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Taking Flight

The first clue was HBA’s FW16 invitation, featuring an image of a red patent leather suitcase, with an luggage tag reading “Pilgrim Series”; then, set on all the seats at the show, plane tickets for a flight from “NYC to NYFW” with a second reference to pilgrimage. There’d be an airport theme, that much was obvious – but how would it play out?

The first look offered little in terms of explanation – a black leather coat with matching floppy knee-high boots, worn by a redhead with long wavy hair escaping the bottom of a glittering silver headwrap – a beauty look more Studio 54 than stewardess. A few similar looks were followed by the first aesthetic plot twist – a male model with literal “pilgrim” hair, parted down the middle, with tightly wound curls on each side of his head like someone from the Mayflower. After that, all bets were off: more pilgrim hair, then luggage converted into blazers and dresses, disheveled shirts worn as hoods, and pieces like a floor-length fur coat wrapped over and over with bright red shrink wrap. It was a conflation of Mayflower pilgrims with pilgrims in the sense of travellers, with allusions everywhere to haphazardly tossed clothes, and printed luggage tags hanging off collars and boots and dresses.

Running Late 

The haphazard feeling was conveyed by the models too, who halfway through the show started frantically crisscrossing in the wrong direction on the runway, like lost passengers scrambling to catch a flight. Pieces ran the gamut from more sport to more luxe, with plenty of HBA staples making the cut: straps, glistening patent leather, and zippers galore, resulting in the aggressive take-no-prisoners vibe at the core of the brand’s DNA.

In Crowd Meets Out Crowd

Befitting the airport theme, the venue this season was bigger than ever, and packed. With a front row including Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington, HBA has gone from humble beginnings to the hottest name around, somehow managing to appeal more and more to the establishment. This doesn’t mean HBA is forgetting their anti-establishment roots. Should anyone doubt where the brand’s loyalties lie – that is, who they exist for in the first place – the audience sparkled with misfits and bedazzled club kids, the underrepresented youth they’ve championed from Day 1, who are the real pilgrims pushing social progress into the future.

Words: R.J. Hernandez

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 Tough military codes teamed with lavish furs – Jason Wu AW15 was a lesson in fierce power dressing.

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Roots

Shayne Oliver is growing up – or at least, getting serious about design.  He’s never been a designer’s designer, but then again, Hood By Air has never exactly been about the clothes, relying heavily instead on its cultlike following.  It’s a brand for the people – albeit a certain kind of people – marginalized, either sexually or by race, whom he celebrates through a “ghetto-gothic” aesthetic.

While the aesthetic didn’t change, the execution certainly did, graduating from last year’s logo-emblazoned everything (tees, jeans, and apronlike sheaths) to more sophisticated forms – trench coats, and even suits. There were still the tenets of HBA material world – denim, for example, and braided leather – yet nods to Rick Owens and Ann Demeulemeester raised the bar for HBA, culminating through the use of materials into a high-fashion (or at least higher-fashion) ‘asylum’ feel.

Bell and whistles

It wouldn’t be HBA without a spectacle though.  While last year’s show seemed to necessitate it (no complaints though – who didn’t love those irreverent blonde dream-catcher hair extensions, or the sudden evolution of the show into an extreme voguing extravaganza?), this year could have benefited from a little less.

Perhaps still unsure whether his fashion could stand alone, Oliver seemed keen to rack up the gasp-worthy diversions.  Each minute brought a new, Insta-ready moment.  There was a dog.  A live gospel choir.  Men in makeup.  Skinhead tattoos.  A model in crutches (despite his lack of an actual injury).

Locked up

Then of course, there were the plexiglas pillories, which imprisoned models by the hands and wrists – with no apparent explanation (except perhaps that because HBA boisters a quasi-political agenda, its models should do more than just walk).

Not that the models themselves don’t already subvert traditional fashion-show expectations.  Like John Paul Gaultier, HBA is committed to casting apparent misfits, models of varying shapes, colors, sizes – which this time Oliver featured in gender-crossing makeup.

More surprising than all this, however (let’s face it, we’re going to expect subversion from this brand ever after), is HBA’s unlikely growing fan base, which despite – or because of – the brand’s fanatical downtown status, has grown to include members of established fashion community.  I mean, the front row contained at least four card-carrying American Vogue personalities … and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Surely that’s a sign of something.

Words: Seymour Glass.

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Shayne Oliver of Hood By Air is in his Chinatown, New York studio blasting the Pet Shop Boys. It’s mid-week late afternoon and the project team, spearheaded by the crisp-collared, padlock-chain-wearing designer, are punching out ideas for the next collection. Nothing of which he cares to specify yet, “We’re just vibing, really,” he drawls in his Brooklyn accent. Oliver was born and raised in New York, “I’m a BK baby,” and the label he formed at 19, (he’s now 26) was recently nominated by the CFDA for Menswear Designer of the Year, a distinction that hasn’t altered his perception of how they get things done, even for the anti-establishment streetwise label. “So, we have an office manager now,” he giggles.

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Since its inception a year ago, Hood By Air has become one of the most coveted labels and now with its new e-commerce site launched its easier to get your hands on some.  The site will feature site exclusive pieces and
a large selection of graphic long sleeved tees and hoodies from the New York based brand.

Designer Shayne Oliver says he wants the site to grow organically, its fairly simple for now but promises animated GIF’s, video and social media elements in the future. Visit the store hoodbyair.com.

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