If you haven’t heard of THE FAN, you’ve probably seen its jackets and gilets on Instagram, or else on the back of artist and producer Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange. They’re distinguishable by their patches – Richard F. Bernstein’s iconic covers for Interview magazine, created when Andy Warhol was still at the helm of the publication. The brainchild of designer Elle Azhdari and stylist Cristina Aranda-Garzon, the label draws inspiration from Interview and Warhol, but one of pop culture’s more contemporary manifestations too: MTV. It’s already found a fan in Hynes, as well as rapper Theophilus London who can be see modelling the new collection in the images below. Here, alongside THE FAN’s new video, Azhdari and Aranda-Garzon tell us more about their project.

Can you tell me a bit about THE FAN and how it started?

Elle Azhdari and Cristina Aranda-Garzon: THE FAN is inspired by our reverence for popular culture and the excitement of international hubs of entertainment. Our passion with photography, film and music started when we were kids. We lived different parts of the world but obsessed over the same things – we were true fans back then and still are. Celebrity culture was different and over the years we have collected books, magazines, posters and postcards. We decided to do something with it, so we started a brand that would celebrate all the stuff we’re into, and THE FAN brand was born. We went through a bunch of archive stuff and settled on our favourite of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine covers cos they are badass.

Where does your obsession with Andy Warhol and Interview magazine come from?

Elle Azhdari and Cristina Aranda-Garzon: In our early teens we learned about Andy Warhol and we were sucked in. Imagining it, it must have been a very influential and compelling era – bringing together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Hollywood celebrities, people off the streets (literally), artists, wealthy patrons, all under one roof was a pretty amazing thing. And those Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine covers are a celebration of that free-spirited time to us. The larger-than-fiction covers embody glamour, craftsmanship and instant patina (to quote Paloma Picasso).

And MTV has had an impact on the brand too, right?

Elle Azhdari: Watching so much MTV growing up surely shaped me, it offered me an opportunity to get lost in the music and videos, which I’m still addicted to today, except I switched lanes to YouTube a long time ago. (Vintage) MTV was loud, risqué, and unpredictable, that’s what I liked about it. My personality is a bit like that!

Cristina Aranda-Garzon: Our brand concept always comes back to being a fan so whether inadvertently or intentionally those MTV days have had a strong influence on us. Aesthetically, every collection we put out will always be a bold statement with waves of nostalgia.

Who are your ultimate pop icons?

Elle Azhdari: I definitely have a few, but Marlon Brando, Joan Crawford, David Bowie, Googoosh and Michael Jackson will probably always be pretty high up on the list.

Cristina Aranda-Garzon: Madonna is my number one, she embodies all the qualities I admire in a woman. But I was also a Brit Pop kid so there will always be a place in my heart for Blur and what Damon Albarn has done for music and merging cultures is immense.

Who are your contemporary pop icons?

Elle Azhdari: I love Kanye!

Cristina Aranda-Garzon: Haha... Elle LOVES Kanye!! I actually love Kanye too.

Dev Hynes and Theophilus London have both been seen wearing the brand. What’s your relationship with them?

Elle Azhdari: I feel Theophilus and Dev are both a great fit as they are genuinely into culture and really get what THE FAN is all about, maybe because we’re of the same generation... Clothing just looks fantastic on them, they have their own style going on and they wear the MA1 well – the MA1 doesn’t wear them, you know? Acyde, the one half of No Vacancy Inn was going to NY so we gave him a couple of samples and asked him to get Theophilus involved whilst he was out there. We gave Ben Rayner a shout and he was happy to shoot, and they shot the whole thing just under two hours.

Cristina Aranda-Garzon: I’m really into Theo’s style, he’s a renegade individual who just does his own thing and I love that. Dev and I connected over Instagram, I’m a big fan, and arranged to meet when he was in London to do his KOKO gig. For me that orange gilet will always be the ‘Dev Hynes MA1 gilet’, it looks so good on him!

You’re only selling a limited amount of each product. Why is this?

Elle Azhdari and Cristina Aranda-Garzon: We’re selling 30 jackets, 30 gilets and 150 t-shirts. The jackets and gilets take eight hours to make as each patch is individually hand stitched and the zips are hand-painted and sand-papered down to get that worn in look. Everything is hand-finished, so it only made sense to sell them as exclusive collectible items. Basically, get it while you can as these will never be repeated.

What’s your hope for THE FAN moving forward?

Elle Azhdari and Cristina Aranda-Garzon: Keep doing whatever we like doing at that given moment. Keep producing fun collectible statement pieces. We want to grow the collections and embark on a few independent projects and collaborations, launch international pop-up spaces and take the brand to places we haven’t been before. Broaden the horizons a bit. 

Finally, can you tell us about this video?

Elle Azhdari: The video stars Tafari, the son of the legendary Horace Andy. He’s is a friend of mine – we were having drinks at La Bodega Negra one night and just goofing around taking pics of each other (as you do)... Our friends, the film duo James and Marco from Limousine were there and they happened to have some cameras on them so we shot Tafari for ten minutes outside of Bodega in Soho...and turned it into a little video clip...