Dreaming in Technicolor: Advisry

September 12, 2023

“Fashion is an industry that values longevity.” At twenty three, Keith Herron may have a while to go before securing Advisry a spot among the industry's elite fashion houses. However, Season 10, titled Technicolor, gave us strong reason to believe that his rapidly evolving label is on its way to exactly that. Herron justified his being included on the NYFW calendar for the first time, nicknaming this his "Graduate Collection," and saying goodbye to the brand's formative years made up of numbered seasons.

Streetwear is a box that some designers are placed in, but Herron refuses to be confined to such a limiting space. He continues to integrate precise tailoring and womenswear more and more into his already versatile repertoire. Through the use of color and film, the collection was Herron's way of setting a standard as to how Advisry is viewed moving forward.

In light of the show, we went backstage to talk with Keith about this next step in his journey.

Photography by Spencer Stovell
Interview by Dylan Andrews

How's all the prep going?

I believe well, yeah.

What's the creative process been like?

Typically I start with a larger concept and with this collection I probably got the idea of doing technicolor before the last one ended. So from there it's a lot of research and a lot of jotting down every idea that comes to mind, and then sort of weeding out the bad ones and developing the good ones. So I want to say around March or April is when I started actually sketching. Before it was just really rough sketches and I worked on that in New York, and then when I went to Paris, I developed the collection itself to kind of complete it and make it well-rounded and cohesive. So yeah, I guess that's been the design process. It's probably been the span of a year.

Was there a reason you did that finalization in Paris rather than New York?

Paris is really cool and fun (laughs).

Enough said. Were there any songs or albums you had on repeat during the design process?

Yeah, definitely. So there's a playlist that I'm doing with Spotify that coincides with this collection release, and within that it has a lot of the songs that inspired the process of not only this collection, but kind of just the road to getting here. There's a specific song called ‘Technicolor’ by Sunni Colón that I really liked a few years ago. It was one of my favorite songs, but one of the bases of the collection was that song. And that was one I always knew I wanted to include in the collection somehow. But yeah, other than that was listening to a lot of Snail Mail, anything by the Neptunes all the time. Yeah.

What's a typical day in the studio been looking like lately? If there is a typical day?

Oh, there's no typical day. I would say the most typical thing, I try to go to the cinema every day and there's this ice cream place called Morgenstern’s in the West Village, and I've been trying every single flavor and there's 55 flavors, so I try my best to go to Morgenstern's every single day. But other than that, it's just literally being on call and ready to go. I just got to my friend's place right now, and then my seamstress texted me like, “oh, you got to go to do a fitting now.” And then I thought I was doing casting. So it is just kind of bouncing around, being responsive and being able to be adaptable in the day because it's so unpredictable.

Is going to the cinema for inspiration or to relax and have time away from the design stuff?

A little bit of both. I try my best to not put on the filmmaker lens when I'm watching the movies, it might ruin the experience if I'm thinking too hard about the craft of it. But it's a little bit of both. It depends on what I'm watching. Yesterday I did a double feature with ‘Space Jam’ and ‘The Incredibles’, so that was just a really fun day. And then sometimes it's like I'm watching a film that requires much more attention and, I guess, thoughts.

You're a lot younger than a lot of the designers at Fashion Week. Do you feel that's a disadvantage or do you think maybe you're more tapped into the culture than a lot of these older designers?

I would say it is really interesting because the demographic that I come from or the community that I try to serve, they're not necessarily at the point where they're able to buy or really take part in fashion because of the monetary barrier. So it's a weird thing where I would love to appeal to my audience, but it's not that easy because that audience isn't necessarily the people who can sustain my business presently. So I would say that's a large disadvantage if that's who you want to cater to. But the advantage is that's exactly what all of these older brands are going for, and it's just something that comes very naturally to me because it's real. I’m actually 23, so I understand that consumer.

Another disadvantage is a lot of the gatekeepers of fashion, they're not sure if I'm going to continue my brand or quit in a year or something like that, even though I'm very dedicated. But that's just the way the business goes. So it takes a really long time to get regarded in the way that you would want regardless of what you're doing, because I'm so young and they see a lot of young designers end up not continuing what they're doing. So I would say that another disadvantage is time. Fashion is definitely an industry that values longevity.

What things do you think will be important for Advisry to maintain longevity in the industry?

Consistency, community. Just maintaining and fostering the energy we have around the brand and the community that we've built, and continuing to champion other artists and other people adjacent to us.

Do you think Black designers have a responsibility to push for change in the fashion industry? Or is that an unfair expectation?

I would say it's definitely unfair. However, I don't think anyone, if you're being creative, should be responsible to have a specific message. I think it should always just be whatever your personal expression is. And I feel like the people who feel that they have to say something, even when they don't necessarily have something to say, it feels a little forced. And I don't necessarily think that's what the community even needs is people discussing things that they don't have ideas on. So I would say it's unfair for that to be considered a responsibility.

I think the only thing artists should be responsible for is creating art that they love and want to actually create. But I understand that because it's such a big platform and it's a minority within that platform, it feels like that's what you should be doing. But I think it should always just be authentic expression. So if that's what you want to be doing, then awesome. And if not, then also awesome.

You've referred to this upcoming show as your ‘Graduate Collection’. How do you think it compares to previous seasons?

Over the past few collections I've been kind of developing a specific silhouette that I have for my man, and then my woman has been developing as the last collection was my first womenswear, and that was kind of an exploration in itself. So I think with this one, I'm continuing a lot of the design language that I had started, but also evolving it into a new realm that it hasn't yet been seen by anyone else. So I guess that's how the conversation connects is through silhouettes and then obviously specific motifs that I've done throughout my design career. So yeah, I guess it's just a continuation of the conversation, but trying to elevate the conversation itself.

Do you think Advisry would look different than it does now if you’d had a formal education in fashion design?

Oh yeah, definitely. I don't know if I would be doing this if I had a formal education when I first started. Obviously I came from a streetwear background, so I was designing t-shirts and hoodies and stuff like that.

If I had a formal education and I go to class and they're like, “okay guys, I want you guys to make a dress”, even though I'm making dresses today I feel like that would've dissuaded me from the fashion industry at large if I was forced to work on something that I didn't necessarily want to work on, or hadn’t gotten to the point of even being curious about by myself independently.

So I think formal education would not have served me well. Also, I do notice a lot of fashion students are more so working towards working for a larger company and building a portfolio to exist within another ecosystem. And I think one of the larger reasons why I've been able to take this leap is because I had no professors dissuading me saying, “It's impossible” or pretty much being like, “well, this is the easiest way to have a career in fashion.”

I feel you. I always had to make things I didn't want to and I think that's a big part of why I ended up moving away from design. I feel like it’s discouraging in a way.

Yeah, definitely. I couldn't imagine that. I had no idea I would ever want to make dresses until two or three years ago.

Until the idea comes freely and comes to you naturally.

Yeah.

I think one of the larger reasons why I've been able to take this leap is because I had no professors dissuading me saying, “It's impossible”.

Is there something you want to say with this show and collection? Is there a message you want to get across?

So the collection motif is technicolor, and within the collection it's kind of going through the history of cinema, of moving image through aesthetic technology. So when it starts, it's like black and white, and then technicolor is a very specific period within that canon. And that collection theme is epitomizing the growth of the brand itself. So I guess the message that I really want to say with it is, ‘this is Advisry and it's going to be here for a lot longer. It's going to be here for a very long time and this is what it'll look like.’

Is there anything you've learned about yourself through the design process?

I'm sure that answer will continue to unravel as this process goes along and as I'm able to take myself out of the equation and take a step back and look at the collection overall. So I can't name anything off the top of my head. I've been so in it, but I think the moment I'm able to step back and really analyze it or hear other opinions and things like that, I think there will be some revealing things. Or even maybe years down the line, I'll notice something and I'll be like, oh wait, that came from this.

Is film something you'll go into more in the future?

Oh, definitely. Definitely. That's one of my biggest goals is to start making feature films.

Is that something you’d take time off fashion to do?

Yeah, definitely. For sure.

What do you think the future holds for Advisry?

The overall goal is to exist within the fabric of culture. That makes up everything that we get inspired and influenced by. I just always wanted to contribute to that. So I guess the future of Advisry is just being able to directly impact and tap into culture.

Fashion

Happy 424 Day!

Simon Rasmussen — What's going on?

Guillermo Andrade — Right now we're just setting everything up.

So, what are you doing, is it a party?

Well, I kind of felt universally forced, right? Because 4/24/24, I was just like, I don’t really have a choice here. The stars also just kind of aligned, so to be honest, I got this settlement that came with a bunch of clothes so I had this idea to give back to the kids who fuck with us by allowing them to buy our shit first. Not handing stuff out for free, but to do it in a way where we could skip the middleman of the industry, so to speak, and not allow clothes to disappear into the abyss of Farfetch or whatever else. So what we’re going to do is a sort of warehouse sale, which we’ve never done before so that was really exciting for me. I didn’t want to do just another warehouse sale, so it’s like a sample sale turns rager. We teamed up with Adidas and a couple of other sponsors, then drinks, DJs, and a performance.

Sick, I love it.

Yeah. My dream sample sale. Also, it’s not just hoodies and t-shirts here in there, it’s proper collections from the past three seasons. I’m also not picking and choosing, trying to make it accessible, like this was the only way I could afford to buy shit when I was a kid, bro. Sample sales were the thing I looked forward to the most.

I feel you. In New York, there's the annual CDG sale, which is when I used to cop all my CDG.

The only time I could afford Rick. I flew to New York once for a Rick sample sale and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I got invited. And it was mental. I still have those pieces. I will never sell them. Not even because I got 'em cheap. It was also just really fun. Even on the flight to New York, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to New York for a sample sale, what a fucking loser I am. But it was like the adult version of when I was a kid and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I'm 20-something and I'm still doing the thing I was doing in high school. So I hope we can create moments like that for kids here in LA.

Yeah. I love that. It’s important to connect with them; they’re essentially creating the brand. If you don't have them, good luck.

I mean, yeah. Fuck, bro. It's cool that we've been around for this long. I mean, it got a little rocky there for a second I think, for all of us. So coming out of it, tomorrow is a celebration. And it’s like an odd day of the week. It's a Wednesday, super random. And now that we've set it up, the homies are all like, Yo, I'm coming. I'm coming. Let me jump on stage, let me do this, and that's really what it's always been about. It's not some other strategy to get likes on the internet.

That’s how the best things happen, you just couldn’t help yourself. It was intuitive.

Yeah, it all came together in a really nice way.

Would you say that’s how 424 started as well? I remember we met in like 2010 on Fairfax and I was visiting with Rasmus…

Oh bro, it’s probably the time when I started the branch… do you remember Cecilia from Black Dakini? She’s the one that introduced me to CIFF and honestly, I didn’t even care what she was doing, I was just like, I’m coming, I’ll go with you. She said she’d give me half of her booth and I said, Awesome count me in. At the time, I had just gotten my green card and I wasn't allowed to ever leave America, so Copenhagen was one of the first cities I went to when I could finally travel. I mean, you see what we did at CIFF bro? It became our fucking hub for half a decade.

That was a moment for sure.

I remember the first account I got was Antonioli, and he came super gangster, being like, You're going to sell me these clothes. And I was like, bro, I didn't come to sell clothes. I'm just kind of catching a vibe with my homie and I made these things. And he's like, No, you're going to sell it to me. And then I was like, Oh my god that’s Claudio Antonioli. So then I went home, I googled wholesale, and figured that shit out. [laughs]

[Laughs]

Like you said, I couldn't help myself, but I didn't just make t-shirts and hoodies either. I was really on my Rick wave, so I made my version of the Rick things. It was that meets like The Boondock Saints, because I'm still a little bit of a Cali bro, sort of rock kid, but not really. I like hip-hop, but I like the way the rock stars look. I like the contrast. I thought it was cool. After that, I just never stopped.

It was clear to me when I first met you that you were onto your own thing in LA. It made a lot of sense, and it was so cool. It was before 424 was its own brand; you just had the store and this really cool curation.

It was all my shit, bro. I was very, very invested in sharing all of these things that I was finding from all over the world, like Astrid Anderson. She was one of those designers at the time, so important to 424. The connection to Copenhagen specifically for me was huge. I had a big fan base there. It was incredible. And then here in LA, we were sharing the things that we were a part of and finding; it was still the early days of Fear of God, Rhude, Martine Rose. A lot of these brands, we were the first store to ever sell it — we were selling Hood By Air on the West Coast.

You had Rick as well, I remember.

Oh yeah. It took me a long time. But I got Rick, bro. By the time I had to close the store on Fairfax, I already had a Raf Simons account. I had reached my ultimate dream. It was really all the stuff I wanted to wear at the time. It was dope. The best of the best.

We had an office magazine newsstand in there as well.

Oh yeah, we did! I came to visit the one you had, and I was like, Yo, I got to bring this whole fucking thing over here. But yeah, in LA, after two days people forget you exist, but everyone’s been super supportive. We’re all 10 years older now. We've been around forever at this point.

It can be dangerous to take those breaks when you’re figuring shit out, but there’s something very genuine to this comeback you’re having.

Thank you, thank you. We’ve been in and out of those fucking showrooms in Paris for long enough. I've been in and out of these factories for the past 10 years of my life. We had to figure something out. And I think now really diving in, being in Italy full time and being there to develop these products over time, I think that the whole thing just really shows the suppliers respect you more. The people who are making your goods understand why you're making them. And I think now I finally got to the place where I'm not making Italian things, I’m making my clothes, I'm making Cali-centric shit, but with that European technicality and execution. With this Fall / Winter collection, it clicked.

So what’s the vision for the next year? What are you manifesting?

I'm just fucking relentless, bro. This is the way I want to live my life. Now that we are more aligned, more prepared, and have more experience, moving forward it is just more of becoming a fully functioning company that can provide and create opportunities for all of the people around me. We’ve been operating just on instinct for a long time.

Sustaining a business is scary, trust me I know.

Scary as fuck, dog. I just opened a store next to Bottega, bro, and it’s like what am I even doing? You have to just believe in the thing you're doing more than anybody else.

100%, and it seems like that’s what you’re doing.

And fashion’s kind of a competitive sport, as much as people don’t think it is. We can reach a certain level without losing ourselves. My biggest ambition at the moment is to create something that, when you leave one of our neighbors you come into our place you don’t feel that the level has been sacrificed at all. And it’s not easy.

Definitely. I wish I could be there tomorrow.

Thank you, bro. 10 years now. You’ve always shown me so much love. We have to do a booth or have the office part of the next 424 day. Shit let’s do a 424 day in New York.

That would be sick. Let's do it. I'm here. Let’s catch up soon.

Next season’s right around the corner so I’ll see you in Paris.

Yes, see you in Paris and Happy 424 day!

Fashion

Luis De Javier's Puta Takeover

April 25, 2024

Last night with Luis De Javier, guests were overheard confirming this generation's most vital conundrum: “If I’m cunt, I can still be pussy.” “And if you’re pussy, you can still be cunt.” This sentiment echoed throughout the night as we celebrated De Javier’s first-ever streetwear collection, "Puta". We spent seven hours at Ella Funt at a dinner turned party that only he could’ve thrown (co-hosted by emcee). It was too dark for even the most aspiring-to-look-mysterious of us to wear sunglasses inside. Under the semi-oppressive flash of party photographers, we danced as much as the space would allow, drank tequila out of teacups and kissed each other on the cheeks with a vaguely European intimacy. “I’m doing streetwear!” De Javier could be heard exclaiming — whether it be in disbelief or excitement, we couldn’t tell you.

Words and photos by Izzy Capulong

The Spanish-born London-based designer has been well-loved for his genderless tailoring, latex mastery, and overall message of empowerment. Dressing everyone from ravers to A-listers, De Javier’s latest drop pushes his design repertoire to a new level. “While designing for my celebrity clientele and showcasing my creations on the runway has always been my dream,” he notes, “It’s equally important to me that my brand resonates with a wider, more diverse audience.” While this collection’s medium has shifted from corsets to sweatshirts, the classic LDJ avant-garde sensibilities remain. Bikinis and booty shorts are shamelessly emblazoned with “PUTA,” blazers are constructed with ample shoulder padding, and I had my eye on the cheekily-named “Faguette Bag.”

The Puta collection will be available exclusively on emcee.

Fashion

Nadia Lee Cohen Celebrates Paris Texas Launch at the Chateau

To celebrate the launch, Cohen and founder and creative director of Paris Texas, Annamaria Brivio hosted an intimate dinner at the Chateau Marmont pictured below. Arman Naféei entertained guests throughout the evening with a special playlist he curated for the occasion.