Two legends who share a similar yet different art form have collaborated on a tee. Graffitti artist Haze and calligrapher Neils Shoe Meulman have designed limited tees that will be sold at Amsterdam’s Patta shop. The shirts will begin selling on September 13th, surrounding Niels Shoe Meulma’s solo exhibition. Jump on these quick.
Info.Image: SlamXHype
Andrew Gordon is one of those artists that will have you wondering where he finds inspiration. When looking at his work you can’t help but ask questions such as, is this guy under the influence of hardcore substances or is he simply creating art for shock value? Sure, we questioned Andy Warhol’s obsession with Campbell’s soup, but embraced his quirky, artisitic brilliance. For a dose of tragic yet witty art, look no further than Andrew Gordon’s website.
Info.Image: Andrew Gordon via Juxtapoz
Anderson Maschio has produced a very ambitious typeface dubbed “Chumbitos”. The face has a strange retro-futuristic feel but at the same time it’s also criminally analog, beautiful, make mine a double. Maschio isn’t new to the type game, he’s got a bit of a history and is sure to go deep like a melting glacier.
Info.Image: Behance
Poppin’ fresh new ill-a-strations from the Italian artist Simone Magurno. Working out of Sweden, Magurno is known primarily for his bombastic explosions of implosive colors and a morphological shapes, but did you know he also has a serious grayscale steez? for real though, from typo to icon, this dude has got the ‘conography game on lock.
Info.Image: Serious Situations
Kako Ueda is a master paper-cutter of paranormal proportions. With just a well-sharpened exacto knife she is able to carve out near-infinite intricate re-definitions of our organic biosphere. Profoundly original, Kako works out of NYC and puts most neurosurgeons to shame.
Info.Image: Kako Ueda via Juxtapoz
Alife has apparently opened a boutique on Fairfax in LA. This tee, which is a combination of the “Life” magazine logo and the L.A. Dodgers logo, has been released to commemorate the new store.
Info.Image: High Snobiety
10.Deep has -kind of- released this tee for the upcoming Magic tradeshow. The tee is reportedly not meant for public consumption and will be available to the brand insiders only.
Info.Image: High Snobiety
DC and New Era present the 20|94 “Volcano”. The partnership of these two companies amounts to a fashion superstructure and this release indicates that yes, indeed, the partnership will bear many delicious fruits. The shoe consists of a premium leather upper, super suede highlights and is accented with red baseball stitches on the tongue.
Info.Image: Hypebeast
Mishka, renown outfitters of def vibes, have released their Fall 2007 accessory line, which has exceeded all expectations. No sight of the notorious “Death Adder” but the line does contain some well designed bags and wallets, as well as a wonderfully morose “Cold War” toque.
Info.Image: Essense via Hypebeast
King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table were men awarded the highest order of chivalry (or in this case, style). The table at which these men sat was created to have no head or foot, representing equality amongst all of its members. Fast-forward a couple hundred centuries and times have changed, kingdoms have been conquered (two times over), yet for Imaginary Kingdom (IM-KING), a clothing line based out of Orange County, California, the script (or scroll) still reads the same. IM-KING prides itself on their collective energy, and with ten originators there’s plenty of that to go around. Format had the opportunity to speak with Andy Cool, IM-KING co-founder and creative director, who says they’re in it for the long haul. “We want to actually last,” Cool explains of their kingdom. Check the name, because the knights of this table won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
“Hunger forces us to thrive on pure passion and imagination. Basically, that’s what we’re about – doing our own thing.”
Format: How did you get started in the clothing business?
Cool: A couple of us have been in the industry. I’ve worked for a few clothing companies in the past. We decided that this is what we enjoy doing and what better time to start than now? It’s been a long process but we finally released our first season in mid-may
Format: What inspires your clothing, but more specifically the themes that run throughout your line?
Cool: Our line is basically ‘we do what we want.’ We do everything on our own terms. We like to make fun of pop culture, we like to get political, we have meaningful messages. Everything is just basically being ourselves. Everyone in the company, we’re all different in our own ways, you know. Everyone’s personality is a little different from each others. We all have our own opinions, we all have different bios. Our inspiration comes from our hunger. Staying hungry keeps us level headed and fresh. It allows us to be creative, but not cocky. Hunger forces us to thrive on pure passion and imagination. Basically, that’s what we’re about – doing our own thing.
Format: From the “Heart of the city” tee-shirt, “Hate haters,” to your recently released “Stay in Rehab” tee-shirt, what goes into the creative thought process of those pieces or any piece of clothing IM-KING produces? Is it a collective process?
Cool: Yeah. Everything is brainstormed and talked about all the time. It is like how artists and producers collaborate on music. One will produce the beat, while the other spits the poetry. One cannot exist without the other. Our first season was a little crazy trying to figure out things, how we wanted to see our company as. In the upcoming season you’ll see full themes. You’re going to see a lot of hip-hop influences on it.
Format: How does being based in California influence IM-KING’s style?
Cool: California culture is crazy, it’s a mix of fashion. New York has its own thing, and the L.A. and Orange County scene is another thing. Everyone has their own style. Being in Orange County, everybody is different down here. There are so many different cultures. You go down to the beach you’ll see the Abercrombie looking guys, you go down to South Orange County you’ll see a lot of skaters. And then we have the pioneers, like Stussy and LRG here that have influence on the streets, so it’s like a big mixture of everything. Our style is influenced on our lifestyle.
Format: You say, “IM-KING is for the everyday person who strives to the highest fulfillment of their individuality- the person who seizes the day to exceed the reality before them.” Elaborate on that.
Cool: IM -KING is for the rare person who prides themselves on being an individual. Those who can choose for themselves and not let your everyday blogger tell them what uniform to put on everyday. Self expression is a freedom that’s being neglected and exploited and needs to be embraced.
Format: What messages, or message, specifically, are you trying to express through IM-KING?
Cool: Like I mentioned earlier, we’re just trying to do our own thing. We like to poke fun at ourselves, poke fun at other people, we just like having fun basically. Through our line you’ll see stuff that’s really meaningful, stuff that’s really funny, stuff that might offend people, but it’s just us being ourselves.
Format: You said there were 10 of you guys, are you all really close?
Cool: We’re all close. Everyone in this company is a close-knit friend. Me and the co-founder have been friends since we were 12 or 13 years old. A couple of the other guys we met through high school and college, everyone is basically part of the family.
“None of us have any formal training in the fashion business so that’s what makes it so fun. There’s no specific set of rules that we all follow.”
Format: In IM-KING’s mission statement it says, “Kingdoms live on in the minds and souls, kingdoms that tie together those bonded of heart and unmatched passion.” What specifically brings you all together, besides the obvious, your clothing line?
Cool: Besides the clothing line, the bond between us is really good. We hang out, we party together, we get drunk, we go out together, we stay at the office at night playing video games, it’s just good fun for the whole company. There’s nothing negative, it’s just family doing it’s thing together. None of us have any formal training in the fashion business so that’s what makes it so fun. There’s no specific set of rules that we all follow. All we’ve got is our common interests and passion. We create things we would wear and things we’d like people to wear.
Format: You also wrote, “We connect with those free spirits who seek an uplifting, communal approach to life, where the only limit is the confines of our own lucid imagination.” What specific approach do you take to constantly trying to better IM-KING, as well as your day to day approach to life and the struggles that come with it?
Cool: We’re all really young here. By keeping a close knit group we’ve learned to live life as it comes and appreciate everything we have. Doing that allows us to feed off of each other’s creativeness. Like our own little basket case community. We have this entrepreneur state of mind right now. Everything we do we have to step it up to reach our full potential. That’s how we do it with our clothes, every season we step it up. When we come up with something we’ll push ourselves to make every design better than the last. We try to put out quality pieces. When you’re young it’s hard, you know, but when we all put our minds to it, we’re stepping up our game every season.
Format: What sets IM-KING apart from the competition, that is if you feel like you have any?
Cool: If you look at our price points it’s a lot lower than what you see from the other big brands in the streetwear industry. We try to keep it as low as possible. We’re not trying to milk this, we’re trying to build a clothing company. Not necessarily a big street brand, but a clothing company. We want to actually last.
Format: You said you’re not trying to build a streetwear company?
Cool: We’re trying to build a clothing brand. We don’t want to be labeled as streetwear, we want to be known as a clothing brand.
Format: So do you feel like a lot of up-in-coming clothing lines now are just trying to be streetwear?
Cool: I think most independent brands are labeled as streetwear right away. Independent brands are usually just placed as street. And I think that most people are trying to become a full clothing line, there trying to build themselves into a full clothing line.
Format: Besides the price points that you mentioned, how does IM-KING go about labeling itself as a brand and not just streetwear?
Cool: If you see our pieces, we do denim, we try different washes, we have flannel, we have sweaters. Our pieces have more of an adult look to it.
Format: Lastly, describe IM-KING in one word?
Cool: Determined.
