Matthew Williams named his company after his son Alyx, which doesn’t make you swoon if you are a lover of tech this will.
He made the OG Chest Rig Bag. To me, he is the one and only progenitor of great design and has a solid industrial mind. The chest Rig isn’t only my favourite item to wear it is the favourite thing I’ve owned in the past so long, I never knew I needed it till I had it.
The size of an iPad (about 12″) the chest Rig fits my sketchbook iPad and charger so it’s volumetric also. It’s a cornerstone of my outfits and industrial wear, although it’s still new the industrial part of fashion is coming in slowly putting utility and design at the forefront.
You see Alyx trying so many new and amazing things on the wear along with their vibram collaboration Alyx have also teamed with Nike and Dior; I would love to see them collaborate with gore-tex and Male something out of the norm.
The most significant item being the buckle, going for upwards of £200 it really making its mark on the fashion lovers the leader of the industrial market; My home. Alyx is among the likes of A Cold Wall and Acronym — The triple A’s make the futurist industrial design and utilitarian look go far.
Matthew is doing good works for reinventing the buckle in such an industrious way and I just wanted to not someone whom I deem as doing real artist work really fusing the two.
I seen this name a couple of times in 2018 then it made headway all throughout 2019 I just had to write a quick blog about it.
It is effecting the culture and bridging the gap in tech for creating better footwear. The main thing about small footwear companies is the tech they use to make sneakers, it’s appalling and tough to stand on. There is nothing more uncomfortable than a company that doesn’t take in consideration the technology they use for soles.
Vibram is bridging that gap. Being a Development company that has been around for 80 years making mould for footwear and sport now they are rearing their head in the cultures companies.
If you didn’t know the creation of things like Boost, Zoom and Air technology is expensive to develop and takes so much time to research and test companies usually skimp on that part and chop together some sort of make shift model to sell to customers and if they do research the sneaker is incredibly expensive to buy because there is no mass production or order of the trainer (a topic for another day) simply put making a trainer is super expensive.
Vibram are the guys helping these companies getting the research out the way and focus on design. They have collaborated with the likes of Off White and Alyx removing the trouble of having these companies develop sole and midsole technology.
I really am keeping an eye on them but for now this is the intro to the sole company Vibram
There have been so many drops the first week of December so many I want to get into but not all at once and not all here. In fact I don’t want to get to them all but I do want to focus on the thing that took me the most this season, something that propelled me out of my comfort zone in understanding what Dior can true and truly made me remember who was spearheading menswear and much more noticeably is trying to make their mark in the best way possible for the way men dress now.
Kim Jones, right after the Kaws hubbub came with a stunning collection. One which I don’t feel to fault and feel subtly too impartial on. Much like the Supreme LV menswear collaboration this is something only Kim Jones could have made happen – Putting streetwear or subculture into the most formal places – which is what I believe he will go down in history for as the great collaborator of our Generation.
backstage at Louis Vuitton Menswear a/w13
Coupling the streetwear skate brand Supreme with the luxury of Louis Vuitton propping it up for Virgil to make his debut. Doing it again and not in an encore fashion but creatively moulding the subculture of techwear from Alyx & Ambush into the high fashion powerhouse of Dior weaving and blending the aesthetics into a true natured collaboration.
Pairing up with Alyx own Matthew transforming the signature saddlebag and his buckle into a Dior art piece
Yoon from Ambush fame and making her Director of Jewellery at Dior as her Instagram now states, so its obviously true.
They made a beautiful collection it wasn’t too much and it didn’t seem like the money grab (it always is) but it seemed like a collab between friends and I don’t want to fault that.
This pre-fall collection was a great place for Kim to State his case, stamping him in my culture but for the bigger picture of fashion moving the needle as to who should be at the heads of these houses, it’s very telling when the product of a long fought battle comes to fruition and you can tell it here.
From the smallest detail of showing in Japan it was obviously a statement of where the inspiration came from and the type of art Kim wanted to show off even going as far as to transform the saddle bag into a future-sexy-back robotic tin sculpture in only the way Hijame Sorayama Could.
The Soul Sorayama Sample
the celebrated Japanese illustrator whose work was commissioned by Kim and was chosen to be the celebration point as Kaws was, really bringing in together the idea of community and association. How related Kim Jones is to these artists shows but this Show with Sorayama was a great hurrah and is in need of an encore & will have me looking forward to the next artist in need of celebration
This tron-centric show gave sharp lines and high energy, along with very high fashion appeal the lines were so clean and the grey tones used showed a masterful understand of colour and the shapes in the Jewellery gave me the understanding this was something that spent a long time in the cooker as you would expect Matthew to do with his work, shining a massive Spotlight on Yoon and her true abilities This is really a top tier collaboration in my eyes as the Dior man is the closest to my style in terms of aspirational male dress sense. All this electric blue and gives off the energy of not luxury but fashion, a professional who loves to still rock a hoodie and a peakless cap; a pro who is fashion forward and knows how to put together an outfit; a pro that is un-pressed by those around him because his world is his own.
There was so much energy released by Kim Jones in the time leading up to a PRE FALL collection that it has to make you wonder and analyse what he did it for.
Coming from this small island called Britain you are given a lens into other cultures, because the British empire pillaged and penetrated pretty much every corner of the globe the history books have a chapter of where the British “explored culture” that’s what art students are taught because the British way isn’t to stay in this small island but have your nomadic experience into the mainland and find the culture explore what is out there and get a taste of the new experiences. As a kid growing up you look to artist of the world especially in London with some of the greatest museums in the world filled with stolen and acquired art pieces & living artist looking to show their work people like Kaws and Sorayama, as an art student like me you look to these guys and you find their work intriguing and want to know more.
This collection gave me so much to say but I will leave some on the table for self exploration and a deserving of a individual blog on Yoon ahn and Matthews son Alyx part
I won’t say this collection inspired me but it certainly did represent me and the culture well and hope to see more of it in the future
They made a beautiful collection it wasn’t too much and it didn’t seem like the money grab (it always is) but it seemed like a collab between friends and I don’t want to fault that.
This is really a top tier collaboration in my eyes as the Dior man is the closest to my style in terms of aspirational male dress sense. All this electric blue and gives off the energy of not luxury but fashion, a professional who loves to still rock a hoodie and a peakless cap; a pro who is fashion forward and knows how to put together an outfit; a pro that is un-pressed by those around him because his world is his own.
Not Your Typical 