Shoes have always been my thing. Fashion, in general, wasn’t always my thing. When I was a kid, my brother was always more into clothes than I was. I just went with the flow.”
Derulo has high expectations for the not-yet-released collection of 13 shoes, which will retail for $700 to $900 according to WWD. He gave a glimpse of the kicks at New York Fashion Week 2016 on September 13, where stars like Rick Ross were in attendance. “I’m a sneakerhead,” he admits. “From a sneakers standpoint, I just know that it’s gonna kill. Just being that average guy that is a little more into fashion, I feel like it just works.”
But being in the music industry — and finding his own aesthetic — sparked his interest. “I got on the scene when I was 19. I was just trying to look for the perfect stylist, always,” he continued. “Trying to find someone that just represented me. I could never find somebody that just had all the attributes that I wanted. But throughout the years, searching for the right person made me really dive into fashion and what actually is fly to me. Through that, I wanted to have my own line. I know there’s so many guys that feel the same way I do, trying to find a line that represents street, future and sexy at the same time.”
While he’s already set the bar high, the “Talk Dirty” musician will always remain humble because of one reminder: the name. The line was launched in 2013 by founder Antonio Brown, but fate revealed a very special connection three years later. “For me, LVL XIII was substantial because it was the actual floor that I lived on when I was in college,” the American Musical and Dramatic Academy alum says. “Literally, it was like the most humbling experience. I could brush my teeth from my bed because that’s how close my sink was. Shit was just like a cardboard box. But it was a humbling experience and it was one where I was really low, in terms of a monetary standpoint. I kind of figured I’d look at it as a beginning.”
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