Virgil Abloh and Kim Jones: In Conversation

my name is Lily Stoppard I'm obviously absolutely thrilled to be here with two of my favorite men in fashion we're going to be talking about the past present and future of the Jordan affect on sport culture performance Air Jordans obviously a complete naik icon and it's a she that's had such a big impact on culture and a real big impact on on Virgil and kittens these a team and who obviously need absolutely no introduction but just in case anyone hasn't done their homework Virgil a blue trained architect DJ mastermind behind the fashion label of white which he launched in 2013 it's crazy to think that it only launched in 2013 given its mystery cries Virgil's celebrated for his DIY aesthetic and his real understanding of sort of how today's generation consume and educate themselves his love affair for air jordans is well known and he talks about Michael Jordan as some as a kind of Superman Virgil's also I think one of the nicest men in fashion which is really nice Kim Jones is up so also is one of the nicest men in fashion he's Louis Vuitton's artistic director on the men's collection he's an avid sneaker collector and actually a collector of all different kinds of fashion has an amazing archive which I think we're going to talk about a little bit today and an amazing knowledge of sportswear and street wear and his innovative approach to design his bridged fashion and sports were obviously under the umbrella of such a iconic luxury brand so that's welcome Kim and Virgil [Applause] okay so first question I know this sounds a bit like couples therapy tell me how you guys met did you bond over a love of the Air Jordan we met backstage with it was the 15th anniversary I think of bathing ape in 2007 like fun parties just got you know got on straight away it was really yeah gym hand trip yeah good fun and tell me what you first thought when you saw some of Virgil's off white work well when I saw the shoes he's done with Nike I was very jealous because they're so good a sneaker fan tell me how you guys tell me about your first and experiences and interactions with DI Jordan do you know the first shoe you got do you move when you when you first bought a pair how long you had it for cuz you were sending the sketches in yeah I was that kid that was like you know Nike was like the lofty company that was like you you would never reach because for me you know I'm born in 80 so Jordan was like the Superman he was like the physical person that was doing like impossible feats but he was also like our local basketball player like like you know I was seeing Michael Jordan 20 feet away like shoot free throws that's like seeing him play going to the old stadium than the new stadium was and so these shoes that came out that became this global phenomenon we're sort of like you know that's you know that's what I was like going to sleep at night like looking at did then you came to the show you kind of three to mom yeah exactly it was purely like those first campaigns you know I was seeing like the first nuance of you know Jordan getting banned and wearing gold chains like that happened and this is like the thing that you could buy to be close to something that that was happening phenomenon you know I imagine it's different puking because obviously Virgil has the Chicago link and you it must be much more so it was a bit different for me because I was in England and it was like has a straight edge ah and it was part of the uniform of straight edges at the time and on the beam just for the edges it's like a sort of hardcore sort of punk scene thing and it was like just really we everyone wore Jordans um you know and then it was all just it was everywhere but was more of a cultural thing than sort of a sports thing too so it was looking at it in terms of that thing of you know everyone was wearing them and they'd be on every record cover or sort of like thinking it was just like he's objects he had to have but no one really had that much money so we'd save up and we'd share them with friends and stuff like that and just like you know get the toothbrush out and clean them and things like that all the time so they looked as clean as possible you know it's like there were things you love didn't do you know you knew the design was really good and that was the it was a different way of looking at it mhm and it's interesting you kind of talked about it there with your two different answers to that question but as a shoe it is something that sits between sort of style and sport and has all these different things within culture but something that's about performance - something that's very much about aesthetics and subculture and I guess that's one of the most interesting things about sort of sneak in history as how it can fall into mean so many different things to different people yeah Michael has you just picking off some what he said like Michael Jordan was like maybe the most Punk basketball player of his time you know the where he decided to wear the length of his shorts like changed the length you know he played the game with grace but with confidence and you know he he was a stylistic like and he has an opinion he's not just like here toss me these shoes I'm gonna wear these he's like you know the history is like it's a perfect merger of like athletic innovation Nike and then you have this figure of a guy who's gonna transcend a sport and so I think it's easy for us as like the culture sort of yin to the yang to attach and like put it on a pedestal and what do you both think we're talking about this a little bit before but what do you guys think about sort of how these stories have now entered the sort of high fashion world and there all this talk about you know sportswear and high fashion he's very loose terms that kind of mean nothing but you've both been sort of at the forefront of that and carved spaces out that maybe didn't exist before and you talked about brands that you admired like it's DC and things like that that you were seeing when you were growing up and now this is such a part of the language of sort of Fashion Week and high fashion I mean for me it's just that thing as always whenever I've done stuff it's been half and a half it's never been one thing because you know logos the logos and like a Nike swoosh the same as a monogram or something to me in terms of the registration that people see and it's just always been the natural thing I mean when I was at college I was really you know I loved Helmut Lang and Wien and all those things but I also loved you know supreme I loved you know bathing a good enough maybe you know a lot of the Japanese things which you wouldn't really find and I was working and give me five at the time so you know I had access to things that other people couldn't see and it was the idea of you know good designers good design it's not necessarily where it comes from the street or there comes some fashion it's just there sorry go ahead you know I think it's important to this perfect I don't know what the intro was cuz we were like stuck in the hallway but I think it's important to know that um the designer that I always wanted in the like modern industry is Kim Jones like I'm not sure if you guys know the full history but when we're talking about like you know it's like a common phrase like high fashion and street wear that's him like that's him in a but this is my goal is to sort of communicate you know I slept on his couch I slept I've like forced him to teach me like front room and made available spend a summer sitting there like Kim Jones Umbro like Google every all those pieces sort of like predate now and I know it's like common in vogue in like hip hop or whatever they're like site these like high fashion designers but not many of them were at gimme five not many of them have you know bathing like know what bathing eight-member gang all the old Japanese magazines out for you and Kanye and we're going through them with post-it notes yeah it's like we but we found somebody in the industry before they use the like the term street wear luxury he was practicing that going through like bringing - bringing forth like street culture ideas through the high-fashion system so you know this talk for me it's about how can us as like a younger generation plug into this sort of you know industry that we put on a pedestal which is sort of like high fashion and I think it's important to know yeah we all love Helmut Lang Margiela you know X Y Z but in a contemporary space like sportswear Umbro hidden like runway shows either that was only Kim Jones before it was like hey we're gonna collaborate with the sportswear thing I mean for me I just always think of good designers good design and people want it anyway so whether it's high fashion or whether it's like it's like sportswear if it's a great product people want it that's how I always think whenever I do you anything did you it's how interesting hearing Virgil talked about it did you feel at the time when you were sort of and especially when you move from Dunhill into Vuitton did you feel a sense of being a trailblazer with that you know just someone who has like an encyclopedic knowledge of sneakers and who collects bathing it being in that world and for me I mean it was just like I was very lucky because I got access to a lot of things that other people didn't you know I have like me McQueen meant to me I had like Michael Kaufman it give me five show me all these amazing introduce me to people like Nico Hiroshi jinteki Hoshi all these people that I really admire and respect and it was like so you fuse all that together and you just you know you you create your anything as well and it was just the idea of you know thinking what my friends want to wear was you know if you're going to do beat on does the we know it has to be why what the value of it is because it's an expensive product and just think of things like that and you know a practical way I'm quite logical I guess in the way I work and I always have been because it's just something that's inherent in me mm-hmm and so it's interesting when you were talking about and Michael Denis talked about him being like a punk and bringing this or you know this disruptive spirit into the game and is that an ethos that you think is to you as you've sort of approach life as a designer yeah for sure my motivation is like it's a bit of the angst to feel like that I don't belong or more to the fact that our generation doesn't belong because it's important to know we're coming off the era where it's like high fashion or brands are inspired by us and then we're just consuming what sort of reverted like registered back to us which was fine until the advent of like an influencer you know many of my friends here can like who might have like a little reach on Instagram can wear one thing and it transcends what the house was bringing down to it and I so I made a conscious decision that like not not in my lifetime will I just be a consumer you know that I wanted to sort of trailblaze and have has one of us at the end of a Parisian runway just saying like hey put us on the timeline it's not just consumers or what you've always had a very clear vision equal working with Kanye you had everything laid out and organized prior to it being done so it's kind of it was just for me it was always inevitable that Roger would do his I anything and it was like every time I see it I'm really proud and I see someone you know it's the sheer volume of people I see wearing it that makes me feel you know happy because he's a great guy and he's worked super hard and so you see it everywhere it makes me you know part of him but I think one thing that that's quite interesting is this sense of sort of sort of speaking to a generation that maybe didn't feel spake and see before mmm that seems to be something that you're both sort of talking about yeah it's like me like the Bond Street the street where shop I need a nod from someone from London that's Bond Street right Bond International I was a kid showed up my cousin owned a record shop called deal real couple blocks up and Soho and you know I was just like looking for anything t-shirts you know in New York saying or Stussy and I come across a store called Bond and I'll like and then obviously the babe and and all that and I was like there's a community like from Benji like London can you guys hold it so far down that it's like it's just a local community thing it's the way that you wear the clothes and I was inspired by that and this is this international community of street wear so that obviously you know predating what you see now predating bin tril pyrex vision I was spent 10 years the passport traveling finding these local communities so now do they remind you of where you grew up in a way like having this sense of like it you know being slightly outside of the action in some way yeah you know it's like but it's anyone's story you know you what you were in high school in the years coming up and what you wanted to sort of be could be different and I found the community within kids that generally like the same sneakers or generally we're into the same music scene something like that and that you know I think is inspiring to both of us I mean I think the thing which is interesting in terms of how we met how you meet other people that inspire you is like it's never a force meeting it's just natural it's all right you gravitate towards each other and I think that's the thing that I really love about my job is like I meet all these amazing people constantly they inspire me yeah and you know I work a lot in collaborating and doing stuff because I enjoy doing it I enjoy working with different people learning different things and just you know it's the interaction is exciting you know you have you you have to think about how you enjoy working as well as what people that are going to consume things are - yeah just talking about collaboration because one thing that's quite interesting we're taking about this project is you must have like been pretty terrified in a way taken like really really iconic shoes that you've known and loved and tweaking the design and I guess that's something you can identify with because you've you know you collaborate with people that you have a huge amount of respect for you need someone like working to Christopher and Emma's archive where that's someone who you've admired and you know you were in a way putting your own twist on something and I just wonder how you approach a project like this like taking something like the Jordan and thinking actually I'm gonna disrupt that and change it yeah well you use the key word which I preach because my goal is that ironically you're sitting here but Mike that offers activations like this that there's like ten more Kim Jones but basically you know what streetwear is basically like we make stuff we make clothing brands out of our own means right so like we call it like spring/summer 17 and it ends up on hypebeast and it's like a collection but you know here's someone that's been doing it at the highest level so it it's our training wheels to sort of get up there my hope is that you know it all extends so that there's more in an industry that come from our school of thought and I don't think a street where it's like a demeaning it might be a label but like let's just pretend it's an art movement because that's what it is as you said before you think of some of these shoes like works of art yeah well you know everyone has a memory to all these shoes you know they followed our trends growth transitions between different music scenes you know Kurt Cobain wearing Chuck Taylors like infused energy into that shoe not it's not a regular shoe after Kurt Cobain you know after you know it's a rock or you know airmax rave shoes Jordan you know the history of what that means Air Force Ones New York City and for me designing a you know I called it career suit a potential career suicide like sneakers are the most sacred thing everyone has a valid opinion Who am I to think that I can approach not not only 10 but like 1 hmm you know so this is the first time anyone's done that many isn't it yeah it was a challenge but you know I think the important thing is it's like I think this collaboration will go in a historical space because it's the first time you know Nike which is a company that's based on innovation these are athletic performance things they're not they didn't start as style things so it's a trust that I'm grateful for that they're like here and instead of being radical and just saying like hey I want to chop these up for my own design integrity or chop these out for my own like well-being is like hey I have to like make sure that they pass through you Collective filter but also you know I used it as a vehicle to sort of story tell about Nike you know the Helvetica air is not just a stylistic choice that's a dialogue with the founding innovation of the company you know and of course we've lived with it but you know Nike Air that's an important detail to disco or the fact that it's a the amount of craft that goes into these shoes is usually covered so one of the design technique was just show you how amazing that these shoes are put together a lot of the materials are just removed away so you're getting something that feels in process so that was like the ethos behind that it's interesting vigil to learn about this idea of like potential career suicide in you you have collaborated with these amazing not even like the Chapman brothers and talked to me because it is a similar concept as approaching something that is something you've massively admired and now you're working to sort of you know put a twist on it or change it and how do you approach that and your work because you are one of the most collaborative designers that sort of I think is working I just go with my gut and it's like if something doesn't work it doesn't work and it's like you'll get a bit of hate for a while but then you carry on your god should be like that because otherwise you'd just be like you know I can't do anything and you just have to take I mean that's the one thing is taking chances but you know if there's or you know a conscious risk that you know is pretty much gonna work it's like and you know the people that I do collaborate with have been very open and listen to min you know most of them I've known for years and years so it's kind of like it's a it's not so difficult but you know is you just do it I don't I don't I don't worry about stuff anymore because if something's you get a bit of hay it's like a bit of hay for like you know a few we few days or a week and then everyone's on to the next thing just deal with it that's important to know like I love this conversation cuz usually I'm doing them in like a I mean nothing anyone that does any subject there you go like it's good for you guys just to hear like we when we signed up to say that we want to be designers it's basically a life of torture I know you guys want to do that okay yeah great things about it but imagine well there's just reality else I'll whip it into something that's more inspirational but like I'm here it's like we line the fire every fall winter spring somewhere to show 200 things that come out with like good music no model trips you know that you think about it for forever that you're lead you're trying to throw a pass like further than culture is at the time you see it but then also when it ends up in stores you want to purchase it and Tremaine my friend here in the front just he just he said like a crazy awesome comment like because all we all we all do is like rate brands like this is good this is bad it's like the theme of every dinner conversation or beer is like that person sucks now there are people there are people at the end of those figurative comments and we're just sitting there all day traveling trying to put 200 ideas out but your main said it best he was like the fact of the matter is is like when you see a collection there's only like seven things that you're actually gonna buy anyways no matter if it's the most favorite thing it's like our profession is basically just trying to make Christmas presents you make it sound like it's just like torturous process but I do think there's a part for both of you which I find very interesting and having good to know you guys I find it very sort of quite inspiring about way too because there's there is this real interest in sort of educating like you talked about it in terms of sort of telling stories about these shoes and you that's really a passion for you as well you know like some of the collaborations you've done haven't been sort of blockbuster like Christopher Nemus I imagine there's a lot of kids who have absolutely no idea who that is I mean he was one of my hero so that's why I chose to do it the graphic worked with the beat on graphic so it just made sense but it's like using the voice that you guys have to sort of cut through a lot of what can be that sort of you know negativity and hype and comment culture into something where if you know one kid ends up knowing who Lee Berry is great you know that I think that's quite interesting is just you know the one thing that that I did that was the thing with Hiroshi which was the fragment stuff is like I didn't think anyone realized how popular is around the whole world because it was a such a success and it was like a very quiet success apart from in Japan where yeah like completely cleared the shelves and it's kind of like you know there's a respect people do know that stuff now cuz they educate themselves and it's like funny cuz you know I did my own collection for eight years before I then went into work in houses and a lot of kids now they're like 16 or 18 we'll get in touch about you know my own stuff and then ask questions and they've searched out and actually it's quite hard to find on the interview I took a lot of it off I took all the shows off and everything cause I didn't want people copying all the time so basically good to do it again so you know it's just like things like that and it's like so people really do research and look at stuff and you know they're going elsewhere to find stuff not just looking online which i think is really you know you have to see stuff when you work with products and clothes you're just about looking at picture and that's the one thing that I always say to people especially and with students in a college whatever is like go and look at the book don't just google it on you know and see what's on the next page or go and look at the photo and find the Garmon because then you'll see how it's made and it's yeah then you enjoy it more because it's like when you're more hands-on in your creative it's exciting and for me like you know I'm like in then the the crux of street where you know I like I had taken I own it and like the thing about it there's so many stories that predate now you know like there's thirty five brands that failed off the back of off light being able to get to where it is so instead of me sort of putting on this premise like hey I just made a couple t-shirts and I put him gay few to her friends you know that Hiroshi who he's mentioning and nigo made that concept of you know the last orgy there there's these things Iran New York City brand anything is like a pioneer who was like making t-shirts Lower East Side New York City that you know at that time there wasn't a opportunity for a line to be that big to sell out and finance the whole thing you know nom de guerre there's like different local things that were just prior to their time so for me my idea of collaboration pretty much every collection is me getting on the internet cold calling people that were from that previous era to like come back and like hey let's use off-white as an education device to sort of bridge a gap and that's you know my my that's always been how I thought that you know it can take it off this figurative fashioned thing and actually support a community but you designing quite an interesting way because I always thought it's a bit like how musicians sample like there's this thing in fashion about referencing which is the awkward thing where you reference but you don't tend to give credit properly you know you're just kind of casually you nod to something and everyone knows what the reference is but sometimes nobody talks about it but you do this interesting thing where you're like into Peter Savile so you call Peter Savile up and you work with him and it's like you let him become a part of the sort of the music of that collection same with Ben Kelly or what have you now yeah interesting way of designing I know again I think street wear is an art practice and I'll and I'll keep thinking that until otherwise it's it's on the same level as any other movement that you would peg to things in the art world you know Duchamp already made and it's like I won't let it's more like a generation of people that basically didn't go to fashion school it didn't come from traditional means in fashion the the easy way to write it off is that it's not fashion and then it's like high street it's not high fashion I think that there are seminal moments in this way of making clothes like you can't tell me that like I said it the supreme isn't my Louis Vuitton those juices like growing up with juicy that's like teenage years with a skateboard those are brands that were important to me you know I obviously love both and I think that they should emerge and so I just want to make sure that the door is open for a room of these kids to feel like they can design fashion be on a runway to you and then like particularly said it's like a show review for a new collection can be anonymous and say this is that or shouldn't be this or that that was shorthand for not getting in trouble but you know I was like but you know it's like it's freedom like I think we all fashion as we said back stage it's like it should be exciting as it was when the golden era is and I think it's safe to say that Kim has made the most relevant yeah you know like showing what's on the runway of that that felt like it was what we've all been looking for something that felt relatable and new and actually reflective of what's happening on the street that's way you see clothes that's why I always think about it I'll say about street wear so well where else are people going to work it's very authentic comes from like a genuine place and for me that's the thing that's important about it why I love it and whenever I do anything I think about the authenticity or what brand it is what the authenticity of the brand is and that's really important yeah and I always mentioned that like you know I said it yesterday I'll say it because I learned it from Peter Savile long talks with Peter basically you know that like fashion was invented it's not something that like and he described it as like ask your grandmother how many pairs of sneakers she owns there's no concept to have more than two you know like that it's a generational thing to how we got here so Yves saint-laurent you know those designers and everyone's doing couture it's a very high the crash course and then lineage of these terms that we're now living in it's like Couture was like that's what fashion was this is what we what we're talking about isn't lady as you said ladies who have an exorbitant they're buying it like art it's very protected Yves saint-laurent says I got a concept ready-to-wear like the clothes that women are wearing to see Couture like that's important so then there's all these like ready-to-wear brands you know that's why we have labels like those houses in Paris like they also use that's only 50 years old that was fifty years ago not a long time in the lineage of this and then I think that Street where is the the extension of of Couture you know now it resonates even in the last five years it was seemed like a trend you know like editors or the industry was sort of like oh this is a good that's like Tommy Tong Street style photos outside but the problem is it's like when people were mixing high fashion and wearing brands like Nike and interesting way I think it burst it's just clothes that people want to wear yeah like in life there should be straight wear shows you know like it should be like imagine if this room took it upon itself with hey we do street wear shows like we're turning our back to ready-to-wear that doesn't relate to us so we have our own industry you met you know that there would be more there'd be like millionaires and here in like two seconds you just thought that make it happen I want to let some people have some questions but I have a few more namely how many pairs of trainers do you have in your collection oh good I did I've got like a storage front of them and I don't know Jordan wise probably got about 100 pairs and then a lot of I bought my first player Jordan ones in a flea market opening condition in the box for $8 which are still kept in the box and so everyone know because I mean they're my size as well but it's just like you know it's kind of those sorts of things of just going around the world and finding stuff I've got pears I do wear but it's just I renovated the place that they were in so they're all in storage at the moment maybe about six but just talk to me a little bit about this this impetus that you have to collect because you know it's not like you just collect sneakers you also have quite a diverse set of stuff from Punk staff three to sort of you know sportswear craving three to were they're all things that just you know I'm interested in it's never something go I've never gone out so hey I'm gonna collect them as you accumulate I think that's the thing and then when I finally realized that show called quite a lot it's a proper collection then I start archiving it and getting a big photograph just because it's like a lens up to museums and I you know I want people to I mean that I have a archive of streetwear which is very different to the street where we're talking about which is what people used to wear clubbing in the eighties and you know in the 70s it's kind of like the way that things are made and the pattern cutting and the fabrics and stuff it's like you know from you know worlds and sex libo Rachel Albarn nemah like and the Peacocks in their own right yeah suggesting no I'm going out with to you know out compete other people yeah so it was kind of it's the same sort of thing but in a different way and it's like you know I let students see staff know you know I know a lot of younger designers that are graduated and go on to come in and see stuff to be inspired and so they can see how things are made and do you know stuff like that it's like it's a joy to see how excited things you make people so for me they're just things that you know I have that they're really remote you have like Johnny Wilson's mohair jumper yeah you know having this fortunate it hasn't came as a meant like seeing him open boxes of clothes like sedition there you know things that are popular way after the time is like he's just had in physical condition that he left me in the room with it once and it's probably the best like our there art pieces to these are seminal I think that's predates what I call like my in my golden era you know but that era when I hear about the sex shop when I do research Vivienne Westwood's like these wear clothing movements that happen from culture yeah and I'm the same way like the how he approaches that I'm like if I see anything I buy it and I archive I'm like just the same way I want like the craziest archive event of 2012 Street where you know like t-shirts I've got love old good enough and bathing 8 which is like my first collections which is still here isn't stuff which yeah you know I also think is equally as important as yeah the more some rare things because it was so well designed yeah in 30 years think about these things that we just you know the millions of hoodies that you already have but your he was gonna be one that was like this described that our time period you know we were all jumping around to Travis Scott like what was that and the people who have it and bring it back out and be like oh that you know and that's why I think is a testament you know Nike these Nike shoes have recorded you know they recorded a certain time period and I think that shows you how far off like you know I don't think Nike would refer to themselves as a fashion brand but yeah we've adopted some value to it and so I think culture yes I guess is fashion Isis cultural yeah because it's arrest its crossing that sort of powerful for me that's what's really interesting so I think about it in the fact you did all of them yeah because everyone's there's something different about music or sport or what's happening in the street what's happening it's just there's so many stories to be told on that nose because like we timed that was great and does anyone have any questions just to know I'm just personally really bored of hearing him have to talk about beat on Supreme so in people asked about that but that would be great that would be really fantastic it's hard because like you're talking about the tan or just in general it has to be the Jordan you know like that shoe it changed you know the sport but it also has like a strong cultural connection to me personally you know that and each everyone is different but that shoes sort of transcended a few more different layers and than most for me you know Tinker hat like the way it was designed you know the fact that it started this whole idea of a player having a qu the year every playoff colorway you know and the fact that it could be you know led the market and so you know that the fact that it gained after years of it coming out that immediately they were bringing it back out do you see it foreshadowing a lot of the way that you know about a shoe being attached to a player do you see it full shuddering some of the ways that we think about sort of collaboration or sportswear today yeah I think it's it's an it's like the ultimate trophy it transcends like if you win championships you know transcends the court which is a unique commentary that how these things resonate for us to consumers and on the street can transcend an actual you know game where they work hand in hand next questions remain well I mean it was kind of like I have to say this when I was in China I was in a fake market because we could go and look at them to see what they're cooking quite it was like and there was just tons of off-white and I thought well if they've got this over here then he's doing for me that was kind of the sort of moment but you minister you held a piece and it was made in it's beautiful you know I always whenever he does something like I need that no please Virgil it's always come we just walk and then but you know that China because it was said that she stored after sort of a fight and I thought he's done it and it was so fast I was really really like she's you know impressed because not many people do you know it's a hard thing to start a label now and then to maintain that and get people still excited and I think that's one thing you've done incredibly well you sorry I have some questions but you mentioned before that there are lots of brands that didn't work you know then they're like twenty that you know whether what it's really hard question for you to answer yourself but what is it about off-white that you think resonated was it timing was it what was it that worked it's the same piece of advice that I give you know cuz I want to mentor I want more I want third to be more of us showing and it's it's really about being critical at the end of the day when I if you see it come out it's going through like a rapid it's going through a rapid sort of like algorithm of people that hate it or think that I'm not a designer you know it's so what it is is when I think of something or propose an idea I'm like 20 times like nay saying it refining it and then it's out and so and now it's after time you're able to I'm building a vocabulary so that's that but I like Kim said it's like I don't read comments I don't read reviews I don't read anything positive to me I the 17 year old version myself didn't think that this was possible so every day that I'm able to sort of like make an idea and see it come out that's enough fulfillment I travel constantly and I look at youth culture law in terms of reference and there is a lot of modernization I think because of people seeing everything all over the world but the availability of products whatever the world isn't always the same so you do get local interest I mean I go to Cape Town a lot which I've got a lot of friends Oh in their mid-20s and it's like see how they dress and it's like you know actually as it's a completely different way because they've come from a place where there's been a part I'd before and actually everyone's merged together in a group working together and creating really interesting stuff so for me that was super inspiring to see how everyone just got together and doing stuff and it creates a completely new style for me which i think is interesting that there's places all over the world I see that and it's kind of you know like in Sao Paulo in places like that where people go out make stuff because they don't have money and things like that and it's like there's a lots of youth schemes I work with around the world as well just like you know to help them create things that then they can turn into stuff because it's like a really easy thing to help brainstorm things like that and it's for me you know I was very lucky I had some very good people mentored me so I like to do the same thing back I think yeah yeah I think that I'm gonna turn all like optimist so even in that question before it like the homogenous Asian yeah it seems like a negative thing but it's sort of like looking at the opposite like you could travel to Chicago Illinois Tokyo Japan Paris just by the code that you guys are styled yourself in find a friend to go listen to Travis Scott loud and ice that's why I DJ because I see the camaraderie or the late-night kid with dirty Chuck Taylors shows up and you're like hey I'm trying to get it's like if you look your community you know you're actually more you outnumber like politics which is cool so like I'd say that homogeneous Asian is like it's a new global community that's a positive side effect of Instagram so that's that but for those of you that want to sort of get a heads get notoriety and do your dreams like just play the opposite the homogeny will so help you do something that stands out and that I think if you look at things in an optimistic way you're more apt to get like the results that you want you did that thing of twisting into something inspiring classic wag mine was probably I don't know how I know quite a few people that work there in fact the person that I worked on the shoes with was someone I worked with that Umbro doing shoes that was actually quite an easy sort of slotting on that and it was just like Fraser who's here who I used to be the short way many years ago folding up t-shirts and brushing the floor Nike collab say I'm just saving the real you know the real guy he's about to get bumped Fraser is gonna need security and you know that's how it came about and obviously you know I chose a shoe that wasn't really talked about that much which is an lwp which was one of my favorites 20 20 years and years to find a pair of them and I found them in a bargain bucket in Miami but one was slightly fails it was really hard to find stuff and how long did you work on yours for I don't know I can't remember cuz this yeah yeah maybe cuz yours was quite experimental project all around but to the kids that are sort of like I know there's talent there's probably like six kids in here that will get a near future Nike collab and that the door is open as you can tell look at these four days of activations just to like have a dialogue that's the first sign that Nike is progressive in terms of like working with outside influences and I say all the time and always comes through authenticity and conversation it's rarely gonna come from like a pitch doing great work and sort of standing out and making something that is progressive to what Nikes values are but also relates to your this homogeneous new community you guys know what they don't know but then they know how to make the sort of they know how to make the Nike you love if you want to participate it's like a resume you know you have to you have to do work and it has to resonate and the conversations are easy you know I've known this mythical person called Fraser for longer then longer than I've done off-white and were just as much friends over music than actual sneakers you know and I think the talk yesterday with nature was about you know half of his more than half of his team doesn't even never went to shoe school you know economics major so it's it's about standing outside of the homogeneous thing like these dream opportunities of working with a brand like Nike exists for everyone it's like again I only I think so awful but my whole thing is like an art practice it's it's when it comes to clothing or some fashion I don't it's only like 20% of what my brain sort of like thinks about and for me long story short is like our generation Street we're a little bit sort of deals off this like equity of irony like things that are ironic are funny you know means it's a culture like it's a cultural thing it's it's a thing that specifically now without like getting too deep into it and my thought practice through doing other projects initially with irony it was it so jokey that it ended up all the way with like hash drippy hashtags and like a Rocky Horror Picture fun that's not good design you know that's why the project like been trill or pyrex vision doesn't exist like because I'm always like striving to reach for more I was like I always say that with Street where I don't want like Alexander McQueen rest and to be like rolling over in his grave that like a kid like me is now showing like I'm very respectful to design design so the quotes it's my language its ready-made same thing as if you look up Duchamp and he took a urinal and like frames at his art I literally was like you know I can make something on anything that's I'll take even a keyboard find a way that is a universal tool for everyone and make something that's mine so it's being ironic but it's also I get to say two things at one time it's a paraphrase so it's like figure of speech I can describe a bag as a bag I can say it's a sculpture and then it when you read it you have to think twice that's but when I say it's art front you know it's like lose it involves like 2019 I'm doing a show at the MCA which is an institution on art it's not like a fashion so for me it's like in order for me to put things out in the world that's a part of this like 20 layers of it has to have a reason for existing than just there's also the modern way to do stuff yeah thing it's like you don't think on one platform it's got to be across everything yeah no it doesn't you know cultural reverence is much more important than fashion relevance examine you know old-school fashion people respect you as well as the young school which was really interesting because it's like there's very few people who started up recently they get that kind of credit as well it's not you know stress this to a lot of us could be like hey we're young kicked down the door what we're doing is relevant there's an enormous amount of history that predates us just from the year 2000 you know like look up June 2 cos these undercover collection if you look at every one it's sort of like makes me think that I should quit you know it's deep and it's there's a lot and I and I think that you know there's a history fashion history so rich and it's not just because we're new and able to have lineups that we deserve to be here always laughing when I said when I was jealous of Virgil's collaboration is because I done it like that the cobraman is hating architecture sort of like uh I win and I had that quintessential moment that many of people might have had like the professor thought he was like super cool and like running it like a bootcamp and first thing is like oh welcome freshman you know only 2% of you are actually gonna be practicing architects I was like nice wine no you know but I was more like oh I didn't come here to be an architect you know that was like I came here to learn how to design I didn't know how to design that's something that I thought was like design with the capital D and I didn't know what that was and basically I went to architecture school for the way of thinking and this long story short it's like if you're an architect you just don't build buildings for yourself you know it's not like art you just paint a painting for yourself move on to another one you build a building with constraints there's a client but hey then how many bedrooms there this many kids and they want to you know have tea in the morning this tells you where the kitchen should be that tells you how many car garage it should be it tells you where so that's what architects do it's not like you just you think and you overthink and you you provide a solution so you can probably like just that spiel you can probably see how my fashion but it's like I think about each portion I think about you know I'd do the Instagram myself I think about what that communicates and that's where the quote scheme is like I'm tired of common you know it's like so boring like we're only going to Instagram for how many more years I'm gonna try to invent a style of speaking on it so that you understand the style of clothes all the way to the end but I'm interested in your fashion you went to what school did you go to sliced I wouldn't say Martin's in good DMA but I didn't do fashion before that I just talked about to show the Wiis Wilson who is probably one of the toughest people don't universal man during a mutiny but she was a really tough but also very funny but also just inspired you should get on with it yeah and you know I just had a vision of what I wanted to do which was something that me and my friends couldn't find in stores at the time so we just you know I learned how to pack and cart and so within a year and a half and just did it I'm gonna ask Kim questions leave me out this may be interesting cuz you buddy think about fashion design in some ways like providing a service which a lot of a lot of people who make clothes don't think about it like that what is providing a server did when you were coming when kids are in st. Martin's was because like I love the camaraderie all my friends are designers you know like that's what we do was it like that like wasn't like Oh so-and-so's got a brand they wear it to the nightclub what clubs were you guys going to I mean they would say toughen it's like if you didn't do what Louise you know like yes finish on time she'd coming in and throw you something okay it was like I always got on with her bears like you know I had myself prepared and I was working it give me five to pay to go there as well so you know I had I was learning stuff there I was working on quality control yeah these different things have been different departments I'd see how things actually worked in the real world as well as doing at college so it gave me that's all I felt was an advantage over other people because you can see how things were professionally made or if you want to manufacture something so yeah I became bit boring in that thing I just wanted to work and get it all done I just did it were those early clicked were you that MA in school were you doing like Street ideas yeah I mean I've still got the whole collection actually yeah it's like I've got half of it because John Galliano bought the other half and there was like ages making this place and I was you know that's an amazing opportunity for something to happen but it was just you know just I learned you know I actually made the wool and then fell to do it and then dyed it and then sewed it together and so it was something that you know it's the first thing I'd actually made from scratch so it was like the thing that meant the most to me at the time and it would be nice have you know so it's just you know yeah I don't know if he's got it but sure he does like that you know it's just that thing of just you know it was you know cuz I was working at the time where was that thing I'm just like you can make this many of something so I made a grid of things and it was just I was quite oh I've always been quite organized always like to you know have everything so what we've done and even a college I'd like to get everything properly done and if I didn't know what I was doing I'm never I mean that's one thing I always listen to people and I always ask ask questions because you don't ask you don't find out and it's like if even if you you know think you're gonna look stupid in front of someone it's important I'll get ya what and speaking of Louie's you know the MA at st. Martin do you probably know like the designers that came out of her course worse insane it's like I did that I'm a terrifying yeah McQueen to Phoebe Philo - you know Riccardo all the like one professor basically laid the groundwork for fashion industry as we know it but what I think is we're like wrapping up and Chloe like is that you know Kim came out of that and represented like the one cultural sort of nucleus that we all live our everyday and so you were like you know that's an early throughout her system it's important to note that Louise fostered it for him and myself I mean he's I mean even with Kanye she was very close with him and is like yeah you know she was like you don't need to do this and you know you can just get on with it yourself he would mess around with anybody but I think I want why I want to stress that point it's like her she's seen everything and at the end of her towards the end of her life the last year was preoccupied with what basically we were pushing towards the forefront and she agreed she I think you know with LVMH fries she was like you know last time I saw her she was very much like you know she thought it ludicrous that I actually wanted to get an MA she's like you already know and I of course when our vein is like is this prop is this living up to all the great things that you've seen before and I think she felt that this was new and then this should be like I should to the forefront I mean when I went yeah my in she was she said you don't need to do and I said I just want to be you know the year-and-a-half of having time to develop my own thing myself and not have to you know think about in other ways so she was you know then she's like I think your arrogant so you know then I got the place you know she did she understood that every thought you know not everyone had to go through college which is something which is so expensive now for a lot of people and it's like you know go and interview someone go and talk to them and you know don't be afraid of asking cuz I mean that's one thing I've always done is if you don't ask you don't get and what's the worst thing someone can say is no no that's a really important thing for people to think about really psyche know I said I think I sent off three things when I graduated from college and it's like the first one that got back to me was veto on and I did some stuff with the guy there at the time and I saw it and I thought god I've always loved a job like this yeah noted that was the job that I had say yeah yeah any more nice comments to say to each other I think we've done enough graduations [Applause]

Channel: SHOWstudio

Views: 131,504

Rating: 4.9277506 out of 5

Keywords: OFF-White, Virgil Abloh, Nike, Louis Vuitton, Collaboration, SHOWstudio, In Conversation, Lou Stoppard, Interview

Id: ZmazmAHirCs

Length: 54min 37sec (3277 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 20 2017