As Tyler, The Creator returns to London to headline All Points East, the festival won’t just be crowded with fans singing every word back to him. It’ll be filled with loafers, mohair cardigans and ushanka hats, proof that Golf Wang and Golf le FLEUR* have done something most artist-led brands never do: make fans want to dress like him, not just listen to him.

When the gates open at Victoria Park over the August Bank Holiday weekend, it doesn’t take long to work out what kind of festival you’re at. There’s the usual parade of glitter, bucket hats, beaten-up cowboy boots and rundown trainers that have survived one too many muddy fields. But as two-time Grammy winner Tyler, The Creator touches down in town to headline two days of All Points East on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th August, Victoria Park is set to become something else entirely.

When you look across the crowd, you’ll likely find a sea of pastel mohair cardigans, earth-toned penny loafers paired with crisp white crew socks, ushanka hats, silk scarves and perfectly tailored pleated shorts. You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d wandered onto the set of a Wes Anderson film.

It extends beyond the festival crowds, too: Tyler, The Creator should probably pay compensation to the young women of East London. If you’ve wandered around Columbia Road Flower Market or opened Hinge anywhere near Hackney or Dalston over the last few years, you’ve almost certainly come across a man who looks like he’s auditioning for IGOR‘s backing dance troupe.

Plenty of artists sell clothes, but very few influence how people actually get dressed. But Tyler has beaten the curse – for 15 years, the cultural innovator has treated clothing and merch as part of his creative world, rather than an afterthought.

Back in the early Odd Future days, around 2011, merch was straightforward: shock-value graphics, inverted crosses and doughnut logos sold out of a tiny shop on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. But even then, fans weren’t buying Golf Wang T-shirts because they liked “Yonkers”. Wearing Golf signalled you belonged to a distinct community. 

What set Tyler apart, though, was allowing the brand to mature alongside its audience, his music and his personal style. That evolution also came with a split in identity. While Golf Wang remained Tyler’s colourful, skate-rooted streetwear label, Golf le FLEUR* gradually emerged as its more elevated counterpart: a space for premium materials, tailored silhouettes and lifestyle pieces.

The release of Flower Boy in 2017 marked a turning point. Pastel palettes, floral knitwear and the hugely successful Golf le FLEUR* x Converse One Star collaboration replaced graphics and neon prints, introducing a softer, more refined aesthetic that felt very aligned with Tyler’s taste. Swapping Converse’s iconic star for his flower emblem might have seemed like a small detail to some, but it signalled that Tyler was building a design language, and fans were buying into his creative universe and not his name. 

By the time the album CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST arrived in 2021, Golf le FLEUR* had fully established itself as Tyler’s higher-end label. Handmade tailoring, silk scarves, French Waltz fragrance and handcrafted luggage with heritage trunk-maker Globe-Trotter showed a level of ambition rarely seen from musician-led brands. 

When Golf Wang opened its London flagship just off Beak Street in Soho in 2022, fans travelled from across Europe and beyond to visit. Inside, alongside the label’s signature streetwear, sat the increasingly expansive world of Golf le FLEUR*: fragrances, tailoring and accessories that were made to last and be worn outside of the arenas and festivals. 

While artists like Rihanna and Travis Scott pioneered the hyper-exclusive “drop” model and artificial scarcity, much of the wider music industry settled for increasingly expensive basics. Tyler took a different route. Instead of relying on exclusivity, he focused on making clothes people actually wanted to wear.

The American Ivy League staples, penny loafers, sweater vests, pleated shorts and rugby shirts, were stripped away from their country club elitism and reimagined them through plush mohair, relaxed tailoring, playful colour palettes and youthful styling. In doing so, he created a new uniform for a generation of men who had outgrown graphic hoodies but had no interest in dressing like they worked in finance.

By this point, Tyler had already built a strong track record in fashion through Golf le FLEUR* and collaborations with Converse and Lacoste. After being voted GQ‘s Most Stylish Man by the public in 2021, the next milestone came when Pharrell Williams invited his long-time friend to co-design the Louis Vuitton Spring 2024 menswear capsule. It was recognition of a fashion identity Tyler had spent years building around nostalgia, prep, skate culture and individuality. Golf Wang and GOLF le FLEUR* turned the artist’s personal taste into a shared language, proving that an artist could influence how people dress before the fashion establishment gave its approval.

The timing feels particularly relevant. Artist merch has never been more expensive, yet it rarely feels more considered. Overpriced T-shirts and hoodies have become the norm, but so much of it is still the same formula: an album cover, a logo or a name. The longevity of Golf Wang and Golf le FLEUR* shows fans are willing to pay premium prices, provided they’re getting something that actually feels designed. It’s surprising more musicians haven’t followed suit; Harry Styles did with Pleasing, but the challenge is that most don’t build brands; they build products. Tyler treated clothing as another creative outlet, not just another revenue stream, and that’s a distinction few have managed to make.

So when Victoria Park fills with crew socks, pastel knitwear and ushanka hats this August, it’ll be proof that Tyler’s influence stretches well beyond the stage. Fifteen years after Golf Wang first launched, his biggest contribution to fashion isn’t a collection, collaboration or piece; it’s changing what fans expect from artist clothing in the first place.

In their latest venture, limited edition GOLFWANG hoodie and tee are available now at Golf Wang London and on-site at All Points East in Victoria Park, on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th August.

Words – Moira González