Posts

Showing posts from December, 2014

Uniformes Generale AW14 Collection RE-UP

Image
I had the pleasure of visiting Uniformes Generale at their Boxpark located pop-up this week. The build up to the release of their AW14 collection has been akin to that of a stove kettle on a low flame. 'As the speed of the releasing steam increases, the vibrations become louder, causing a whistle.' In menswear terms this means regular email newsletters, including a very classy PDF of the collection, a video clip and teaser shots via social media finally culminating in the live launch of their website and a week at the World's first pop-up mall. The ability to touch and feel the items is a master stroke, if you live in London. Reading their 'About' page tells you they are full of the right menswear credentials, seeing the clothes in person confirms this. The autumnal staples are present, hoods, sweats and jackets all done to the highest standard made of quality materials. I was more impressed by the attention to detail from the stitching, labels and even wordin...

An Interview with Jerry Cohen of Ebbets Field Flannels - RE-UP

Image
Illustrations:  Rebel-Yuth I recently had the pleasure of talking with Jerry Cohen, owner and founder of Ebbets Field Flannels, on his latest trip to London. We discussed a great deal of things including Jackie Robinson and the integration of Major League Baseball, wool as a performance fabric, meeting Odd Future and the renaissance of the business into the fashion market. When asked how his relationship with Craig Ford's 'a number of names*' came about, his answer was "It wasn't a difficult choice to make". After meeting the team and being impressed with the headquarters, he chose 'a number of names*' from several suitors to represent them. The hats were a trend at the time but they shared a long term vision and Ebbets Field Flannels went from a small company to a global brand in about a year. Since then Ebbets Field Flannels have become known in the UK for more than just their hats. Offering unique items within epochal collections, historicall...

Talking "OVERTHRONE! Pooring Reign" and "DougLyfe" with CYRCLE. RE-UP

Image
If this is the first you are hearing of CYRCLE., Shepard Fairey has this to say about the guys -  "People frequently ask me who the new upstarts are in street art... I'd say CYRCLE., but that would be underselling the diversity of their talents and the depth of their conceptual process. CYRCLE. work in many mediums and techniques, utilizing whatever approach most powerfully delivers the concept and aesthetic. CYRCLE. are surprisingly focused and rigorous for some young punks." I was able to attend opening night of the inaugural solo exhibition at StolenSpace London by LA based collective, CYRCLE. The show, titled: "OVERTHRONE! POORING REIGN," aims to explore symbols of power and the control over our minds. The "OVERTHRONE!" campaign has been a significant theme in CYRCLE.'s work for over two years. The exhibition at StolenSpace will run until the 6th April and unveils two new bodies of work within this overarching concept, "RULERS WERE...

Who The Fuck Is Lyle Horowitz? RE-UP

Image
Taken from an interview done for The Reference Council Whilst e-crate digging through the Hip Hop Is Read website I came upon an article for, what was at that point in time, a new release from Lyle Horowitz called 'Let The Spirit Out'. A high-definition, digitally rendered, displaced skull will always catch my attention. I was intrigued because the album cover reminded me of work by Josh Vanover, and the album was labelled Hip-Hop. (I later learned the graphic was done by Rob Sheridan as part of a project for How To Destroy Angels) It's safe to say that Cypress Hill introduced skulls to Hip-Hop back in the early nineties, and until very recently not many Hip-Hop acts have championed the imagery, certainly not with anywhere near the same aplomb. I was delighted to find no less than twelve albums available to stream and download online via his Bandcamp page. I set about listening to all of them, attempting to form opinions on his sound and what he's all about. This...

With Respect

Image
I had a very brief conversation recently with legendary photographer Glen E Friedman about my C/S tattoo. It caught me off guard actually and I mumbled something pretty lame and not at all what I wanted to say which prompted me to do this post. I thought about this before, but I had stopped feeling like I needed to explain why I got it done. I first became aware of the C/S symbol through seeing it tattooed on people, specifically work done by artists I admire and follow. Then I saw that a book was being published called 'Con Safos - Chicano Style Tattoo Art ' with the cover illustration done by Chuey Quintanar, and a website launched called cslashs.com so I checked it out. The site offered first hand experience from artists like Chaz Bojorquez, Mike Giant,   and tattooists like Latisha Wood, Ivano Natale and Franco Vescovi. Perhaps most importantly there is an interview with Frank Sifuentes, founder of Con Safos magazine. He explains the different ways p...