Within the fashion realm, the black vans circling around the church where A$AP Rocky’s spring AWGE show was held spelled the arrival of A-lister guests.
But in the broader global landscape, one couldn’t help think of ICE raids and protests, an impression the masked protesters and armed forces in flak vests facing off outside the venue did nothing to dispel.
The stage seemed set for a riot, and they got one – Riot Mayers in the arms of mom Rihanna.
In their wake, the crowd moved inside with all the resigned weariness of travelers passing between the hands of the TSA and through security gates.
Eventually, Rocky had guests – who included fellow musicians A$AP Nast, Miguel – nodding in their seats to the sound of a new track rumored to be from his hotly anticipated “Don’t Be Dumb” album.
For AWGE’s sophomore coed collection, titled “Obligatory Clothing,” the rapper-turned-designer zeroed in on archetypes that went from suit-wearing lawyers and paramedics to youths in hair curlers and XXL streetwear, a glamourpuss wearing a trench over a micro-miniskirt and louche types in satin playing card prints – what you think they do for a living is on you.
“For me, this whole ‘Obligatory Fashion’ statement was just [about] how you take the simple uniform or the purpose of a uniform, and how people correlate that to profession, lifestyle and everything,” Rocky said after the show.
By the time the hammer fell in the “City Court of AWGE,” as one print indicated, the verdict was: if sharp tailoring is a crime, the brand is guilty as charged.
Here, he continued to refine the ideas introduced in his first effort, and served his purpose of skewing perception. Suit jackets looked classic from the front and were backless; tailored trousers were split into a skirt; shirts turned into crisp halter tops; sagging trousers had six waistbands – half boxer shorts, half denim ones.
Elsewhere, his eye for tweaking proportions just so came through strongly, as evidenced by a workwear suit cut oversized which felt dressed up under the combined influence of cropped trousers and red-soled patent Mary-Janes. It was the kind of detail that made his designs stand up to sartorial scrutiny.
There were plenty of accessories to further mix things up, like paper bags with a flower peeking from the glass bottle inside, which brought Banksy’s famous Flower Thrower mural to mind.
The musical artist’s collaborations were also represented. Eyewear and clutches shaped like XXL cases nodded to his role as creative director of Ray-Ban. Feet were clad in the upcoming Puma Mostro Gabbia and a distressed iteration on the Speedcat model.
Those Mary-Janes and stilettos were from Christian Louboutin and came with bedazzled charms made by jewelry label Pavē Niteō, which is under the A$AP Rocky Ventures, Inc. umbrella.
Pointed commentary on recent and current events as well as his own experiences was palpable but delivered with a light touch.
“I’m gonna put all of these things into my fashion to tell my story without having it to be so like ‘look, I’m controversial and political,’” he said. “I’m just showing you the way I see it in little nifty ways.”
Just as pointed is his retail strategy. After available exclusively on the brand’s website for its debut, the brand will now be opening to wholesale accounts.
But don’t expect to see AWGE on every major retail floor.
“I want to start off very niche…small, limited and exclusive,” Rocky said. “There’s no way to do that in an environment that’s oversaturated with new brands, old brands.”
Plus, “there’s just a lot going on in the global economy – it’s f–ed, pardon my French, for lack of better words,” he continued. “And I think I have a particular customer, and I want to target that customer [who] loves, grieves and agrees with everything that I like, my taste, my values, my lifestyle, my past, my conflictions and my story.”
And that customer may get their hands on the goods sooner than they think: the brand announced it was holding a sample sale in Paris on Sunday and Monday.
