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I remember being fourteen and asking my teacher to go to the bathroom at 10:55 AM so I can have a chance at coping a poorly designed Supreme x Champion collab sweater. Now I patiently wait with my leg crossed on my Macbook for the new Aimé Leon Dore drop on Fridays. It’s crazy how times have changed.
In the last few years, the streetwear-menswear dichotomy has slowly become weaker, with the likes of Noah and Aimé Leon Dore emerging on the scene. In 2014, Teddy Santis released his debut collection for Aimé Leon Dore (ALD). And yeah the story behind the brand and the collection is what you expected: it was an inspiration from this, that and the other. However, this is the first time I can genuinely feel the brand’s statement mission through its clothes. A Greek immigrant from Queens, that was raised in the 90’s, during arguably the best time of Hip Hop and basketball, Santis was able to broadcast that era and bring it back to life with his collections so far. You ever see the “When you got X at 6 but Y at 7” meme? That’s who Aimé Leon Dore makes clothes for- and kind of where Teddy Santis was heading towards. ADL organized a pop-up basketball tournament in NoLita with the goal of representing New York culture and style. All the players showed up in ADL clothing, appropriate for the wintertime and ready to hoop: in thermal tights, short shorts, hoodie, and a beanie. This is what the brand was going for- being able to hang out with your friends in Soho but being able to ball out.
As I grew out of the Supreme and Palace, I didn’t want to jump in directly into the Saint Laurent and other higher-end menswear brands. And as much as I love A.P.C, brands like that were just too plain and too mature of a transition. It seems like overtime, brands started taking notice at that. Back in 2014, Kith revolutionized the sneaker industry and the way they take their sneaker pics with the release of the Mercer pants. Their whole brand aligned with the traditional streetwear persona: joggers in different colors, hoodies and shorts designed like H&M and some surprisingly nice Gel-Lytes collab. Ronnie Fieg’s Kith was able to revamp itself and stay relevant during this culture shift within streetwear. Kith is still able to play around with fun collabs like other streetwear brands while simultaneously releasing a more mature collection featuring tailored pants, fitted jackets, and kimonos. More brands have started to stir away from that in order to stay relevant.
If you look past the box logos and the cheesy political statements, Supreme’s “traditional menswear” pieces are usually fire, and end up garnering attention at the end of the season when hypebeast try to portray themselves as unique. I look at Noah NY as one of the brands. The brand is able to capitalize on its notorious red cross and logo name, but create some of the most essential menswear pieces that allow the consumer to balance streetwear and menswear.
I’m not saying sporting a coat, trousers and Jordan 1s was invented this year, but it was definitely seen as an odd combination a couple years back. Of course, this isn’t to say that everyone should hop on this wave- this is merely an observation I’ve made in my personal style and made me think more critically of the streetwear culture and where it is today. I enjoyed experimenting with different brands and closely tied styles- looking formal while still being in the comfort of streetwear. Or maybe I’m just too fly for my own good? I don’t know, I still haven’t found myself.
I don’t know what I would do to myself if I saw Blazendary rock Acne Studios.
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