In an Instagram era driven by likes, @s and follows, Alexandre Daillance – aka Millinsky – is a beacon of youth success. Founding hat brand NASASEASONS age 17, he hit up his favourite musicians on the social media platform, soon getting his caps on the likes of Rihanna, Keith Ape and Wiz Khalifa. Influential stockists like Colette and 424 followed, and although it’s not a compliment he welcomes, he’s even been ripped off by high street giant Forever 21. All in all, not bad work. “I got rejected from NYU two years ago and got a Forbes article about me one year after,” he tweeted this weekend. “Conclusion: success is the best revenge.”
His latest collection was inspired not by success but an entirely different phenomenon: heartbreak. “I designed this collection in my student dorm room while my girlfriend was breaking up with me,” he explains of the new designs, featuring classic break up phrases. “So some of the phrases were directed to her and are also representative of my feelings just after we broke up. The concept is about the fact that in a relationship, even if the two people love each other, there is one person who dominates the couple and the other who is dominated. Love is very complicated.”
With a lookbook inspired by a classic scene of two young people discussing their relationship on the phone in Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, Millinsky recruited model Naleye Junior and sex-positive social media educator Eileen Kelly to star. It’s a throwback to relationships pre-Instagram, before we could stalk our lovers’ every ‘like’. “We get jealous for no reason because we can spy so easily on our partners,” explains Millinsky. “We can see who they like on Instagram, if they are online/offline, if they read our messages but don't respond. It's a very dangerous game, especially if you're doing long distance. I feel like teenage relationships were way better before 2000.” Click through the gallery above to see the full lookbook.
@nasaseasons | @millinsky