‘I suggested it, not really thinking it would happen, but it actually happened and I’m really happy,’ says Alex Mattsson. We are sat in Red Bull Studios HQ with the designer and rapper Brooke Candy, beginning our interview the standard way of asking how it all happened.
As a follow up to last season’s collaboration with Zebra Katz, Mattsson picked Brooke Candy as his SS14 dream partner, and now they’re nearly ready to share. ‘He is so up scale and classy and so well tailored and so so, like high end. But at the same time it’s really cool shit,’ Candy remarks, the respect between the two both obvious and genuine.
In person she’s less scary but just as sweary as you might imagine. Weaveless, instead favouring a blonde bob and one of Mattsson’s pinched in hats (a hairdressers appointment does get mentioned during our ten minutes), she wears a green leather Acne jacket as we talk shopping, or more specifically, what she buys when she’s in town.
‘Everything in Machine A. That’s the only store that I shop in when I’m here; it carries pretty much all the cool shit. My wardrobe is Machine A pretty much. That Japanese stuff-Ambush-you sell it here in the UK and I’ve never seen it anywhere else. And Acne, I love Acne.’
With the recording of the track and various other engagements, the pint sized (quite literally, herein lies why she’s such a platform advocate), star has been spending a lot of time in London. So what does she make of our style?
‘So fucking cool, oh my god, all my friends in London have so much style. I mean I have a few close friends in LA, for many reasons you know, they’re cool, they’re kind, they’ve done shit for me that is really crazy, but on top of that they know how to put themselves together. But very few. When I’m here I’m surrounded by motherfuckers who are cool, hardworking, they’re nice kind people and they all look sick.’
In press shots, as above, Brooke debuts the first piece from the new collection. The multicoloured lion is also present on the show invite, a head on a camouflage sea of cannabis leaves. ‘It’s like cyber Rasta, is the idea,’ tells Alex. ‘A made up story about Rastafarians in the future.’ ‘It’s amazing, I saw sketches and it’s fucking amazing,’ Brooke enthuses.
Tonight sees the label present off schedule ahead of London Collections: Men’s official start on Sunday. Like the video that accompanies the track – below – it will be styled by Clash’s Fashion Director Matthew Josephs, and sees Brooke performing live.
Download the track for free here.
Interview: Zoe Whitfield
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