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EVALUATION

INITIAL IDEA - My initial idea for my final project was to look at streetwear and how can collaborations between two brands can create such a massive hype. i also looked at the influences from sources outside of fashion and street wear and how they can affect what we wear and what is considered a staple or new trend.

FIRST PHOTOSHOOT - For my first photoshoot i went and took pictures of my friends in streetwear that they would wear on a daily basis i wanted the photos to follow a certain style that fashion photography follows. an example of this is that the model doesn’t really look at the camera and if they do its full of attitude. i think that my photos work really well especially the black and white ones and the one that follows i like the black and white ones because they are very clean and i like the silhouette effect that is created i think that i could have done more of them. i like the photo that follows because its extremely clear and bright i think that it catches your eye immediately i think that the one after that could have been equally as strong but the model wasn’t completely centred in the photo so i think that it lets it down a bit and thats why the first one is stronger.

2ND PHOTOSHOOT - For my second photoshoot i took more pictures of my friend in a different outfit in a different location with different lighting i don’t that it works as well because the photos didn’t come out the way that i thought they would i think i needed to play around with the ISO on the camera more. i think that the only ones that worked well were the the ones i took of the yeezys i think the black contrasts well against the orange and draws your eye in more. they are very strong from a technique point of view because they are always the main focus of the picture .

3RD PHOTOSHOOT - I think that my third photoshoot was very successful because the lighting that day was really good i think because it was a little bit over cast so there wasn’t any lens flare like on the other shoot so it would make the pictures come out clearer and make the clothes stand out more. I think that my favourite photo from the shoot is the top one because if you follow streetwear and fashion you’d be able to recognise what brand the hoodie is without it being made massively obvious because the model isn’t facing the camera. also i think that the barbed wire in the background adds something to the photo i think  it sells the fact the model is in an urban environment more which is what i was going for.

CUSTOMISATION - I decided to look at customisation of shoes because some people create hypothetical collaborations between brands that they want to see so I found that interesting and wanted to follow this further and make a collaboration between VLONE and Vans.

i used latex and red and blue acrylic paint i then filled them with news paper to stop the liquid from going inside the shoes and to keep them from sinking in and moving around while i was dripping it onto the shoes.

i think that they came out really well i really like the effect that i created. when i first finished them people said that the looked like either the shoes were melting or as if the person standing in them was melting. i think if i had to do them again i would add white paint because originally the shoes were meant to be pink and light blue. when i was mixing the paint and latex it was the colours that i wanted it to be but i didn't realise that it would dry a lot darker than what i planned.

I customised a second pair of VANS they are black and white high top old skools i put bleach on them and wrote all over them and distressed them to make them more edgy and raw. For my inspiration i looked at the past yeezy seasons because a lot of it is very dark colours and distressed material which gives it a very raw and grungy look. i also looked at VLONE for the colour because they use a lot of black and orange i decided to put bleach on it to make the black turn orange. i think they work extremely well. i have asked a lot of people about what they think of them and they said that they would wear them and that they look like a real release.

VLONE SHOOT - 

For my VLONE shoot I took photos of the shoes that i customed I didn't really know where to take the pictures and someone suggested to me that because i wanted to go for  raw look i should try taking them somewhere where there isn't too much light and somewhere there is a lot of concrete to make it look more urban.

i think that the photos came out really well i think that i further improved them by making them black and white and adding a finishing effect to them to add more layers to the photo to make it more visually interesting.i think if i had to take them again i would try and take the pictures at night or have models wearing them. i think that the pictures that i took represent the shoes and follows the look that i was going for really well. i think with some of the picture i could have centred the shoes more to make the picture technically and visually stronger. 

when i edit my pictures im always listening to music. the music i listen to influences the type of pictures i take and the way that i edit them. i listen to people like Kanye west, Asap Rocky, xxx tentacion, Ski mask the slump god, Harlem Spartans, AJ tracey and more. i think the more aggressive the song the more attitude and the more raw my pictures come out and the more hyped the song the brighter and more clean my pictures come out.

XPERIMENTS

i decided to look into making hoodies and some art and possible prints for my project i designed them on photoshop for my inspiration i looked at pre existing art and i also looked at an extremely popular film i used one of the stills from the film of one of the main characters smoking i added the logo that i created i used the outline of the VLONE V and i filled it with the vans logo to combined the two brands i used this on other pictures like a still from an anime called cowboy bebop and a design of a tattoo that i want. i created two designs for a hoodie on photoshop i coloured one black and the other the VLONE orange and i put the V that i created on the back of them i put the orange V on the black hoodie and the black on the orange i think that they work extremely well i think that it is definitely something i would wear if it was real. i asked people what they thought of them and they said that it looks like something VLONE would make  but they also said that i should think about not having vans on the front of it because it takes something away from it.

Overall i think that I found that collaborations in streetwear are extremely important for the culture to continue to grow and also i think that outside influences such as music and pop culture can have a huge impact on what becomes popular and what the next trend is. 

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LOOKBOOK

CLICK THE LINK TO VIEW LOOKBOOK.

https://www.yumpu.com/s/bM2o8VNQU9Dj0KBS

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EXPERIMENTS

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EXPERIMENTS

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ASAP ROCKY

Rakim Mayers (born October 3, 1988), better known by his stage name ASAP Rocky, is an American rapper, record producer, director, actor and model from the Harlem neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York. He is a member of the hip hop group A$AP Mob, from which he adopted his moniker.

It’s an accepted fact that A$AP Rocky is among the most (if not the most) fashionable men in hip-hop. His personal aesthetic is proof enough, but lately A$AP has embedded himself further and further into the fashion industry, most recently with the unveiling of his collection with acclaimed designer J.W.Anderson. But lest we forget, the man’s a model too, as he has just been announced as one of the faces for Dior’s FW16 campaign.

Rocky is one of four creatives highlighted for Dior’s latest campaign, the others being film director Larry Clark of Kids fame, actor Rod Paradot and model Dylan Roques. The rapper rocks several looks from the upcoming collection, the most striking being a scarlet trench coat and a pair of Dior’s signature eyewear. While some may find him to be a curious fit for a brand as polished as Dior, the label put it best in the campaign by pointing out how Rocky “embodies the empowered masculinity of today’s urban dandy.”

I have decided to include asap rocky in my work because he is one of my main influences and inspirations when it comes to fashion and style and even just as a person. 

i think that his dress sense is absolutely unreal i think when it comes to fashion he is in a whole new league and he just transcends everything he comes into contact with because he isn't afraid to be different and see things in a completely new way. 

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KANYE WEST

I have decided to look at Kanye because Kanye to me is a god. i think that everything he comes in to comes in to contact with turns into gold the man is a genius weather it being music fashion music or just being an all round inspiration to millions of people he is the absolute GOAT. his grip on todays youth in unimaginably strong. 

i think as a rapper he has transcended and broke the boundaries between music and fashion. i don’t think that he makes music i think unlike other rappers he makes art i think that he i s a visionary his lyrics are on a whole other level they are really deep and i love the fact he uses music as a social commentary like in black skinhead he says “black man at the top floor with a white woman they gone call me king kong, middle america packed in cant even see me and my black skin.” this is a reference to the fact that a lot of people almost demonise Kanye for being with a white woman especially Kim Kardashian and the part about middle america is about the fact that most of middle america dislike Kanye because he’s outspoken and he doesn’t care what people think.

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GOSHA RUBCHINSKY

I have decided to include Gosha Rubchinsky in my project because i think that he has brought something new to fashion i like his work because its completely new and different to what everyone else is doing which is refreshing and i think he has something viable to offer the streetwear culture because in such a short amount of time he has created almost as much hype as supreme.  

To be honest if he did a collaboration with supreme i think it would transcend both brands into a whole new league his clothes are already selling out online extremely fast as soon as they drop and reselling for large amounts of money.

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SUPREME

I have decided to include the streetwear brand supreme in my project because it is one of my favourite brands i think that supreme is at the heart of streetwear i dont think that there can be a debate about who is at the top of streetwear with out supreme being mentioned. i think that supreme as a fashion staple is completely untouchable and unrivalled when it comes to creating hype and controversy.

supreme has a massive cult following i think that its amazing how it went from being a small skate brand that started in the early 90s to collaborating with high fashion giants like louis vuitton and Comme des garçons. however i think that a collaboration with louis vuitton could hurt the brands credibility with skaters and people that follow them as a streetwear brand because they feel that supreme hashappen into the mainstream its bad enough that supreme has been flooded with hype beasts the last thing that needs to happen is rich kids and people who have no idea about streetwear to start wearing supreme.  

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VERSACE

The reason i have chose to look at Gianni Versace as one of my artists is because i think that his contribution to high fashion has been huge. i think that he bridged the gap between high fashion and hip hot and rap and in turn exposing a new generation to high fashion making it that much more accessible to a different group of people.I also love his work i think that is it extremely clean and just timeless and i think that it will continue to grow and get better.

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VIRGIL ABLOH - OFF WHITE

Virgil Abloh is an American creative designer and the founder of the Milan-based fashion label Off-White.

Abloh's parents are from Ghana. He was raised in Chicago. He received his Masters of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and his undergraduate in Civil Engineering at the University of Madison-Wisconsin.

Abloh was the art director for the 2012 Jay-Z / Kanye West album Watch the Throne, for which he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

Abloh founded the streetwear label Pyrex Vision in Chicago before shutting it down after just a year. He then launched the Milan-based fashion label Off-White in 2014 offering high-end men's and women's collections.

Off-White, the premium streetwear label that has pioneered it’s way to becoming one of the most recognisable brands in the industry. A journey and effort that has been led by its founder and creative director, Mr. Virgil Abloh. Whilst it is the brand’s clothing and runway shows that continue to captivate, Underline attempts to unveil the brand’s story that merits an equal if not superior amount of attention. This is a complete brand history of Off-White….

In order to completely grasp the history of Off-White, you have to learn about the position in which its creator – Virgil Abloh – was in before the brands development. Virgil Abloh was once among the many hundreds of creators that worked and learned along side Kanye West. In fact, it would be unfair to the man if he wasn’t referred to as Kanye’s right-hand man. Often in the position as Kanye’s creative director, Virgil helped the famous celebrity on multiple different projects that spun from albums to merchandise and clothing. Whilst Virgil still works with Mr. West, he has since moved on and popularised his own name.

This transition began through the founding of Pyrex Vision and the success of the RSVP Gallery (pictured below). The RSVP Gallery was and is a menswear boutique opened by Virgil and his fellow streetwear connoisseurs: Marc Moran and Don C in 2009. The store is host to exclusive clothing lines and products and it is from the RSVP Gallery that Virgil eventually gathered the inspiration to begin his own line: Pyrex Vision.

A clothing brand created and developed by solely Virgil and his infamous style and technique of production. The beginning and initial Pyrex Vision line was printed on blank Rugby (Ralph Lauren) flannels which after processing carried the OG pyrex design with “pyrex” and the number 23 (Michael Jordan’s Number) on the back. The once Rugby flannels would turn a $460 profit each after only being bought for $40.

Before it’s official release, Off-White was a project that was teased over the course of several months and left Virgil’s hungry fans on the edge of their seats. Eventually, a full look book was released and fans were finally satisfied as they saw the beginning of Virgil’s new journey. It became clear that Off-White was in fact Pyrex reborn. After gathering a sufficient amount of funds, Virgil was equipped with the tools to finally create and produce the clothing which he originally desired. Off-White’s debut collection even carried the same name as Pyrex’s first line: ”The Youth Will Always Win”. The collection also featured similar designs with “White” being featured in locations that were previously showcasing “Pyrex”. Weather deliberate or not, the correlation between the two brands was evident, which only added to the hype surrounding the brand. 

Almost two years on, Virgil has expanded his brand into the women’s wear industry and  more advanced cut and sew. Whilst still maintaining the classic Off-White (or Pyrex) look, Virgil has continued to impress with new collection and lines. Looking forward, he’s hinted his interest in creating Off-White furniture and other unique ideas that all add on to his pioneering journey. Despite its rapid success, Off-White is quite a young brand but, with the Virgil in control an exciting future awaits them both.

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MY THOUGHTS ON STREET WEAR

I think that street wear is very subjective because there are certain styles that you might like but someone else hates. I love fashion I’m constantly looking at peoples outfits and shoes. i actually look at people shoes before i look at anything else. i think that the street wear culture is an amazing platform to promote individualism and bring people together. i like the fact that everyone has their own style so people might have the same things but they wear them in different ways with different things. 

There are certain brands that absolutely dominate street wear the most well known are supreme bape anti social social club Vlone and palace.the most successful streetwear brands have to be completely on point with supply and demand they also have to have a lot of hype one of the most well known for they hype it creates is supreme it is really well known for its instant sell outs cosigns from tyler the creator and a lot of rappers and musicians. 

As well as well known brands there are a lot of influential people in street wear that definitively define what the next trend will be or completely shake the streetwear culture to its core with something completely new like Kanye west with yeezys season and his infamous yeezys. 

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VLONE

While the A$AP Mob is known primarily as a music collective, they’ve exemplified what the crew is capable of outside of the sonic realm with the introduction of clothing label, VLONE. Comprised of A$AP Rocky, A$AP Bari and CLOT’s Edison Chen, they’ve just begun to scratch the surface of what “always strive and prosper” truly means.

In recent months, upstart label VLONE has introduced itself to the world with key retail experiences around the world in notable places like colette in Paris, where they collaborated with OFF-WHITE, and in Los Angeles, where they took over a space in downtown once inhabited by Wes Lang — the man responsible for Kanye West’s tour merchandise — to create a memorable Stateside pop-up chock full of imagery indicative of skateboard culture during the Dogtown and Z-Boys era of Venice Beach.

Spearheaded by A$AP Bari, A$AP Rocky and CLOT’s Edison Chen, VLONE is unapologetically a representation of how all three view the world in the face of success, failure and scandal.

As famous American thespian, Orson Welles, once said, “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.”

VLONE has prominently latched onto that ethos. We caught up with A$AP Bari and A$AP Rocky to get further clarification of what that represents to them.

How would you summarise what VLONE means?

Rocky: A broad statement for me to generalize everything would be just “you live alone, you die alone.” That’s it. I think it’s simple.

What do you think the main goal is for VLONE in the next year?

Bari: I can’t tell. I really don’t have any goals. If you set a goal, it will make you disappointed if you don’t achieve it. The goal is to live life.

How do you view Edison Chen’s role within the brand?

Bari: We’re all a team. Nobody really has too much of an [official] position. Edison does what he does. I do what I do. Rocky does what he does.

Rocky, how do you see your role with VLONE?

Rocky: I think VLONE isn’t too far-fetched from A$AP. It’s just a lifestyle. For lack of better words, I’d say VLONE is like A$AP. They’re parallel. You know how A$AP is just a collective of different talented people? VLONE is just a lifestyle: live alone, die alone. People these days are just adapting to that lifestyle, whether you feel ostracized from society for whatever reason; your own internal reasons. A lot of people adapt to the lifestyle and manifest that lifestyle into a clothing line. It’s just how we life everyday amongst each other.

But as far as the business aspect of it, I think strategic moves definitely come from me and different partners within the company. Everybody just plays an important role on the business side. But the lifestyle side — that’s really what it’s all about. It’s not just cool clothes. You might see homeless people sleeping on the streets in VLONE. You might see 400 kids in SoHo all ridin’ [who are] all wearing VLONE. You never know.

Bari, do you think you’re the consistent voice as the figurehead?

Bari: No. I try not to talk. My whole thing is “less talking, more working.”

What does the “Friends” motif on the clothing mean to you? Is it supposed to be tongue-and-cheek?

Bari: With the T-shirt, the reason why there is “Friends” on it is because it has a minus [sign] on it. If you minus anything it’s “zero.” Minus life. Minus style. Minus food. Anything you put a minus to, you end up with zero. So the whole meaning behind the T-shirt is that “minus friends” means “zero friends.” I’m just more alone. Live alone. Die alone — that’s the whole meaning.

Has the “live alone, die alone” mantra changed at all in the last six months with the success and reception of the brand?

Bari: It’s more of a lifestyle, you know. We want it to be something where you wake up and you wear that because that’s how you’re feeling. “I don’t want to take this T-shirt off for three months” type of shit. So, that’s always my vibe, and how I approach anything that I do.

Have you always considered yourself to be a private person?

Bari: No, I’m always out there. I have friends. I have brothers. But I am VLONE. I am alone. I do spend time alone, but I do spend time with people. But sometimes you have to spend some time alone and work on you.

Rocky, in the past you said “the only thing mainstream about you were your investors.” Do you still think you maintain that independent spirit of going out and getting it without relying on outside sources?

Rocky: One hundred thousand million percent. Yes.

How do you deal with the feeling of wanting to be creative, but not being able to? Does that happen to you?

Bari: Not really socially, but more emotionally. I get into a family issue where I have to worry about my family and I can’t worry about anything else. That’s the only thing that gets me into a fashion block or a creative block.

Have you ever tried to spin that and use it as inspiration?

Bari: Yeah. My whole clothing experience is just based on my life, you feel me? I don’t wake up and go buy the newest high fashion. I try to do things by beating around things instead of just going straight to the facts. Not everybody can be me. Not everybody can be you. With that being said, you live alone and you die alone. It’s a lifestyle.

You said in the past that Harlem was a major influence and that “style is in our DNA.” With the Harlem Renaissance of the late teens and into the 1930s serving as a major movement in culture, do you think Harlem is still a prominent, creative hub?

Bari: No.

What changed?

Bari: Police taking away people’s freedom. You can’t do what you want to do in Harlem. You can’t chill on your stoop with your homeboys and cool all day and shit like that. Cookouts ain’t the same. Parades ain’t the same. I guess where I’m from — my ‘hood — is changing, and not for the good. The culture is just slowing fading away. I wish I had the time travel to go back and get that good Harlem feeling that I used to have. I live in California now, but every time I’m in New York, I stay in Harlem. I live in Harlem. I go back as much as I can. I appreciate what Harlem was.

And does that make it all back into the clothing?

Bari: My thing is, what I do — the whole theme of A$AP — is taking Harlem and bringing it elsewhere. Bringing it to London. Bringing it to Russia. Bringing it to Germany. It’s taking our culture and traveling with it and giving people the knowledge. So you look at A$AP and [you see] kids who made it from nothing to something.

Rocky, is Harlem still as much of a muse in fashion and music as it once was for you?

Rocky: I think Harlem will always be an inspiration. I do agree that it’s gentrified. There are so many buildings and developments and shit going on there. People I grew up with don’t even live in the neighborhood anymore.

Was it a conscious decision to avoid Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles for the VLONE pop-up shop?

Bari: Yes. Fairfax is not California to me. I know the person who built Fairfax who is Eddie Cruz. He started Undefeated, Supreme, Stussy. He’s from New York. What he saw was a new culture and brought it to California and started a whole streetwear culture and a whole block of streetwear brands. So that’s nothing new to me. Something new to me coming to California is going to Venice Beach and seeing amusement parks and lost boys. That’s what amazed me. I felt like Downtown was more of a New York feeling. It was crazy that Edison is close friends with Wes Lang and he was giving up his space and Edison bought the space from him and was like, “I’ve got this space downtown” and I called up my homie Paulie from Australia and was like, “We’ve got the chance, let’s whip it up.” The whole vibe of it was like Venice Beach/Dogtown. An ’80s/’90s California skate vibe.

You also didn’t want to get lumped in with the streetwear label on Fairfax?

Bari: I’m not streetwear. I’m not high fashion. I’m hood fashion. I do my shit for the hood niggas. I do my shit for the neighborhood drug dealer or anybody that is in the struggle.

Do you ever think the pop-up shop model is going to get overdone?

Bari: A pop-up is like the best thing. It can’t be played out. The only way it’s going to get played out is if you play it out. With me doing pop-ups, you’ve gotta understand that I’m not doing it because Kanye West is doing pop-ups. You understand? I’m doing it because at the end of the day, I have these special pieces and I only want to sell them to a limited amount of people. When I sell it to these people, it’s out of my hands. A reseller might sell it or abuse it, but it’s out of my hands. Me breaking bread with the stores like Barneys? Why do I need to do that?

Cut out the middleman?

Bari: Cut it out.

And you can also get the personal satisfaction of seeing someone purchase your items?

Bari: Yes. When you come and purchase VLONE from a VLONE pop-up I’m probably 85 percent at the store handing you your own piece.

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