WEBVTT - Tremaine Emory: How to Become a Creative Director in Fashion 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:23.356 Pushkin. Over the years, the streetwear trend has moved beyond 0:00:23.356 --> 0:00:26.596 the actual streets and has been adopted by big box 0:00:26.636 --> 0:00:31.956 stores and even luxury European fashion brands. That change wasn't 0:00:31.956 --> 0:00:36.636 an accident. People like Virgil Ablo, who in twenty eighteen 0:00:36.756 --> 0:00:39.916 became artistic director of Louis Vutan, and whether or not 0:00:39.956 --> 0:00:42.516 we'd like to admit it, also, people like Kanye West 0:00:42.916 --> 0:00:47.996 wore pioneers in the modern luxury streetwear crossover. But so 0:00:48.236 --> 0:00:52.356 was my guest today, Tremaine Emery Tremaine is now the 0:00:52.476 --> 0:00:55.676 creative director at Supreme, which in and of itself is 0:00:55.716 --> 0:00:58.316 a major win, but considering he's the first black man 0:00:58.396 --> 0:01:00.996 or woman to ever hold that position, it's a coup. 0:01:02.116 --> 0:01:05.196 Speaking with Tremaine was eye opening the way his parents 0:01:05.276 --> 0:01:08.276 raised him to explore and encouraged his passions and education, 0:01:08.516 --> 0:01:11.476 while also imbuing him with a strong sense that having 0:01:11.556 --> 0:01:15.036 fun was still important. I mean, I imagine that's the kind 0:01:15.076 --> 0:01:17.636 of balanced approach to life that's allowed to Remaine to 0:01:17.716 --> 0:01:21.876 flourish in a field as precarious as fashion. I'm sure 0:01:21.876 --> 0:01:25.076 it's also helped to navigate his recent hardships, like the 0:01:25.156 --> 0:01:28.076 loss of his best friend Virtual autload of cancer and 0:01:28.156 --> 0:01:34.636 Tremain's own recent health scare that he's still recovering from. 0:01:34.836 --> 0:01:38.356 This is starting from the bottom harder and success stories 0:01:38.396 --> 0:01:45.116 from people like us. What's your day to day like 0:01:45.156 --> 0:01:45.636 these days? 0:01:45.636 --> 0:01:54.316 Man, just chilling. I'm recovering. So I had out of aneurism, 0:01:54.356 --> 0:02:00.596 out of lower aortic aneurism, and I'm recovering. You know, 0:02:01.596 --> 0:02:04.436 eight out of ten people passed from having it, so 0:02:04.996 --> 0:02:08.276 I was fortunate enough to survive it when in the 0:02:08.276 --> 0:02:12.356 hospital in octell and in of December, right before New 0:02:12.436 --> 0:02:15.636 Year's got out. So I've been spending most of my 0:02:15.676 --> 0:02:21.396 time recovering doing physical therapy because the aneurysm, the lower 0:02:21.436 --> 0:02:25.476 aortic aneurysm, really it messed up my legs. So I'm 0:02:25.516 --> 0:02:28.236 just building up muscle on my legs and waiting on 0:02:28.276 --> 0:02:31.436 some nerves to wake up. So yeah, but my health 0:02:31.476 --> 0:02:34.796 is great. I'm actually healthier than probably I've been in 0:02:34.836 --> 0:02:37.476 a long time. I had a lot of had and 0:02:37.596 --> 0:02:41.676 have a lot of support from people in my life. Yeah, 0:02:41.756 --> 0:02:43.076 I'm good. 0:02:43.476 --> 0:02:47.276 I mean I imagine this sort of slowed down like this 0:02:47.396 --> 0:02:50.196 sort of taking you know, sort of recovery time. It's 0:02:50.236 --> 0:02:52.156 probably the first time in a while that you really 0:02:52.396 --> 0:02:53.516 slowed down, right. 0:02:54.396 --> 0:03:00.956 Yeah, Yeah, definitely. It's been interesting because it's like also 0:03:00.996 --> 0:03:03.876 since I'm in New York, so I hadn't lived in 0:03:03.916 --> 0:03:07.396 New York in thirteen years. I've been on you know. 0:03:07.476 --> 0:03:11.316 I was living in London since twenty ten for seven years, 0:03:11.956 --> 0:03:15.156 and then moved to la and then moved to New 0:03:15.236 --> 0:03:19.356 York in twenty twenty two February. My first day at 0:03:19.356 --> 0:03:23.276 Supreme was out Valentine's Day, February fourteen. It's been the 0:03:23.276 --> 0:03:27.236 first time I've just been like not on the airplane 0:03:27.276 --> 0:03:31.516 every week or like on a train, you know, trains, planes, automobiles, 0:03:32.156 --> 0:03:36.036 you know. So it's been good. A lot of it. 0:03:36.116 --> 0:03:37.716 Part of it was just like when I was in 0:03:37.756 --> 0:03:42.076 the hospital, my focus was just getting out the hospital, surviving, 0:03:42.356 --> 0:03:45.636 doing what I could to listen to the doctors. And 0:03:46.156 --> 0:03:48.276 it's interesting when you get that sick, when you're like 0:03:48.396 --> 0:03:51.316 on the verge of death, which was like a couple 0:03:51.396 --> 0:03:55.396 of times whilst I was in the hospital, it's you know, 0:03:55.516 --> 0:03:58.276 will power. Definitely, you gotta want to be here. That 0:03:58.316 --> 0:04:00.716 plays a part of it. So I want to I wanted, 0:04:00.796 --> 0:04:05.876 I wanted to be here, so not just being grateful 0:04:05.916 --> 0:04:09.396 for surviving because in the end we all die. So 0:04:10.116 --> 0:04:14.036 you survived something, but it's only extending, you know. So 0:04:14.836 --> 0:04:18.636 my it's my focus has been on the five w's, 0:04:19.316 --> 0:04:23.116 So who, what, when, where, and why? You know, It's like, 0:04:23.596 --> 0:04:25.996 well why, you know, why what do I want to do? 0:04:26.836 --> 0:04:30.036 But again, before I got sick, I always kind of 0:04:30.076 --> 0:04:32.316 lived my life like that because that's how my parents 0:04:32.396 --> 0:04:35.636 raised me. So this life is finite. So we gotta 0:04:35.676 --> 0:04:37.236 have fun. We gotta be good to each other, we 0:04:37.276 --> 0:04:39.756 gotta love each other, we gotta have fun. My dads 0:04:39.796 --> 0:04:42.116 they have fun, you know, and do the things you 0:04:42.156 --> 0:04:44.476 want to do. So I always always been on that wave. 0:04:44.516 --> 0:04:48.636 I got maybe perspective on far as things is like 0:04:48.996 --> 0:04:51.996 myself having a family. I don't have one yet, I 0:04:52.036 --> 0:04:55.316 don't have any kids, and stuff on that more even 0:04:55.396 --> 0:04:57.676 but even that, I had that perspective of wanting that 0:04:57.796 --> 0:05:01.436 and wanting to find the right person to build a 0:05:01.516 --> 0:05:06.116 family with. But far as like living it to the limit, 0:05:06.316 --> 0:05:08.996 I did that already, you know, maybe to maybe to 0:05:08.996 --> 0:05:10.836 my detriment, maybe too much. 0:05:11.196 --> 0:05:13.476 Maybe too much, I mean, just even thinking too like 0:05:14.756 --> 0:05:18.076 with that happening so close to you know, what happened 0:05:18.116 --> 0:05:21.796 with Virgil and I guess maybe you probably knew about 0:05:21.796 --> 0:05:23.356 that for a while. I mean, I don't know. Man 0:05:23.396 --> 0:05:25.756 would have been like for me, really hard to process, 0:05:25.876 --> 0:05:26.636 you know, you. 0:05:26.596 --> 0:05:30.396 Know what I felt. It was definitely something I thought about, 0:05:30.436 --> 0:05:32.876 even I remember thinking about it in the ambulance, like 0:05:34.196 --> 0:05:40.276 I thought about V. And you know, like me and V, 0:05:42.516 --> 0:05:48.916 both young black men, creatives breaking into a world that 0:05:48.996 --> 0:05:52.356 didn't want us. There necessarily ones that used to having 0:05:52.356 --> 0:05:55.756 people that look like us there. Who were you know, 0:05:55.796 --> 0:05:58.956 a rogue squadron trying to take down the empire, you know, 0:05:59.196 --> 0:06:02.556 and you know, to lose a comrade. That's the first 0:06:02.596 --> 0:06:05.196 time I lost a comrade. And you know, just like 0:06:05.276 --> 0:06:08.156 even stuff with the Supreme thing, like I got the letter, 0:06:09.276 --> 0:06:13.236 I got my offer to take the position the same 0:06:13.276 --> 0:06:15.396 week he died. And the last time I seen him, 0:06:15.436 --> 0:06:16.796 the last thing he said to me, he's like, what 0:06:16.796 --> 0:06:18.076 you're going to do with the Supreme You're going to 0:06:18.116 --> 0:06:20.036 take the Supreme job. I remember we were both staying 0:06:20.036 --> 0:06:24.156 at the Mercer and he was staying on the sixth floor. 0:06:24.156 --> 0:06:26.196 I was staying on the fourth. So I got off 0:06:26.236 --> 0:06:28.796 the elevator first. That's the last time I seen him 0:06:28.836 --> 0:06:30.476 getting off the elevator and then he was you know, 0:06:30.516 --> 0:06:33.276 he was gone a month later. So it's like even 0:06:33.316 --> 0:06:37.716 just not even to get to tell him, even though 0:06:37.836 --> 0:06:39.436 in this grand scheme of thing, it don't even matter. 0:06:39.476 --> 0:06:42.036 It's just a job. It's kind of arbitrary, but you know, 0:06:42.116 --> 0:06:45.956 all we fought for, you know, just like Cats, our crew, 0:06:46.436 --> 0:06:49.876 things we talked about late night way back. I'm talking 0:06:49.876 --> 0:06:55.316 twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, before Off White, before did Them Tears, 0:06:55.316 --> 0:06:59.116 before No Vacancy n Cats was just like DJing making 0:06:59.316 --> 0:07:03.676 getting two hundred dollars to DJ, just trying to make 0:07:03.676 --> 0:07:05.876 it happen, and we had a lot of ideas and 0:07:05.956 --> 0:07:09.636 just yeah, just like your comrade to go be able 0:07:09.676 --> 0:07:12.196 to build with them or call them and talk to 0:07:12.316 --> 0:07:16.116 about the emotions and the you know, the highs and 0:07:16.116 --> 0:07:21.036 the lows. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it sucks basically a side 0:07:21.076 --> 0:07:25.076 and v I basically studied under them. They friends, slash mentors, 0:07:25.596 --> 0:07:26.516 you know what I mean. It's like. 0:07:28.196 --> 0:07:28.436 Luke. 0:07:28.596 --> 0:07:31.356 I'm not comparing myself saying I'm Luke Skywalk the character, 0:07:31.396 --> 0:07:33.596 but just like when Obi Wan went out, you know 0:07:33.636 --> 0:07:37.676 what I mean, it's like, fuck, the mission continues, but damn, 0:07:38.036 --> 0:07:40.876 you know what I mean. Yeah, and it's like it's 0:07:40.916 --> 0:07:42.916 like that with Virgil on a side, because those are 0:07:42.956 --> 0:07:43.436 the two. 0:07:43.236 --> 0:07:46.836 Guys, yeah, man, a side, the DJ who was a 0:07:46.876 --> 0:07:51.076 collaborator in some of your early ventures before Supreme and Virgil, 0:07:51.156 --> 0:07:53.556 but also your parents too, man. They seemed like they 0:07:53.596 --> 0:07:57.916 were super ambitious people to come from middle of nowhere Georgia, Yeah, 0:07:58.916 --> 0:08:00.076 George and Georgia. 0:07:59.756 --> 0:08:04.156 To fifth when they lived there, fifteen hundred, two thousand people, 0:08:04.236 --> 0:08:07.396 one red light town, you know, one red light most 0:08:07.396 --> 0:08:11.236 people went and worked worked, you know, bricklayers or worked 0:08:11.236 --> 0:08:14.916 at the pe Cam factory or nah. My parents are radicals. 0:08:14.956 --> 0:08:16.996 They they got they got up out of there and 0:08:17.036 --> 0:08:20.796 they were curious and that curiosity got passed to me, 0:08:21.356 --> 0:08:24.356 that curiosity about the world and not being afraid of 0:08:24.396 --> 0:08:24.956 the world. 0:08:25.196 --> 0:08:29.076 Yeah, because to move from Harlem, Georgia to New York City, 0:08:29.116 --> 0:08:30.276 like that's a huge no. 0:08:31.156 --> 0:08:35.276 My mom, My mom and dad are deep. Like I remember, like, 0:08:35.476 --> 0:08:38.116 you know, we're going to see Pavaratti at Central Park. 0:08:38.716 --> 0:08:41.116 Who's Pavaratti. He's an opera singer. He's got the Harlem 0:08:41.116 --> 0:08:43.756 Boys choir or singing with him. And it was a 0:08:43.756 --> 0:08:46.996 free concert at Central Park. I heard opera. I'm a 0:08:46.996 --> 0:08:50.076 young I'm a young black kid that live in Jamaica. Queens. 0:08:50.276 --> 0:08:53.236 They used to make a Queens to Central Park is 0:08:53.276 --> 0:08:55.556 not a It's not a short trip exactly. 0:08:56.436 --> 0:09:00.756 And I'm we're going to take you to see this 0:09:01.396 --> 0:09:06.636 confluence of culture. Halem boys choir singing with this Italian 0:09:06.636 --> 0:09:09.316 opera singer. So even so it's not even this take 0:09:09.316 --> 0:09:11.316 me to opera. They take me to opera. But then 0:09:11.356 --> 0:09:13.396 on stage of opera there's some people that look like me. 0:09:13.796 --> 0:09:16.396 My parents are very conscious of these things, and so 0:09:16.436 --> 0:09:19.516 that mix I had, and I think that's a big 0:09:19.556 --> 0:09:23.876 part of my creative output is living in the hood. 0:09:24.156 --> 0:09:25.796 It was great, it was an adventure. It was like 0:09:26.156 --> 0:09:28.436 I tell people, my childhood was like Sandlot meets boys 0:09:28.436 --> 0:09:30.516 in the hood, you know what I mean, Because it 0:09:30.596 --> 0:09:33.916 was like that. It was like we played basketball, football 0:09:33.916 --> 0:09:35.636 all the time. We having fun, but then there was 0:09:35.676 --> 0:09:38.516 the dark side of shit that would go down too. 0:09:38.716 --> 0:09:42.476 You know, I'm privilege with the type of family I had, 0:09:42.716 --> 0:09:45.316 not perfect, but privileged the type of family and the 0:09:45.356 --> 0:09:47.796 stuff they taught me, and that, you know, it's kind 0:09:47.796 --> 0:09:50.956 of my shield and armor against the bullshit of the world, 0:09:51.316 --> 0:09:53.636 because there's a lot of bullshit out there. You know, 0:09:53.716 --> 0:09:59.236 but my parents prepared me for it. The best micro 0:09:59.316 --> 0:10:02.076 for macro story. I could tell you my dad when 0:10:02.076 --> 0:10:04.356 he was in the army for six years and he 0:10:04.436 --> 0:10:08.836 learned how to become a motion picture photographer, so you know, 0:10:09.156 --> 0:10:12.996 shoot film. He became great at it. And then when 0:10:13.036 --> 0:10:15.716 he got out, he started working for a TV station 0:10:15.836 --> 0:10:20.236 in Atlanta, and then then he got the job at 0:10:20.236 --> 0:10:23.156 CBS in New York. I think in the second ever 0:10:23.276 --> 0:10:27.596 black TV news cameraman at CBS in New York. And 0:10:27.636 --> 0:10:32.436 then we moved. Oh yeah, we moved. We moved when 0:10:32.476 --> 0:10:34.996 I was three months old, nineteen eighty. 0:10:34.836 --> 0:10:40.476 One, second only the second black cameraman in CBS New York. 0:10:41.036 --> 0:10:44.596 Yeah, my dad's Emmy Award winning TV news cameraman. He 0:10:44.596 --> 0:10:48.556 has like two Emmy Awards. He's been nominated maybe I 0:10:48.596 --> 0:10:51.716 think ten times. He has two Emmys. But he needed, 0:10:51.836 --> 0:10:55.316 you know, he needed a frontive action to get his job, 0:10:55.996 --> 0:10:58.156 you know what I mean. That's how that's how he 0:10:58.196 --> 0:11:01.116 got his job. He couldn't just all those anti in 0:11:01.196 --> 0:11:04.516 front of action people. My dad an Emmy Award winning 0:11:04.556 --> 0:11:06.276 TV news camera and he needed a firm of action 0:11:06.356 --> 0:11:07.636 to get his job, you know what I mean. They 0:11:07.636 --> 0:11:10.156 would not give him that job if it wasn't for 0:11:10.196 --> 0:11:13.156 government intervention. But that's a that's another podcast. 0:11:13.556 --> 0:11:15.316 Well, we're we're at a point now where people are 0:11:15.316 --> 0:11:17.796 really again looking at like again, how we have to 0:11:17.796 --> 0:11:19.956 fight this battle again in front of action, like. 0:11:19.956 --> 0:11:22.956 Yo, bro, look at look at me and Van and 0:11:23.076 --> 0:11:27.116 Maximilian Max you know over at Ferragamo. You know, now 0:11:27.116 --> 0:11:32.996 you got Pat Louis. But fashions existed a while now. 0:11:33.476 --> 0:11:35.556 How many black carave directors have there been in the 0:11:35.676 --> 0:11:43.796 history of fashion? The history counted on your hand, Joe Hayford, 0:11:43.996 --> 0:11:46.796 he's the first, i think black careve director for Javanci 0:11:46.836 --> 0:11:50.556 in the eighties or nineties. And then you know he 0:11:50.636 --> 0:11:53.916 was the first and he was European, he's British. Virgil 0:11:53.956 --> 0:11:57.356 was the first African American at a French fashion house ever. 0:11:57.956 --> 0:11:59.156 And that's twenty eighteen. 0:11:59.596 --> 0:12:02.276 Yeah, that's forty years later, thirty years later for thirty five. 0:12:02.356 --> 0:12:03.956 So it's kind of like the same reaction you had 0:12:03.996 --> 0:12:08.156 about my dad being the second chieving news camera man 0:12:08.156 --> 0:12:11.476 at CBS in nineteen one. Shit ain't really change if 0:12:11.836 --> 0:12:15.356 v was, you know, the second black crave director at 0:12:15.356 --> 0:12:18.476 the French fashion house in the first African American. You know, 0:12:19.836 --> 0:12:23.636 Supreme is an American fashion house, skate brand, but they 0:12:23.636 --> 0:12:26.996 make fashion right to where I'm a crave director. I mean, 0:12:26.996 --> 0:12:30.516 how many black crave directors have there been at American brands? 0:12:30.596 --> 0:12:34.356 Not a lot, not even relegated to black? What about Asian? 0:12:34.396 --> 0:12:38.076 What about Hispanic? You know what I mean? You keep going, 0:12:38.156 --> 0:12:39.236 you know what I mean, It's just. 0:12:39.636 --> 0:12:41.196 How do you contend with that? Because I mean, you 0:12:41.636 --> 0:12:44.836 are in an industry that it feels like to the outsider, 0:12:45.036 --> 0:12:50.156 the outside eyes, has only really recently embraced black people. Man, 0:12:50.276 --> 0:12:52.556 you know, did you feel that then? Have you felt 0:12:52.596 --> 0:12:55.676 that throughout your career? Do you still feel that now 0:12:55.676 --> 0:12:56.956 every once in a while, or. 0:12:57.036 --> 0:12:59.876 Like example, you know, I worked at Jay Crewe and 0:13:00.596 --> 0:13:02.476 two thousand and one, I was working at Jay Crewe. 0:13:02.516 --> 0:13:05.756 I was a sales associate and I had long braids 0:13:05.956 --> 0:13:08.156 or I'll either rock bridge or fro like your hear 0:13:08.356 --> 0:13:10.716 just like yours. And they and they said to me, 0:13:10.836 --> 0:13:13.676 this is see, this is funny. It's before the acceptance 0:13:13.716 --> 0:13:16.756 of black people and culture and in the fashion world. 0:13:16.756 --> 0:13:20.676 They were like the CEO came in and you know, 0:13:20.716 --> 0:13:23.436 he said, you basically, your hair is not the standard. 0:13:23.916 --> 0:13:25.996 If you look at the if you look at our catalog, 0:13:26.076 --> 0:13:29.076 no one has hair like that. And they wrote me up. 0:13:30.436 --> 0:13:34.516 So who I am. There was this bookstore called Revolution Books, 0:13:35.396 --> 0:13:38.436 not far from the job, and I went to Revolution 0:13:38.596 --> 0:13:41.596 Books and I bought the book about in New York 0:13:41.676 --> 0:13:46.796 employee rights. That's me. And I went through the book 0:13:46.956 --> 0:13:49.316 and I read. I called up the j crew line 0:13:50.036 --> 0:13:52.556 and I read, I read it out the complaint line. 0:13:52.556 --> 0:13:56.196 I said, New York State, you cannot discriminate against someone 0:13:56.556 --> 0:14:04.236 with immutable characteristics. My hair is an immutable characteristic. Next day, oh, Tremaine, 0:14:04.276 --> 0:14:07.316 there was some gray area in that discussion. We're sorry, 0:14:08.116 --> 0:14:11.516 d D. I got up out of there, but I 0:14:11.556 --> 0:14:14.636 didn't let that deterred me from working in fashion, work 0:14:14.676 --> 0:14:18.116 in retail. I didn't let that stop me. Imagine if 0:14:18.116 --> 0:14:22.036 I would have let the motherfuckers stop me if I said, oh, 0:14:22.036 --> 0:14:25.596 you know what, and guess what. Mark Jacobs wasn't like that. 0:14:26.356 --> 0:14:29.596 Down from Mark to Robert Duffy to everyone I worked 0:14:29.596 --> 0:14:32.236 with that people of all colors and genders working on 0:14:32.276 --> 0:14:35.356 all levels of the company at that time. You know, 0:14:35.436 --> 0:14:37.636 for myself, I became a start off as a stot guy, 0:14:37.756 --> 0:14:41.956 ended up as an assistant manager, and up until you know, 0:14:42.036 --> 0:14:44.596 with Mark and Robert running it, you know they treat 0:14:44.636 --> 0:14:48.676 everyone the same. Everyone got the same clothing allowance. Security 0:14:48.756 --> 0:14:51.996 dudes got the same clothing allowance as the store manager. Anyway, 0:14:52.156 --> 0:14:55.396 it wasn't perfect. But what I'm saying is I didn't 0:14:55.476 --> 0:14:58.916 let how Jaku treated me on some racist shit because 0:14:58.916 --> 0:15:02.076 it was straight racist bullshit. I didn't let that deter me. 0:15:02.956 --> 0:15:06.156 So that's my thing is just yeah, I can't let 0:15:06.236 --> 0:15:08.316 I can't. I can't, I can't. I can't let nothing 0:15:08.356 --> 0:15:12.556 deter me. It's obstacles. My aneurysm is an obstacle or 0:15:12.596 --> 0:15:16.196 a dude telling me thinking I'm homeless and kicking me 0:15:16.236 --> 0:15:18.036 out a cafe the first week I moved back to 0:15:18.076 --> 0:15:21.036 New York. It's Crave director of Supreme. That happened. Yeah, 0:15:21.076 --> 0:15:23.356 straight up, you know what I mean. And you know, 0:15:23.476 --> 0:15:25.116 dude kicked me out. I said, you gotta get out 0:15:25.116 --> 0:15:26.756 of here. I told you before not to come in here. 0:15:27.196 --> 0:15:32.636 He thought I was homeless. So but again that's his problem. 0:15:33.316 --> 0:15:36.756 But I'm also gonna press him. I'm gonna press him. 0:15:36.956 --> 0:15:38.956 I'm gonna call and press that place, and then I'm 0:15:38.956 --> 0:15:42.236 gonna move on. You know what I mean, and. 0:15:41.636 --> 0:15:42.956 Not let it become your problem. 0:15:43.516 --> 0:15:46.156 Yeah. Yeah, well it is my problem, but I'm not 0:15:46.196 --> 0:15:48.196 gonna let it stop me. 0:15:50.036 --> 0:15:52.716 After the break, Tremaine talks about what it was about 0:15:52.756 --> 0:16:05.556 style that made him fall in love with it. For me, 0:16:05.716 --> 0:16:08.156 it's funny, like I grew up skating on the West Coast, 0:16:08.196 --> 0:16:11.916 like in the nineties, and so for me, fashion was 0:16:11.956 --> 0:16:15.916 always wasn't something I deeply cared about in terms of 0:16:15.916 --> 0:16:18.116 brands with things. I just knew like, okay, how do 0:16:18.156 --> 0:16:20.276 I express myself? And it was like I'm skating. There's 0:16:20.316 --> 0:16:23.916 like a few companies Vans or whatever right from out here. 0:16:23.956 --> 0:16:26.396 But I would get magazines and I would see things 0:16:26.876 --> 0:16:30.356 coming out of New York like Zoo York or Supreme. 0:16:30.796 --> 0:16:33.036 It was for someone like me on the West Coast, 0:16:33.076 --> 0:16:36.916 it was very intimidating to see the styles and the 0:16:36.956 --> 0:16:39.876 trends coming out of New York. Having grown up in 0:16:39.916 --> 0:16:43.756 it in hip hop in New York eighties and nineties, 0:16:44.436 --> 0:16:45.876 when did you first fall in love with it? And 0:16:45.876 --> 0:16:47.916 how was that viewing the evolution of it? 0:16:48.476 --> 0:16:51.876 Fall in love with like style, like yeah, clothing, yes, yeah, man, 0:16:51.996 --> 0:16:57.956 I mean I always been obsessed with style, and I'm 0:16:58.036 --> 0:17:03.236 conveying emotion through the way you dress and conveying texture, 0:17:03.556 --> 0:17:07.436 color on proportion. I think it started with my parents, 0:17:07.596 --> 0:17:10.716 just like how my parents dressed and what they were into, 0:17:10.876 --> 0:17:14.596 and then their style, and then going to school. And 0:17:14.596 --> 0:17:17.196 then also I used to spend my summers in Harlem, Georgia, 0:17:17.876 --> 0:17:20.236 so every summer I go there, and just like you know, 0:17:20.316 --> 0:17:23.596 like my uncle Ray, he was definitely a style icon 0:17:23.636 --> 0:17:26.716 in my eyes. My uncle Ray, like his nickname was Sharper, 0:17:27.236 --> 0:17:29.556 you know what I mean, Like the way he would 0:17:29.596 --> 0:17:31.236 just break off his hat, whether he had on a 0:17:32.716 --> 0:17:35.436 dressy style hat or like a truck a hat. He 0:17:35.476 --> 0:17:37.876 always he always said, I gotta break your hat off, right. 0:17:38.436 --> 0:17:42.716 Style was incredible. And then yeah, just movies. I think 0:17:42.836 --> 0:17:44.756 movies is a big part of it. My parents owned 0:17:44.756 --> 0:17:49.276 a video store, just us Videos and Elmhurst Queens and yeah, 0:17:49.316 --> 0:17:52.156 and East Elmhurst and the Hood. They owned a video 0:17:52.196 --> 0:17:55.636 store in the eighties. So just watching films, and you know, 0:17:56.116 --> 0:18:00.756 obviously every every film has a stylist, has someone that 0:18:00.836 --> 0:18:04.236 does the wardrobe, you know, whether it's taxi driver or 0:18:05.196 --> 0:18:07.436 do the right thing, you know what I mean, or 0:18:08.396 --> 0:18:10.876 John go Art film you know what I mean, contempt, 0:18:11.356 --> 0:18:16.516 So it's like films. It's where you know, a lot 0:18:16.516 --> 0:18:18.636 of picked up a lot of style from that and. 0:18:18.676 --> 0:18:20.316 Then when you saw it, because like for me, I 0:18:20.316 --> 0:18:23.596 would see those same films and see the styles be 0:18:23.716 --> 0:18:25.876 very impressed. But you must have had some kind of 0:18:25.916 --> 0:18:28.196 eye to not to see it and be able to 0:18:28.236 --> 0:18:31.796 incorporate that into your day to day, you know. 0:18:32.676 --> 0:18:36.916 Yeah, I don't know. It's just always, you know, always 0:18:36.956 --> 0:18:40.276 been on it, man, Like I always tell his story 0:18:40.316 --> 0:18:43.596 and interviews. But Yo, when I was six years old, 0:18:43.636 --> 0:18:46.956 my parents took me to get a cat, and they're like, yo, 0:18:46.996 --> 0:18:48.836 you gotta name the cat. And the cat was a 0:18:48.916 --> 0:18:56.356 Calico cat. So Calico's got stripes, spots, gold gray, black spots. 0:18:56.396 --> 0:18:59.516 Whatever I named the fashion, I named the cat fashion. 0:19:00.036 --> 0:19:02.636 I feel like she reminded me of like one of 0:19:02.636 --> 0:19:05.316 my mom's dresses or something like that, you know what 0:19:05.356 --> 0:19:08.236 I mean. And like so I kind of just always 0:19:08.236 --> 0:19:11.116 been into it, man. And then like once I hit 0:19:11.276 --> 0:19:14.516 jumped off the porch, you know, we'd be on Colisseum 0:19:14.556 --> 0:19:17.516 every day, going to the coliseum, going to Jamaica, app 0:19:17.596 --> 0:19:20.236 going in the stores. Then I start hopping on the train, 0:19:20.476 --> 0:19:23.796 go downtown, going in the stores. That's how I first 0:19:23.876 --> 0:19:27.756 learned the James Jevier Like me and James Jeba have 0:19:27.876 --> 0:19:33.676 been in each other's six degrees radius probably since the 0:19:33.756 --> 0:19:36.796 year nineteen ninety nine, two thousand, because I discovered the 0:19:36.836 --> 0:19:41.436 store he owned called Union, and the Union was a 0:19:41.476 --> 0:19:45.076 shop that had all kinds of brands. They sold Stucie. 0:19:45.276 --> 0:19:47.036 I think there was the first store to sell Stuscie 0:19:47.076 --> 0:19:49.156 in New York. And I used to just hang out there. 0:19:49.196 --> 0:19:51.316 It was kind of like a Union rat. I remember 0:19:51.356 --> 0:19:52.796 my first thing I bought from the Union was this 0:19:52.876 --> 0:19:56.996 black Jesus sweatshirt during by this brand called Sir, which 0:19:57.076 --> 0:19:59.756 was a streetwear brand of the time, and it was 0:19:59.836 --> 0:20:02.276 ran by this guy named Russ and he did this 0:20:02.756 --> 0:20:06.156 thing where he had a you could buy the sweatshirt 0:20:06.396 --> 0:20:08.876 or the M sixty five with the black Jesus or 0:20:08.876 --> 0:20:11.276 the Jesus, you know what I mean. You could choose 0:20:11.276 --> 0:20:13.596 which one you want. And to me, I was like, damn, 0:20:13.676 --> 0:20:16.596 this is deeper than just clothing, Like you know what 0:20:16.636 --> 0:20:18.556 I mean, I'm like, And then I bought it. I 0:20:18.596 --> 0:20:20.156 used to wear it. I remember the reaction I used 0:20:20.156 --> 0:20:22.756 to wear when I got that sweatshirt was like crazy, 0:20:23.396 --> 0:20:26.156 people stop you, like that's my Savior. People be like laughing, 0:20:26.196 --> 0:20:29.116 that's black. Jesus ain't black. Oh watch ill, is you 0:20:29.156 --> 0:20:31.196 a light? Cats stopping you in the street, like yo, 0:20:31.676 --> 0:20:35.516 let me let me give you the knowledge though they yeah, 0:20:35.716 --> 0:20:37.396 is your a white? Cats? In front of the Jamaica's 0:20:37.676 --> 0:20:41.036 Jamaica the Jamaica AD train station, they see me with 0:20:41.076 --> 0:20:43.476 the black Jesus sweatshirt. They're like, yo, come me to God, 0:20:43.796 --> 0:20:45.956 put you on. I'm like, nah, I'm good. You guys 0:20:45.996 --> 0:20:48.956 are racist, you know, like you guys are racist. I 0:20:48.996 --> 0:20:52.076 don't fuck with y'all, but in respect to Israelites, but 0:20:52.156 --> 0:20:56.036 I don't really rock that doctrine. But anyway, you know, 0:20:56.116 --> 0:20:57.916 I remember, like I grew up with cats that would 0:20:57.916 --> 0:21:00.276 say stuff to me like yo, while you be hanging 0:21:00.316 --> 0:21:03.676 out downtown, they don't want to stand there. The gay 0:21:03.716 --> 0:21:07.476 people there. It's more expensive there, And I'd be like, well, 0:21:07.836 --> 0:21:11.836 I don't got no problem with gay people to y'all 0:21:11.876 --> 0:21:15.716 go to the Red Lobster. Y'all go to bbq's. I'm 0:21:15.716 --> 0:21:17.636 gonna spend the same amount of money at Lovely Day 0:21:18.436 --> 0:21:20.556 and maybe the food's better than or not. I just 0:21:20.596 --> 0:21:23.356 want to have this food too. Y'all still do Bbq's 0:21:23.396 --> 0:21:24.876 I still do Red to this day. I still do 0:21:24.916 --> 0:21:28.356 Red Lobster. So cats saying they scared or they don't 0:21:28.356 --> 0:21:31.716 want to go hang out downtown. I knew there was 0:21:31.756 --> 0:21:34.516 something down there for me, and yeah, I had to 0:21:34.516 --> 0:21:37.836 deal with some bullshit down there, but there's bullshit in 0:21:37.876 --> 0:21:41.076 the hood too, we dodging bullets, you know what I mean. 0:21:41.156 --> 0:21:45.996 So it's like I'm getting knowledge from the hood and 0:21:46.036 --> 0:21:49.396 so much. I learned so much from guys and girls 0:21:49.436 --> 0:21:52.116 and people there, you know what I mean, about life, 0:21:52.236 --> 0:21:55.596 the human condition and more morals and being a stand 0:21:55.676 --> 0:21:59.476 up person and so many things. I've learned loads of 0:21:59.476 --> 0:22:01.596 stuff from hanging out downtown too, and hanging out in 0:22:01.636 --> 0:22:04.876 the city and being around other walks of life. So 0:22:06.036 --> 0:22:09.996 I can't let the powers that be stop me from 0:22:10.036 --> 0:22:13.596 being where I want to be. Yeah, So then I 0:22:13.636 --> 0:22:16.476 was hanging out there, and then my man Wilkins took 0:22:16.556 --> 0:22:18.716 over as a manager, and I met him and I 0:22:18.796 --> 0:22:20.436 used to hang it. So I started hanging out there 0:22:20.476 --> 0:22:23.196 like every day, and all the cats that worked there 0:22:23.876 --> 0:22:25.876 allowed me just to hang out. I was broke, dude, 0:22:26.076 --> 0:22:27.276 you know what I mean. And they give me T 0:22:27.396 --> 0:22:31.476 shirts on the low and then so to see this 0:22:32.476 --> 0:22:35.516 a store that had these brands that were local that 0:22:35.596 --> 0:22:38.036