‘Dazed Kids New York’ is coming to London

There are few initials in fashion more famous than DKNY, but for the brand's AW16 show, they took on new meanings in a series of slogan sweatshirts. Some were branded with ‘Designers Know Nothing Yet’, others with ‘Don’t Knock New York’ and the rest with our personal favourite, ‘Dazed Kids New York’.

The designs will finally become available in the UK this Thursday, and, naturally, creative directors Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne (also of Public School) are teaming with Dazed for the launch party. DJs including Throwing Shade, Nadia Rose and even Chow himself will hit the decks, while a series of limited edition DKNY x Dazed t-shirts will also be given out to industry insiders and guests, with the hashtag #DazedKidsNewYork capturing the action live from the event.

“London is this amazing street-based city with so much underground culture happening,” the creative directors shared of choosing to bring their vision across the pond. “It speaks to the idea of convergence in the same way we learned about it growing up in NYC. It’s technically a European city, but it feels really close to home.”

Although the ‘Dazed Kids New York’ t-shirt wasn’t a direct reference, Chow and Osborne did reveal that the ‘Dazed Kid’ does have a deeper meaning. “It's someone who, at an early age, understands the power of their opinion and point of view. It’s someone who is interested in the arts, music and culture in general. They want to contribute to it in some way and leave their mark.”

Of course, slogans are a go-to form of self-expression. “We had been playing around with the idea of logos and how ubiquitous they’ve become," said Chow and Osborne. "We were poking fun at it all and obviously we have a huge history with using logos. So it was just a way to deconstruct it and put it back together again by creating some new meanings for DKNY. We didn’t know what it actually stood for, so it was cool to try and come up with different meanings.”

The sweatshirts will be available mid-June from retailers including Harrods, Harvey Nichols, DKNY Bond St. and Brown Thomas.