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Re-Trace Series
It appears today we live in a fairly accepting and stylistically at least,generic world, where fashions cross over, co-exist and remix themselves while the high street looks on and learns. Looking around today you can pretty much split youth culture down into two basic groups; Hip Hop inspired and Indie/Rock inspired (the MTV effect?). Streetwear is in the current situation of representing both these camps, not because of any marketing forces but purely because kids these days want to wear what they want.
The success of the She Camo Method Zip has been incredible and gone far beyond my expectations. This is both humbling and exciting, in the past year I have seen straight up rap kids with gold chains, Asian Bapekids, dreadlocked crusties, fresh faced Wag wannabies and everything in between wearing them. There is no obvious demographic.
When I consider making a camo I am very simply translating the language of my painting into a repeatable pattern. It is the collaboration with and joint works put in with the co-founder of Addict that makes it a reality. First the right technical fabric, then a suitable garment that works in the range for that season, fixings, zips, pockets, labelling, branding, packaging, swing tags and new ways to push the brand forward whether it is a concealed hood or the Softswitch technology that allows for iPods to be controlled from the jacket sleeve. Wearing the finished product is always a great feeling, but then the challenge is how to improve on that for the next season.
According to the dictionary, ‘camo’ was originally designed as a device of misrepresentation, it was designed to question the certainty of appearance. For me the most important factor is that the patterns I create are inclusive. I would like to think that anyone could pick up one of our jackets without having to know anything about the artist or the origins of the brand. The strokes in my work are abstracted typography - so in a sense that is the device of misrepresentation already right there. The patterns are repeat printed onto huge rolls of fabric which is then cut into the pieces, at this point the camo is fragmented further, and sewn together to form the garment. Basically every garment produced is unique, throwing up endless combinations of sections of fabric being overlaid and stitched together.
The strength of streetwear is that it is branding lead. Slogans, logos and graphics rule and as long as there are generations of kids inspired by music, art and design and the idea of owning something a little bit special then its never going to go south. I have witnessed first hand our collaborative efforts reach around the world, and I am proud to be part of something with such a solid foundation and complete artistic ambition.
She One
As the most prolific Addict collaborator, She One’s unique brandof abstract typography, trademark strokes and bold expressive approach to image making combine to create various graphics and patterns that form the basis of a sub collection within the Addict outerwear, sweat and jersey mainlines.
Sidelining the usual multicoloured pictoral approach to graffiti painting She One instead focused on the visual language of writing and the expressive possibilities of the name. Hip, data injected splats, overspray and accurate spills reveal a deliberate and complex story, mapped out in highly stylised shorthand, littered with reference to his original inspirations - the 80’s, New York subway art, Hot Rods and heavy rock.
The original Addict ‘She’ pattern returns for spring summer 2008 in the form of the packable, lightweight Base Anorak, printed on herringbone weave nylon in three colourways; the brand new ‘Monochrome’, the original ‘Military Olive’ and black on black ‘Black Stealth.’ Specialist remixed internal yoke print graphic and SHEONESTUDIO logo and tag printed on the drawstring bag. Ride Alone…
