Hood by Air, OFF White & Marcelo Burlon Elevate Streetwear into The Luxury Realm

Hood by Air SS14 Runway

There’s a feeling that modern streetwear is being priced out of the reach of the average cool kid on the street whose aesthetic codes and lifestyle has helped shape its image today. In the emerging streetwear business scene, the market and desire for products are unbelievable. A decade ago the leading streetwear labels Stussy, Supreme and A Bathing Ape sold tees for £35 on the average but with today’s new guard the likes of Hood by Air, Marcelo Burlon – County of Milan, Off White and Pyrex average pricing for tees are around £130.

Marcelo Burlon Creative Director of  Marcelo Burlon - County of Milan

The new streetwear guards Shayne Oliver of Hood by Air, Marcelo Burlon of his namesake label and Virgil Abloh of Pyrex and it’s extension OFF WHITE have moved streetwear to a new level of luxury-like pricing. All three of these creatives don’t consider themselves as designers, but are constantly influenced by fashion-forward output from designer brands like Raf Simons, Givenchy and more which they rework and translate. It is common place now to find the use of exotic materials like snakeskin or artisanal processes employed in the production of garments by this new class. These days it’s also highly likely that factories that make finished products for luxury brands also make for them.

Design isn’t the only thing Oliver, Burlon & Abloh have adapted. Their adept marketing and presentation skillset can be compared to what Luxury brands offer. They have applied celebrity endorsements to build hype which in turn they’ve exploited using new marketing tools like social media and the internet. Limited edition collections and rare to find pieces which were the mainstay for early streetwear marketing strategy have been sort of disregarded in favour of a more accessible approach which is only restricted literally by pricing. To give you an idea of the kind of reach it would be interesting to note that Marcelo Burlon – County of Milan has over 250 stockists worldwide whilst Hood by Air can be bought at over 90 retailers worldwide.

Another important marketing tool that has been explored is runway shows and the art of presentation. Last season Burlons Label was on the Catwalk during Pitti Uomo, Abloh’s OFF WHITE recently presented its collection at CIFF in Copenhagen whilst Oliver’s Hood by Air ended its 3 stage ss15 collection – which saw it show in Paris – at the MOMA gallery in New York. 

OFF WHITE FW14

All of this has created a medium for youth culture to be repackaged, fused with a more luxe vibe and sold at a higher margin.

The Blueprint: Trapstar

Supply & Demand Autumn Winter 2013 Lookbook

 Supply & Demand is back with their AW13 collection. Like their SS13 offering, this is heavily influenced by streetstyle as the label continues to add that New York seen on the streets vibe. The sports influence is heavy as well with heavy logo'ed tees and a cute baseball shirt. Taboos are currently a hot fashion topic and the label jumps into that with its 'I Am God' tee which is one of my favs. 

Introducing: Streetwear Label XANADEUX

THE CONCEPT: The word mindmade exemplifies the XANADEUX approach. By adopting a distinctive surrealist attitude, XANADEUX is all about hand-creating arresting visual concepts that we feel have not yet been explored or offered thus far. Conceptually, we are constantly experimenting with new compositions and subject matter. Technically, we are intrigued by the translation of hand-drawn concepts into the realm of screenprinting. 

Versace & Prada Womens SS14 Take Inspiration From The Streets

The mere mention of the word 'streetwear' brings into our minds trends from the street mostly in the early 90's and as effeminate ad fashion is, the word 'Streetwear' evokes masculinity in every form. A look at most streetwear labels popular today like Stussy or Bape show that they primarily serve a male clientele but offer androgynous vibes in a way that makes it cool for girls to rock that too.

The whole streetwear sensiblity and aesthetics is been taken from menswear and was readily applied to the Versace & Prada women's ss14 collections showed at Milan Fashion Week. It comes as a surprise that these luxury labels will apply streetwear trappings to their collections even though streetwear with all its cool and du jour vibes also connotes cheap.

These luxury brands dealt with the cheap issue with embellishment using jewellery or other precious metals. The fabrication which also includes neoprene -a very expensive fabric- calms any fear of cheap chic and I'm sure these garments would be premium priced.

The whole point of this post was to note how menswear still up till today influences womens.

Bape x Stussy Fall 13 Collection

Although most of the pieces in this collection are sold out it is worth noting that collaborative efforts between 2 of streetwears most credible labels -whom would be competing against each other if it were high fashion- can create not only aesthetic but marketing success too.

Bape and Stussy together created some of the most coveted streetwear pieces of the year and I would like to see more collaborations between similar labels. Pigalle x HBA? Maybe, who knows.

Contemporary Street-wear Brand || Discover

Discover. is a contemporary streetwear brand from the heart of London. With a fresh and  unique take on fashion, discover. promises to bring exciting custom made garments to  the streets. Already supported by a number of independent stockists up and down the country as well as a handful of great bands, 2013 looks to be a big start for discover.

Twitter: @DiscoverApparel
Instragram: @DiscoverApparel
Facebook: /DiscoverApparel
Web: www.timetodiscover.co.uk

Model Jimmy Q Fronts The HYPE New Summer Collection

HYPE began in Summer of 2011, when the UK weather, for once, was good! Two friends, both on summer  breaks from University, decided they wanted to spend their holiday doing something more than just kicking back and relaxing. Fast forward a couple more years and the label is now stocked at the likes of Asos & Co. 

Their New summer collection features model of the moment Jimmy Q in signature HYPE prints.

Crooks & Castles Fall 13 Collection

The first drop of the Crooks & Castles fall '13 Men's Collection introduces their Thuxury capsule. Thuxury Capsile incorporates a fresh jewel-tone colour palette with black and white offsets, including a nod to high end watches and craftsmanship involved in them. Bold, oversized graphics aw combined with all-over and enlarged prints of luxury watch imagery, each guaranteed to keep your sleeves on chill. Boardshorts, tanks and hats are also included.   

Also included, is a Monogram Capsule, which raises the bar for fall with a fresh monochromatic palette. Crooks & Castles incorporated tonal prints take on their Thuxury theme to the core. Wool baseball jackets, baseball tees, sweatpants and shorts flip our classic Greco graphics, and bucket hats and leather caps keep it Crook to the brim.

Available now on crooksncastles.com  & www.threadsaddiction.com in the UK