Earlier this week, New York City’s Apolis Community Centre was jam-packed with people who had come out to hear Tom Sachs and Virgil Abloh in conversation with Simon Doonan. The pairing of downtown artist, international fashion and music creative, and retail legend might seem random, but you can connect the dots. Abloh and Sachs are sometime collaborators; Doonan’s employer, Barneys, stocks Off-White; and all three have dedicated fan bases, all of which seemed to be crammed into the tiny space.
The conversation was wide ranging, covering everything from what brand of underwear Abloh and Sachs wear—for the former, it’s Supreme black boxers, the latter wears Zimmerli boxer briefs—to what they hope will fuel creativity and art in a post-Trump world. Here, five highlights from their chat to inspire your weekend.
Abloh and Sach Finish the Sentence “Fashion Is. . .”
Abloh: A creative playground.
Sachs: Unnecessary.
Tom Sachs on How to Have a Productive, Creative Morning
Always go to work before you check your email or read the New York Times. You spend eight hours with your subconscious dreaming. Don’t waste that by taking the world in, go out. So immediately write in your journal, make ceramics, but do something that’s out instead of taking in. It’s an essential survival tool for all creative people. Instead of checking your email with one eye.
Virgil Abloh on the Bigger Meaning of Off-White
I don’t get too bogged-down in the clothes. Off-White is to make a brand. To your question, “What do you think about the end consumer?” for me, it’s one big art project. These clothes and the things that I make that I spend time obsessing about—these 200, 300 piece collections—they’re just a means to paint a bigger picture that fashion should have a brand where the person behind it cares about different contexts, different social things, just different landscapes, and I’m just in disguise as a fashion brand that shows in Paris.
Tom Sachs’s Take on Fashion
I don’t know if I’m against fashion. I love the way Chanel looks on my wife . . . but I hate how the advertising aspect of it contributes to her body dysmorphia. Buy this dress and you’ll get the guy. Lose some pounds and you’ll get a better job. But there’s another side. . . . The other half is the fashion seasons and the fact that things go in and out of fashion. I’ve been wearing the same tie, this width, for 30 years. Things go in and out of fashion quicker than they wear out. That’s called planned obsolescence, or, to be technical, it’s perceived obsolescence, kind of the same thing. Those things prevent us from buying heirloom and making heirloom products. That’s what I say when I say fashion. I think it should be made to last.
Virgil Abloh on Fast Fashion
Off-White, a T-shirt is like $200, a hoodie is like $300. At the upper level, like, don’t let Zara or Uniqlo educate you on the price of a garment because that’s not fashion. That’s like McDonald’s, so your health is tied to that. It’s like, here’s a 99-cent nugget.
[Source:- vogue]