BEVERLY HILLS — Maroon 5 frontman-turned designer Adam Levine says his lack of fashion training is not a problem.
“I don’t know how to read music, but I can still play. So I don’t really give a (expletive) about formal training or going to school,” said Levine in an interview Thursday at an event for his latest Kmart collection. “You don’t have to be trained in everything to be good at it.”
“The Voice” coach said skepticism of some celebrity designers is warranted, but insisted his collection is not “your average, celebrity-hawked fashion line.”
“I didn’t want it to just be something that I phoned in,” Levine said. “So I was really involved in the process.”
The collection, which retails for $30 or less, includes colorful, casual printed T-shirts, mini crop tops, twill and jean shorts and patterned maxi dresses. Levine’s menswear line for Kmart launched last fall.
“I kind of know what I like for both men and women. I think that it’s a little more difficult and challenging when you’re not, it’s not something you can conceptualize, or it’s not something you can conceive of wearing,” he said of designing for the opposite sex. “So I needed to get a little bit of help.”
Levine’s Victoria’s Secret model fiancee Behati Prinsloo (bay-AHT’-ee PRINS’-lo) lent him a hand. He looked through Prinsloo’s closet for inspiration and the couple collaborated on a few pieces.
The clothes are “ideally what you want to see, I guess selfishly, on a lady,” he said.