J.W.Anderson loves to collaborate. He’s recently done so with photographer Ian David Baker, editor and publisher Luis Venegas, and film director and photographer Larry Clark. Today, Anderson has revealed his latest collaborator – and it’s none other than rap star, A$AP Rocky.
But the coming together of the Irish designer and Harlem rapper isn’t as strange as you might think. Rocky is a known fan of Anderson’s – in fact, he sat front row at his AW16 menswear show in January and wore a high neck zip jumper from his AW15 collection in his “Jukebox Joints” music video.
Obviously, though, the two are worlds apart in many respects – something that Anderson concedes to. “What we do is completely different,” he said in an interview with The New York Times, “but fundamentally, that’s the beauty of fashion: You can meet in the middle on it. Everyone likes fashion.”
“I would never want to be a fashion designer,” said Rocky, who has previously collaborated with Guess Originals and Adidas Originals. “But I do have a lot of ideas.” As well as having “a lot of ideas”, the rapper is famous for his wardrobe which is filled with high-end labels such as Rick Owens – there’s even an Instagram account devoted to his closet.
The collection itself comes under the umbrella of Anderson’s own label and features beanies, teddy fur jackets, track pants and zip jumpers like the one Rocky wore in “Jukebox Joints”. The rapper even designed a new logo, which spells out JWA AWGE.
“The first rule of AWGE is don’t ask questions about AWGE,” Rocky told The New York Times, explaining the logo. “The second rule of AWGE is that if you are a part of AWGE, then you cannot discuss AWGE. The third rule of AWGE is refer back to rule number one if you have any questions.”
“He was allowed to do whatever he wanted to do,” Anderson said. “I don’t know what it (the logo) means. I was just like, OK, fine, whatever you want. I like that.”
The JWA X ASAP ROCKY AND AWGE collection is available from the J.W.Anderson website from today, and from the J.W.Anderson Workshops store on Monday.
