In a thrilling new interview with Kanye West, designer Shayne Oliver revealed in Interview that he is bringing back his acclaimed streetwear label Hood by Air later this year. Oliver took a break from the brand back in 2016 (It was getting to a point where I felt like I was being held to an extreme level. Hood By Air had these emotions and this ethos that I respect, and I wanted to continue respecting that as much as possible,” he said) while he shifted to focus on his role as creative director of Helmut Lang.
A further exclusive with SSENSEexplains that he will work outside of the traditional fashion week schedule and create new experiences for fans of the brand. “With everything going on, a temporary retail store won’t be the first thing we will do, but we will introduce new models inside our system that will offer contemporary retail experiences,” he said.
In only a few seasons, Hood By Air left a lasting imprint as one of the first major labels to transform the idea of luxury streetwear. So far there are few details on what this revival of the beloved brand will look like, but fans can rejoice at the imminent return of the cult label.
Laptops, documents, and even workout clothes—getting ready for the work day is never easy, but choosing the right bag big enough to stow all of your essentials might seem like even more of a chore. The new office culture commands us to be bold and courageous with our travel companions, as the time of old and tired carriers is long gone. Let your imagination free and try out a statement accessory that expresses yourself, with or without the nine to five.
1. Phileas backpack with magnetic stud closing front flap, Balenciaga
Image: Balenciaga.
Elegant yet simple, this Balenciaga backpack is made of the highest quality calfskin leather, and offers plenty of room for all of your necessities. Two patch pockets and one zip inside allow you to keep your documents or phone separated for easier access.
Had your fill of Fashion Month? No? We didn’t think so. But while the shows were great and all, pictures can only say a thousand or so words. So minimize that web gallery and put your noise canceling office headphones on, because it’s another season of Trending Tunes, where we bring you the best music from the runway.
The mix:
Soundtrack from Hood by Air‘s Spring/Summer 2015 runway show, Galvanize, for New York Fashion Week by TOTAL FREEDOM.
Audio: TOTAL FREEDOM, courtesy of Hood by Air.
Neither Essential Homme Magazine nor Hood by Air claim ownership of any of these songs. If you have ownership of music in this playlist and wish to not be included, please contact us at INFO [at] essentialhommemag.com and we will remove immediately.
Storytellers, Opening Ceremony founders, and co-creative directors of KENZO, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim summon the same old tales in a new, paradigmatic fashion.
Essential Homme: It’s been over ten years since Opening Ceremony (OC) first opened its doors as a small store in downtown Manhattan. Now that you’ve claimed foreign territory (more than once), developed and defined an in-house line that rivals some of the store’s accounts, and revived the great house of KENZO, do you plan on letting up to enjoy your successes anytime soon?
Carol Lim: We can’t really sit down and stay still. We’re always constantly in motion, so even though we’re super proud of the accomplishments we’ve made, we’re always asking ourselves, ‘ok what’s happening next? What are we excited about now?’ I don’t even think at Opening Ceremony’s ten year anniversary that we high-fived or went out to dinner…we just kept going.
EH: Has this unceremoniously humble response to your work been molded by early success, or do you think it’s some sort of innate quality—or rather, natural thirst—that you both share?
Humberto Leon: No, it’s not about wanting more. Our goals are just a lot bigger than who we are and where we are now. We are at the tip of the iceberg for what we want to do. It’s difficult to reflect back on yourself, but it’s easy to know your goals.
CL: I met Humberto at Berkeley. We were 18 and had both grown up in Los Angeles. We realized that separate from before we had even met, we had a similar approach to life, work, you know, all of the above. We were—and we are still today—both very curious people and we don’t just stop at the surface. We want to know the details about everything and we like to reminisce about brands that we grew up with.
Image: Essential Homme.
EH: OC has had so many collaborations in its life thus far that sometimes it can be hard to keep track of, much less buy everything. From the Muppets to Maison Martin Margiela’s MM6, how does the inception for these happen? Were there any ideas that were just too crazy or weird to make the retail floor?
CL: Sometimes we’ve experienced something in the past and it ends up becoming the inspiration of a new project or sometimes a conversation or a person today will inspire us by triggering something. For example, every year Opening Ceremony picks different countries to focus on. When we decided to feature Germany, a lot of our friends were moving there—this is back in 2004/2005—which told us, ‘okay, there must be something interesting and creative happening in Berlin right now.’
HL: One thing you should know is that nothing is ever too crazy or too weird. What it comes down to is how it is approached. When you look back at the projects we’ve done, they range from introducing Havaianas to a global market, working with Yoko Ono and people like [artist] Terence Koh, and doing amazing projects with Rodarte and Chloe Sevigny. We try to see all our ideas through, so I would say the follow out is very few—maybe one or two that didn’t work out—but we have a list of a million more.
CL: We don’t have a formulaic process. We do plan things, obviously, and we think ahead, but because we’re so flexible—and since we like to respond in real time to real things—a project can come up on the table tomorrow, and within a few weeks we can execute something. We react in the way that I think human beings react. We’re not so robotic that we can’t.
EH: You just listed a bunch of names from a seemingly-unending registrar of high-browed products to complete brand resuscitations. Did any OC project particularly resonate with either of you on a personal level?
HL: In so many ways they are all personal accomplishments. The store really represents Carol and me, so being able to work with all of our idols—people, brands, and artists that growing up we just simply wished to meet—is a huge thing for the both of us. And that could be working with a company like Vans to working with David Lynch or MIA, I mean, the list goes on. We have a very fortunate job that we get to work with everybody and anyone that we think is the most authentic and coolest and raddest in the field, and not everyone can say that.
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We react in the way that I think human beings react. We’re not so robotic that we can’t.
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EH: How do you continue the momentum of the store given the commercialization of the boutique mentality and people’s constant search for a more interesting shopping experience?
HL: We follow our own momentum. The store comes from a very personal and curious place. It is super eclectic, and we approach everything in a very humanistic way. We ask the questions that you’d probably ask, but then we have to answer those questions to ourselves every day. We’re also not just holding onto things to hold onto them. When people love something and they want to see more of it, then we’ll hold to it. If we want to move on, then we will. There are brands that have been on the floor since the very beginning, but there is always an injection of new. We have a constant refresh button.
EH: OC is somehow able to interest both label lookers as well as the black sheep—extremists or ‘anti-fashion’ enthusiasts that would laugh at the idea of tailored formalwear. Particularly for men, this jump can be dramatic. How do you find an equilibrium between the likes of Band of Outsiders and Bernhard Willhelm under one house?
HL: We see the store almost as a person’s closet. There are occasions when you really just want to represent the classics; something fun, beautiful, and simple. Maybe you’re going to a wedding or an event. And then there is everyday life where you want to be individualistic. But also, there’s no reason why you can’t wear that Bernhard Willhelm top with those Band of Outsiders perfect-fitting trousers. We’ve never once said that you have to wear head-to-toe a certain one designer. Like your wardrobe, it’s all about how you put it together.
EH: As you suggested, there have been many brands with you since day one. I spoke to Patrik Ervell earlier this year and he referred to OC as an incubator for experiment. Who are some other voices or styles you’ve grown with?
HL: Brands like Alexander Wang, Acne, Rodarte, Proenza, and Pendleton would all tell you that we put a mark into their brand; in some way, shape, or form, that we were really a place where things were formed for them, and that’s super exciting. I could probably list another 20.
EH: And how have these brands affected you?
HL: I think that we’ve affected each other. We come from different point of views, us as retailers and they as designers or brands, but it’s always been about the cohesion of telling the story.
CL: They also affected us in a way in that we became homes for them. As their brands developed, we became an outlet for them to storytell their point-of-views.
HL: Sometimes it’s brands we all know like DKNY and sometimes it’s new brands. For instance, with the LVMH Prize, we’ve started off this season carrying all three winners [Thomas Tait, Miuniku, and Hood by Air]. Other times, it’s about re-discovering brands that mean something. We went back to Walter Van Beirendonck after we started to feature Antwerp to really question what life after Antwerp Six—beyond Raf Simons and everybody else—meant. Today I see Walter in a lot more different stores, which is great.
EH: How much creative crossover is there between OC and KENZO?
HL: They are both treated very differently. Opening Ceremony is a brand new story that is all about Carol and myself. While KENZO is about retelling a really important story to the fashion world. Knowing that Kenzo Takada was the first Asian to really make it big in Paris—by establishing a fashion house and bringing that cultural excitement to France—it’s an exciting story to be able to narrate. Both brands have our marks on them heavily, but the great thing is we are in control of both, so we can keep them separate.
Image: Essential Homme.
EH: I found it interesting that considering OC is so outer-looking—as you mentioned about its visiting country program—that for KENZO’s SS15 collection, you brought the brand back to its Parisian roots. How was this idea conceived?
HL: Through KENZO, we’ve celebrated a lot of different aspects to the brand, but the one thing we felt like we hadn’t celebrated was our love of Paris. We wanted to take a really bold stance for our Parisian take and talk to the city as a theme, while celebrating it from an outsider’s point of view. Not just as modern day Paris, but the historics of Paris as well; everything from the architecture, to the birth of Modernism, and all the aspects that we love and cherish about the Parisian lifestyle. It was really our nod to the city that is the birthplace of the brand.
EH: You’ve really pushed the narrative aspect.
HL: It’s hard for us to see product without a narrative. Partially I think because we didn’t come from a fashion background, and also because we are constantly with people outside of the fashion world, our approach is very much on a super black and white level of ‘how do we tell this tale?’
EH: Not to continue with the comparisons, but your influence isn’t just limited to IRL. Opening Ceremony completely revolutionized online shopping with a super interactive e-commerce platform and KENZO has begun to follow suit in the last few years. How do both brands—OC, a contemporary retailer, and KENZO, a luxury fashion house—fit into an online portal.
HL: Carol and I are two people that experienced life before the internet, yes, but we’re also heavily excited about the internet. The first thing that we did when we came to KENZO was create an online presence. We wanted a blog and a way to contribute content globally to tell the story and have a voice for the brand. It’s a different approach than others and a great Opening Ceremony comparison, because it’s the OC flavor that we brought into the fashion house’s heritage. Online is something we definitely don’t shy away from; instead, we approach and attack it very excitingly.
Image: KENZO.
EH: What do you think Takada’s reaction would be to the reawakened, cooler-than-ever KENZO?
HL: Our first week at KENZO we wrote a letter to him saying how honored we felt to be at his house. He wrote us back after he saw our first show and said that he felt like we were bringing the energy back that the brand represents. Three seasons ago he started coming to all of our shows. For two people to take over this brand, it’s very, very humbling to see the originator come, support it, and tell us how excited he is of it—that he sees what we’re doing and how we’ve paid tribute to him and the brand. Carol and I put a lot of thought into each collection in knowing that we are telling this on-going story. It’s a 40-year-old historical house, and Carol and I play a role in the timeline of it. It’s exciting and a little unbelievable to see his stamp of approval.
Coinciding with Hood by Air‘s recent presentation at Pitti Uomo 87, the sportswear brand has released a series of photographs titled HBA Journal: Pitti Uomo, which visualize the brand’s evolution in both realms of fashion and culture. Lensed by Colin Dodgson with art director Christopher Simmonds and stylist Carlos Nazario, the road trip-esque series stars twins Sam and Joe O’Neil exploring rural England in archival Hood by Air. The narrative is also paired with a studio project that sees HBA’s Pitti Collection in an intimate study of motion.
The storm is passing over, and from the wreckage that remains, Hood by Air begins anew. The streetwear brand’s Spring/Summer 2015 collection sees structured accessories with an industrial feel, paired beside asylum-style bondage outfits, tailored silhouettes, and boots chunky enough to scale a mountain of any size.
This summer, The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) hosts an exhibition dedicated to New York City’s leading craftsmen entitled NYC Makers: The MAD Biennial. With a focus on the preservation of contemporary handmade art of all mediums, the museum displays permanent collections of jewelry, sculpture, and other objects. The new showing—the first under newly appointed Director Glenn Adamson—features work from over 100 artists, artisans, and designers—spanning from Yoko Ono to Hood by Air—from all over the five boroughs of NYC, with pieces ranging from large-scale installations to small sculptures and clothing design.
Inside the show, inconspicuously placed on the 5th floor east gallery, Tilt (1994) by renowned experimental performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson is an immediate stand out. Constructed out of a carpenter’s level and multiple sensors, the piece produces a duet of two voices depending on how it is tilted. When inclined to the left, the artwork emits a woman’s voice; a man’s when tilted to the right; and a harmony from both when completely leveled. The piece successfully integrates sculptural and musical components, embodying two of the mediums prominently presented in the exhibition.
One floor below, in the northwest gallery, is placed the work of hat designer H E I D I L E E, whose elaborate designs have garnered media attention and public following. Her constructions are often influenced by current media trends, particularly Instagram culture and its effect on fashion. “I gravitate towards things that appeal to me and weave in stories and histories into the narrative of today,” said Lee on her approach to design. The artist’s piece in the Biennial, entitled Parasol Skeleton Hat (2012), re-imagines silhouettes of classic female headwear as elaborate headdresses in a mix of materials including wood, straw, and cotton.
Diagonally across from H E I D I L E E’s tall headwear stands an outfit from trending fashion brand Hood by Air‘s (HBA)Spring/Summer 2014 collection. Entitled Parachute Jacket and Flight Short, the monochrome army-green ensemble exemplifies the line’s dystopian, futuristic aesthetic and street sensibilities, with textured metallic detailing and multiple drawstrings. Designer Shayne Oliver said of the piece, “the details are laid out in ways similar to HBA graphics to create a bold, distinctive statement that is very true to [the] brand.” While the lack of graphics may surprise some familiar with Hood by Air’s most popular apparel, the shared DNA between this piece and the brand’s more ubiquitous t-shirts is evident in the use of repeated patterns. Regarding the show in general, Oliver said, “I was really into the exhibit showcasing artists and makers all based in NYC and from all different mediums, sculpture, fashion, lighting, etc. It felt great to be included, to feel the support of the museum and all of the other artists involved and to have our work featured in such an amazing museum.”
Overall, the success of The MAD Biennial comes from its variety, both in mediums and of personal artists backgrounds. The range of pieces displayed is impressive and truly encapsulates the goal of “presenting a diversity of cultural producers on a level playing field.” Even with such an assortment of artists and a presentation spanning two floors, the show feels like a cohesive portrait. NYC Makers: The MAD Biennial is on display until October 12th and is the first in a series of exhibitions examining the process of making in urban communities.
Photos courtesy of the Museum of Arts and Design, H E I D I L E E, and Hood by Air.
This morning British womenswear designer Thomas Tait was named the inaugural winner of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, Europe’s high-end, couture response to The Council of Fashion Designers of America. In addition to the honor of the prize, Tait recieved a whopping 300,000 euro grant along with a one year mentorship and a dedicated team within LVMH to assist the designer’s development. Underdog favorites Hood by Air and Miuniku were given two secondary special awards, and each team received 100,000 euros and a yearlong mentorship into the mentorship program. But if none of these names mean anything to you, listen up, because you have about five seconds of spare time before they start being plastered in every major department store. Oops too late, Hood by Air is already at Nordstrom. But why, you say, what makes this award any more significant than any of the other million designer competitions and reality TV shows that happen every day? The answer is simple: all of the creative minds behind LVMH’s brands—basically the people that run the world: Nicolas Ghesquière (Louis Vuitton), Marc Jacobs (Marc Jacobs), Karl Lagerfeld (Fendi), Humberto Leon and Carol Lim (Kenzo), Phoebe Philo (Céline), Raf Simons (Dior), Riccardo Tisci (Givenchy)—handpicked Tait to be their winner. Which very well means that he is next in line to take over The White House. Or at least Harrods.
Every now and then, the creative titans from fashion’s largest conglomerate, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, descend from their marble-finished-Parisian-thrones and assemble in the real world like the humans they claim to be. While the majority of these gatherings are overshadowed by flash (Fashion Week) and intimidation (again, Fashion Week), once a year it is to serve a nurturing purpose. This Spring, Creative Directors Nicolas Ghesquière (Louis Vuitton), Marc Jacobs (Marc Jacobs), Karl Lagerfeld (Fendi), Humberto Leon and Carol Lim (Kenzo), Phoebe Philo (Céline), Raf Simons (Dior), and Riccardo Tisci (Givenchy) join Delphine Arnault, Jean-Paul Claverie, and, Chairman and CEO of the LVMH Fashion Group, Pierre-Yves Roussel as the head jury for the 2014 LVMH prize. The award recognizes excellence of emerging designers and, as Arnault says, “reflects the vitality and diversity of young fashion today.” But if acknowledgement from fashion-royalty isn’t enough, the winner will also receive a grant of 300,000 euros, as well as personalized assistance from a special LVMH team in developing their company for a period of twelve months. To put it simply, it’s like Project Runway, except that Heidi Klum is now Chanel. While the winner won’t be officially decided until May, the 12-brand short list was just released last week and features some of our favorite designers—like Shayne Oliver from Hood by Air, who you can read about in our new February/March print issue. Meet the rest of the finalists below and check back here in May for the final winner!
When Drake‘s first mix tape dropped in 2009 I remember first asking “what exactly is a mixtape?” and then immediately scoffing at the idea of Aubrey Drake Graham—known exclusively to me, juniors in Canada, and my like two *really cool* friends in Texas then as Jimmy from Degrassi—being a curse word using, below-the-knee tee wearing, two leg standing (!) rapper. My reaction was slightly similar to how you might feel if you found out your chubby sister wanted to be a model (..yeah, good luck with that Jane!…). Five years later, two names less, and three releases more Drake is kind of a big deal. Like a Rihanna charming (excuse me, he calls her Robyn), SNL hosting, Alicia Key’s song writing big deal. So I guess he won that one! Luckily, despite the musician’s wide success in hip-hop and acting, his wardrobe choices haven’t always been as upward-moving.
DJ drop that mix tape below (that’s what that means, right?):
CREEPY: Look Aubrey, it doesn't matter how many lunches you grab with fellow television actor, rapper, and Justin Beiber friend Will Smith—boy that seems like a WEIRD group to run into on the street—it's still pretty freaking creepy to screen print an image of Smith's second son, Jaden, on a long-sleeve tee. Even/especially if the tee is your from your own fashion label.
NO MORE DRAMA: There is already far too much crazy to sort through in Drake's interview in Rolling Stone's February 2014 issue that whatever this grape-slushie-colored-embroidered-velvet-thing that crawled onto the rapper for a corresponding photoshoot is, it is MORE than not needed. Those eggs tho.
YOLO: You only live once, and it seems Drake is spending most of it in Calvin Kleins. The former Degrassi star already rocked custom Calvin Klein Collection outfits designed by Italo Zucchini for his North American tour last year (like this sky graphic tank to the right), and has a whole new set of fly Klein outfits for his current European "Would You like a Tour?" series, currently underway.
JUST NO: Even if Steven Tyler was a silk-paisley-blue-wearing, prostitute-slapping pimp he would still not dress like this. Why does this exist and what table cloth factory did his hopefully ex-stylist steal this from?
TAKE A SHOT OF HIM: As much as I can get behind a good sport/Kenzo look—and you know Drizzy loves to ball—I can also appreciate a really tight, smart tux, like this clean and contrasting navy and black Saint Laurent number the rapper showed up in at the 2013 Grammy's, proving that hip-hop can get haughty too. Not to be type-casted though, a few weeks after the award ceremony Drake returned to the Parisian brand for the NBA All Star Game for a more...comfortable outfit.
STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM WITH REALLY BAD BOTTOM: I can't be positive, but I believe this photo was taken during the rapper's 'before he made it years,' when the now-Rihanna-embracing star was strapped for cash and relied heavily on participating in scientific studies to make end's meat. This image is thought to be data from a test to see if humans could physically wear patent leather red pants in public without literally combusting in flames. While the results proved that it was clearly possible, I cannot deny if the experiment was actually a success. No, actually I can. Don't do this.
SUBTLE NOSTALGIA: Sure the color scheme is a little Michael Jackson, and the idea is a little banjee hood, but there's something so hilariously not ironic of the subtle white Bart Simpson stencil on this oversized button down. Nor am I complaining about the black denim on black timbs look.
STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY: Certainly not his most street-wise look, GQ styled the rapper as a modern day Miami real estate salesman for their July 2013 issue. The look—complete with a mall bought metallic two-pocket shirt, white pressed chinos, and blinding-gold matching jewelry—was terrifying..and that's before you even hear about his commission rates!
NO NEW FRIENDS: D is REALLY trying to make this animalprintthing work, but some things are better left to the girls. Cheetah prints, however, aren't one of them, so everyone just STFU, buy some solids, and move on.
ALL OF IT: White Hood by Air on white denim on white Air Jordan Retro 1's with an oversized envelope of a khaki jacket makes for a chic outfit and a dangerous game of 'what not to drink and inevitably spill on these ungodly expensive clothes.'
The somewhat ironic reappropriation of ‘street clothes’ by department stores might be the best and worst thing to happen to high-income, McMansion-toting suburban neighborhoods since Alpha Dog. Actually, maybe even Justin Timberlake in totallity. I’m looking at you, SoCal Bros. But I mean, hey if you can go to Macy’s for pair of low-sagging, white-stitched True’s with a straight face, more power to you, just not sure how much street cred that $49.99 comes with, or what that even means in Bellevue Square, WA.
That being said, never before has such a large-scale trickle down retail occurrence happened as high-end (re: ‘high-end’), hood (re: ‘hood’), or just really fucking cool as Nordstrom’sHeartbreaker’s Club.
Image: Nordstrom.
Curated by the store’s Director of Creative Projects, Olivia Kim, the special-edition pop in features select menswear ranging from fuccboi favorites such as Been Trill, Hood by Air, LPD New York, Mark McNairy New Amsterdam, Pendleton, and VFILES, alongside classic contemporary brands like A.P.C., Patrik Ervell, Nike, and even newcomers October’s Very Own—the first retail occurance for the Drake-founded company.
Peep from some more of our favorites from Heartbreaker’s Club below, and check it out IRL at Nordstroms in Seattle, Bellevue Square, NorthPark Center, San Francisco Centre, Tysons Corner Center, Oakbrook, Garden State Plaza, and King of Prussia, just don’t get too carried away. It’s not like we’re talking about Lance Armstrong wristbands here!
Heartbreaker’s Club is available at select Nordstrom stores from now until March 16.
Fashion Week is over. Not in the “I’m so over letterman jackets with leather sleeves right now” kind of way—which we actually ARE—but like, actually over. Finité. All four cities. Donezo. Well for men anyway. And you know what? That’s fine. It’s been a lot of nice clothes in a very short time, and it’s happening again in the time it takes you to watch a Netflix mini series. Until that happens (and we’re all sweating ourselves silly in September), feel free to 1. chill out and 2. linger over our favorite behind the scenes moments from London Collections: Men, Milan, Paris, and NYFW Autumn/Winter 2014.
Adam Senn was just one of the familiar faces Dolce & Gabanna hired for their Autumn/Winter 2014 collection, bringing male models back to the runway game (of Thrones..ba dum cha) for the first time in years.
A tribe of underground misfits and mainstream bad boys..er...girls?...things?—Honey Dijon, Boy Child, etc—strutted their best grommet-covered stuff in Hood By Air's Autumn/Winter 2014 runway show. If you thought the vogue-finaly was crazy, we've got news for you: backstage was just as weird.
It takes a lot of quilted-covered-down balls to attempt an all white and grey moment when your set is dropping in melted chocolate, but Opening Ceremony is never one to play it safe. Lucky for Carol and Humberto there were no 'by chocolate' tragedies, well at least that we could see *gross sex joke here*.
Backstage, all the leaves weren't quite as brown as they were Browne and grey, as models were stenciled and stamped with foliage faces and outfitted with animal accessories to fit into Thom Browne's print party of a runway.
A master of mishmash, Yohji Yamamoto already had our emotions tied up with his Autumn/Winter 2014 collection, but the slivers of colored extensions poking out of his models' messy hair-dos, were the proverbial hat on top of the cherry on top of the cake.
Aint' no party like a Dean and Dan Caten party, but seeing twin designers race back and forth backstage we truly learned the meaning of brotherly support.
Duckie Brown's show was great, but we couldn't help but wonder which had more shine: the lush fabrics or the sweat covered faces of models layered in fields of cloth? Only one place to find out.
The African safari (via Paris via London) roamed off the catwalk and into uncharted, backstage territory after the Paul Smith Autumn/Winter 2014 show.
Penetrating, our backstage photography reveals a vulnerable perspective behind the sleek, hardness of the JUUN.J man.
NO MORE DRAMA: There is already 
YOLO: You only live once, and it seems Drake is spending most of it in Calvin Kleins. The former Degrassi star already rocked custom 
JUST NO: Even if Steven Tyler was a silk-paisley-blue-wearing, prostitute-slapping pimp he would still not dress like this. Why does this exist and what table cloth factory did his hopefully ex-stylist steal this from? 
TAKE A SHOT OF HIM: As much as I can get behind 
STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM WITH REALLY BAD BOTTOM: I can't be positive, but I believe this photo was taken during the rapper's 'before he made it years,' when the 
SUBTLE NOSTALGIA: Sure the color scheme is a little Michael Jackson, and the idea is a little banjee hood, but there's something so hilariously not ironic of the subtle white Bart Simpson stencil on this oversized button down. Nor am I complaining about the black denim on black timbs look. 
STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY: Certainly not his most street-wise look, GQ styled the rapper as a modern day Miami real estate salesman for their 
NO NEW FRIENDS: D is REALLY trying to make this 
ALL OF IT: White Hood by Air on white denim on white Air Jordan Retro 1's with an oversized envelope of a khaki jacket makes for a chic outfit and a dangerous game of 'what not to drink and inevitably spill on these ungodly expensive clothes.'
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