Calum Gordon

Notes on Camo

Taken from issue 37 of Kaleidoscope magazine

GmbH

Feature on Berlin-based brand GmbH for i-D 'Faith in Chaos' issue

Fiorucci Made Us Hardcore

Taken fromWIP magazine issue 04, SYNTHETIC MEMORY is an extensive dossier, marking the 30th anniversary of the "Second Summer of Love," when Acid House exploded across the UK, while also examining the power of cultural nostalgia. It hits at exactly seven minutes and 58 seconds of Mark Leckey's 1999 video artwork, Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore.

On Stage. Front Page. Every Show I Go.

Despite its European origins, the adidas Superstar feels as quintessentially American as French fries. There are four people closely associated with the shoe: the three members of Queens rap group Run-DMC and basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose career in the NBA spanned two decades, starting in 1969.

an ode to stone island, the brand that britain misunderstood

About a month or so ago, while scrolling through my Instagram stories, I came across the account @stonedislandpatch. The concept is pretty simple: pictures of notable figures with poorly Photoshopped Stone Island badges on their left sleeves, typically with a caption that reads like it's been lifted from one of the many trashy, football casual novels published in the mid-aughts.

A Brief History of Style in Sport

SSENSE and Victory Journal team up on five stories related to style in sport. Sometimes, it is the most incidental cultural moments that have the most influence. The kind of unexpected plays that you mentally posterize, that sneak into your mind in places and ways you can't anticipate, years later.

Say Yes to the Vest

The final look of Louis Vuitton's SS20 menswear presentation offered what could generously be described as a "vest." It looked almost as if the model had been dipped in some high-strength adhesive and swung by his ankles around a Louis Vuitton showroom, accumulating tobacco-hewn, monogrammed bags and furniture as he went.

Judy Blame: "I've always been a troublemaker"

Jim Lambie: 20 Years of Zobop

It started with an empty space, a nondescript floor and a bag of colored vinyl tape. Zobop, the artwork by Scottish artist Jim Lambie, was conceived for his first solo show in 1999, has since gone on to grace the floors of MoMA, the Royal Academy of Arts in London and, currently, the UK's Tate Liverpool gallery.

SECOND ACID WINTER: The Roots of Fashion's Rave Revival - 032c

References to late nights and chemically-induced collectivism are woven throughout recent fashion history with London's Sports Banger, Gucci, and adidas's Spezial unveiling acid-tinged collections and campaigns. It's not unusual for brands to mine the counterculture seeking inspiration, but the parallels between early 90s rave and the present are not purely aesthetic, but political too.

Hype Nation

Ten minutes to read about streetwear losing its cool.

Soul Skate

Sliding into Detroit, Michigan in search of America’s other skating subculture

The story of how secretive streetwear brand Cav Empt was born

In March 2011, a 9.0-9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific coast of Tōhoku. It was the most powerful earthquake to ever hit Japan, the fourth most powerful earthquake which has been recorded, and in turn triggered a tsunami that hit Tōhoku's Iwate Prefecture, killing over 15,000 people, with a further 2,537 missing.

- 10 Magazine - Couture, High-end, Boutique Fashion News

Dressed in a plain black shirt, sleeves rolled up, with black-rimmed sunglasses, Shawn Stussy cut an inconspicuous figure at Kim Jones's recent debut menswear show for Dior. Not that it would have mattered much what he wore, at a show where most photographers would have had their cameras trained on attendees such as A$AP Rocky, Kate Moss and Skepta.

Why Adam Kimmel Was My Favourite Brand

I didn't learn of Adam Kimmel by seeing one of his oddball fashion presentations. Nor did I fall in love with his clothes by touching and trying them on in a perfectly merchandised boutique. (Well, not really.)

"There Is a System of Aesthetics That Only Graffiti Writers Understand": Martha Cooper Runs with...

Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, Cooper's images of New York City told the story of a new, disruptive form of art. Three decades later, she joins Berlin graffiti crew 1UP to witness its mainstream implosion and radical renewal. "We went back to being underground," Cooper says. "Which I like."

Fumito Ganryu Is Back, and That's a Good Thing for Menswear

Part of the charm of Comme des Garçons' vast empire of brands and sub-brands is that it has always allowed for nooks and niches for labels to exist in.

Virgil Abloh's Mid-Oughts Blog Will Warm Your Heart!!!

Virgil Abloh, the new artistic director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, absolutely loves It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. "In the last 2 days I have watched like 6 episodes... and I am hooked."

The History of Hip Hop Style in Four Brands | AnotherMan

Everything AnotherMan knows about The History of Hip Hop Style in Four Brands

How Soccer Became Fashion's Latest Obsession

Photograph by AFP for Getty Images. Fashion and football-sorry, soccer-have always made uncomfortable bedfellows. It is a sport in which the star players are cocooned from an early age: no parties, no normal teenage upbringing, none of the elements typically crucial in developing one's own sense of style.

The Greatest Shirt

Black camo and a whiff of violence. Lovely stuff.

Aries: Clash of Cultures

Issue 32: Spring/Summer 18

Why Collaboration Dominates Fashion in 2017

In 1999, then-nascent New York label Supreme wanted to make some sneakers. They didn't have the resources to make their own, so they approached someone who did: skate brand DC Shoes. The result was sold in Supreme's Lafayette Street store to little fanfare-no snaking queues round the block, no incessant online coverage.

The Duo Making Political Clothes for Critical Streetwear Kids

You don't expect to find a gallery or museum's most radical works in the giftshop. But what if you could? What if, by changing the medium, you could spread the art, or ideas of an artist, further than a typical gallery space ever could?

Meet Julian Klincewicz, a true 21st-century polymath

One of the first things you notice about Julian Klincewicz, after a few minutes speaking to him, is that he is really nice.

Tyler, The Creator doesn't need the fashion industry

"The devil doesn't wear Prada, I'm clearly in a fucking white tee," rapped Tyler, The Creator on the opening track of his sophomore album Goblin. The line was the denouement to a six-minute diatribe where the 19-year-old delivered a slew of shockingly candid insights into his life, from his father walking out when he was a child, to thoughts of committing suicide.

Streetwear Was Big Business in 2017, But is That a Good Thing?

As this year winds down we've recapped its highlights to bring you the best of 2017 in fashion, sneakers, music, movies and more. I know it's uncool to talk about what's "cool." But I'd like to. For streetwear, where the concept of cool is imperative to success, the past year has posed somewhat of an existential paradox.

The return of cult political fashion brand Vexed Generation

"I actually met Joe years ago at a wedding, he was taking the piss out of what I was wearing," remembers Gill Linton, co-founder of vintage fashion retailer Byronesque. "I said, 'What do you know?'

The crew that raided NYC stores for Polo Ralph Lauren

In 1987, New York City was home to two gangs, both utterly obsessed with the fashion label Ralph Lauren - and neither was made up of WASPY, country club types. There was Ralphie's Kids from St John's and Utica in Crown Heights, and the amusingly titled United Shoplifters Association hailing from Marcus Garvey Village in Brownsville.

The Influence of Streetwear on British Politics

Long after the polls have closed and the celebratory ticker tape has been swept away, the iconography endures. Shepard Fairey's 2008 'Hope' poster, created in support of Barack Obama, has a continued relevance today, and it's hard to think of last year's U.S. Presidential Election without thinking of Trump's red 'MAGA' cap.

How Stüssy Foresaw the Future of Fashion

When looking at pictures of Stüssy t-shirts and campaigns, it's often hard to distinguish what's from the past and what's current. The handwriting is the same, literally. In Shawn Stüssy's inimitable scrawl, the brand has a rich visual language, one that feels slightly nostalgic - created long before the days of Photoshop, but still relevant.

A History of Raf Simons' Collaborations with Peter Saville

The old adage is that you should never meet your heroes. Raf Simons, of course, has never been one particularly enamoured with conventional ideals.

How Raf's first Calvin Klein campaign tears up the rulebook

Yesterday, the first Calvin Klein campaign of Raf Simons' tenure as the brand's chief creative officer was unveiled. Shot and styled by his long-time collaborators Willy Vanderperre and Olivier Rizzo, respectively, the series of images act as a statement of intent for the New York brand under the Belgian designer.

The Nike shoe that was the uniform of Italy's 90s club kids

In New York in the 90s, it was wheat-coloured Timberlands - Jay Z would famously pull up every weekend to David Z, a Manhattan shoe retailer, to purchase a fresh pair, giving his week-old shoes to some lucky passer-by. On the West Coast, it was Chuck Taylors, with gang members declaring their Blood or Crip allegiances through their chosen colourway.

How Carhartt WIP became a subcultural phenomenon

On the 8th of August 2011, the staff at the Carhartt WIP outlet on 18 Ellingfort Road in Hackney received a phone call from looters telling them, out of courtesy, that they should vacate the premises. They did.

Menswear label Noah is proving it's punk to care

On the corner of Mulberry Street in Nolita, the historic slice of downtown New York's Little Italy, sits Noah, with a whitewashed façade accented with red and blue. The store is the home to Brendon Babenzien's nascent clothing label, which he launched little under a year ago after leaving his post as design director of Supreme.

The trainer the Daily Mail told you to be scared of

Grime is dead. At least according to photographer Ewen Spencer, who says that today's scene bears little resemblance to the one that first sprung up in the early 2000s. Despite being white, in his 40s and a Geordie, there are perhaps few more qualified to make this assessment.

Remembering Glenn O'Brien, who hated fashion and loved style

American writer and cultural critic Glenn O'Brien passed away at the age of 70 in April of 2017. To many, O'Brien wasn't simply a figure that wrote about pop culture, he was pop culture. Blending music, art and style, seamlessly bridging both mainstream and underground, O'Brien was a trailblazer that paved the way for so much - including publications like this one.

How Factory Records inspired decades of fashion

Last month a small slice of Mancunian history appeared in Miami. Conceived in collaboration with Ben Kelly - the architect responsible for Manchester's iconic but now defunct Haçienda club - designer Virgil Abloh presented his own homage to the historic nightclub venue at Art Basel, in the form of a portable DJ space.

Trying to understand the Supreme brick

On Saturday morning I received a text from my mum. It was a picture of the queue outside London's Supreme store last Thursday, and an article about the branded brick (yes, brick) that the New York streetwear label was selling.

What does Raf Simons at Calvin Klein mean for fashion?

There is no longer any doubt over who will be heading up Calvin Klein, but one question does remain - what will the label look like under Raf Simons' direction? The initial whispers of the designer joining the house elicited mixed reactions, ranging from scepticism to near-tangible excitement.

What the hell is an Art Dad?

If you follow those that Kanye keeps in his inner circle - Virgil Abloh, Theophilus London, Heron Preston - you'll likely have seen a phrase repeated again and again over the past few weeks: Art Dad.

Ghetto Gastro are probably the coolest chefs in the world

Nomadic culinary collective Ghetto Gastro probably do not look like your typical chefs. In fact, there are likely few chefs who would know the name Rick Owens, never mind be dressed head-to-toe in his clothes.

How the lines between streetwear and the runway are blurring

When it was announced at the tail end of last year that burgeoning streetwear brand Stüssy would mark its 35th anniversary with a collaboration with Comme des Garçons' seminal Dover Street Market, the irony would not have been lost on Shawn Stüssy.

Shawn Stussy Biography | Highsnobiety

In the start of a brand new series for Highsnobiety chronicling the lives and careers of prominent figures in the street fashion industry, we kick off with the godfather of them all - a man who helped birth the scene - Mr Shawn Stussy. How do you write an introduction for a man like Shawn Stussy?

Exploring the USSR's underground obsession with Levi's 501s

"When you can make jeans better than Levi's, that will be the time to start talking about national pride," wrote one young, disgruntled reader of (the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) in 1984, as reported in The New York Times.

How exactly did North Face become cool?

To many, a mention of the brand The North Face conjures up ideas rooted in middle-England homogeneity, like warm pints, Land Rovers and thinly-veiled racism. It's something your dad would throw on with wellies to walk the dog on a grey Sunday. Because that's what dads like in their clothes - practicality, comfort, items that require no thought.

How Virgil Abloh went from DIY tees to Paris Fashion Week

"I look at my job, or mission, or passion, as defining streetwear," remarks Virgil Abloh. "It's a term that I always say could end up like disco if not handled well... I'm trying to see how far I can push it."

The fashion maverick turning bootlegs into art

Heron Preston is a product of the internet. Operating in the creative sub-genre of "What does that guy actually do?" - a decidedly post-internet phenomena in itself - the 32-year-old explains that he now "identifies as an artist."