Office Updates: Lacoste x EleVen Play Ball

Lacoste has teamed up with EleVen by Venus Williams to release a new collection designed and inspired by the tennis champion. The Lacoste x EleVen by Venus collection, featuring jumpsuits, tennis skirts, track suits, and more, launched on November 8th.

This collection includes 18 pieces designed in collaboration with Venus Williams, blending the worlds of sport and style with inspiration from classic sportswear and collegiate fashion. Standout pieces in the collection include a nylon tracksuit, a fleece sweater with the words "Venus did it first" paying tribute to Venus's historic tennis career, and Venus Williams' personal favorite—a short-sleeved striped polo shirt.

The Lacoste x EleVen by Venus Williams collection is priced between $115 and $450 and is available in stores and online starting November 8th.

Givenchy Brings Elegance For The Holiday Season

Givenchy unveils a holiday collection that builds on silhouettes first showcased on the Paris runway. The collection exemplifies the House's dedication to elegance under the guidance of Creative Director Matthew M. Williams, highlighting a renewed appreciation for formal dressing.

The women's looks in this collection pay homage to the foundational aesthetics of Hubert de Givenchy, celebrating architectural cuts, sumptuous materials, and cleverly incorporated negative space. Notable pieces include a floor-length dress in draped satin jersey, adorned with a graphic insert in 4G plumetis. Additionally, a red dress in crepe cady features a cutaway halter detail inspired by the Givenchy archives, along with a slip dress featuring French lace detailing.

The men’s collection is characterized by elegant tailoring, timeless jackets, highlighted seams, and track suits with sparkly side-striped detailing.

The Givenchy edit for the holiday 2023 season will be available online and in selected stores from mid-November.

Bryant Giles Joins The Anti Social Social Club

On November 11th, Anti Social Social Club (ASSC) unveiled a collection designed by Los Angeles-based designer and founder of Gone Homme, Bryant Giles. The collection, available for purchase from the ASSC store page, introduces a collaboration that transcends fashion, featuring characters from Giles' upcoming animated series, "Mr. Guy."

This release is part of ASSC's ongoing Artist Series, a platform that celebrates multidisciplinary collaborations with visual artists. Following their summer collaboration with graffiti artist Polo Cutty, ASSC continues the tradition of offering its clothing as a blank canvas for creatives like Giles.

The collection curated by Bryant Giles for ASSC encompasses a diverse range of apparel, including short and long-sleeved tees, polos, crewnecks, hoodies, fleece shorts, wide-leg sweatpants, hats, and socks. Garment-dyed, tie-dyed, and embroidered pieces showcase the creative depth of this collaboration. The collection ranges from $45 to $175.

Pastelle Revived

The clothing brand Pastelle, originally founded by Ye (Kanye West) in 2004, is set to make its comeback at the annual ComplexCon in Long Beach, California, on November 18th. Ian Connor, Christian Azzinaro, and Bloody Osiris are uniting to breathe new life into Pastelle, channeling the initial vision of founders Ye and Virgil Abloh.

Focusing on contemporary silhouettes and reimagined designs, Pastelle describes the relaunch as a deep dive into its origins, stating in a press release, "tracing the sparks of inspiration that ignited this exceptional venture and exploring the genesis of its evolution."

This new era of Pastelle pledges a revitalization of a brand that once defined the late 2000s streetwear scene, now tailored for today's audience. The relaunch commits to infusing classic designs with modern sensibilities. It champions a powerful narrative of inclusivity, fostering a sense of community, and dedicates itself to forging meaningful connections with artists, musicians, and influencers worldwide.

LỰU ĐẠN Drops a Slasher;

On November 6th, the designer menswear label, LỰU ĐẠN, released "The Slasher" Santoku Knife, developed in collaboration with Japanese heritage artisan, Kikusumi. "The Slasher" is part of the SSENSE XX program, celebrating SSENSE's 20th anniversary.

Handcrafted by skilled artisans in the Japanese countryside, "The Slasher" embodies the precision and tradition of Samurai sword craftsmanship. The knife, forged with Damascus Steel, boasts a Tsuchime hammered finish and a Fuki-Urushi lacquered Keyaki Handle, priced at $590 USD, and is exclusively available on SSENSE.

"The Slasher" chef's knife represents a fusion of Asian heritage and modernity, described as a testament to embracing greatness, one slice and dice at a time, whether you're a professional chef or an aspiring assassin. The campaign, shot by photographer Peter Ash Lee, is a nod to late-night infomercials of the 90s, featuring Peter Ash Lee in the role of a salesman persuading the audience through a static screen.

LỰU ĐẠN's mission is to redefine Asian masculinity, celebrating pride in heritage and identity. In a world where fashion and culture intersect, LỰU ĐẠN makes a mark, turning a kitchen tool into a statement of Asian pride and defiance. "The Slasher" Santoku Knife is a symbol of LỰU ĐẠN's vision and the brand's commitment to pushing the boundaries of fashion.

Fashion

From Prince Street to East 4th, a Ride With Rapha

April 29, 2024

To celebrate the coolest (and finest) cycle-centric brand Rapha's latest drop, we kept the party going after its New York Clubhouse launch with dinner and drinks at Ella Funt.

With a first campaign shot in New York, capturing riders through the lens of street photographers Sarah van Rij and David van der Leeuw, Rapha Performance Sportswear strikes the perfect balance between style and functionality, tailored for life in motion. Just in time for prime sunny weather here in New York, the collection is a perfect choice, both on and off the bike. "For someone like myself who lives in Amsterdam and commutes by bike daily," says Fayrouz Salem, Rapha Head of Lifestyle, "this is a dream come true. We've created pieces that work on the bike without having to compromise on style."

Shop the collection at rapha.cc and in select Clubhouses.

Photography by Anderson Martinez

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

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!