‘I picture that young G, that young girl, who’s trying to go to school in trainers. You're not allowed to wear trainers at school, but they just wear these and the teacher somehow doesn't notice’ the rapper says of his new Puma collab
Growing up in London in the noughties, everyone I knew owned a pair of tracksuits and trainers. Even my school uniform at the time was a matching set of black jumper and trackies. Rumour was that they were originally the PE uniform, but students insisted on wearing them year-round. This was an era where kids would share songs via infrared on their Nokia phones — Giggs’ “Talking Da Hardest”, Sneakbo’s “Touch Ah Button” and Skepta’s “Dark”. What sparse visuals for these songs that were available at the time featured scenes that were familiar to us: high rise council flats, trainers and tracksuits. It’s fitting, then, that 15 years later Skepta is on a mission to share this culture with the rest of the world through his new PUMA collection.
A leading light of grime music – the distinctly London genre drawing on the UK’s rich Caribbean heritage, and a “grimier” offshoot of the flashy garage scene of the 90s – Skepta was also the first to crossover internationally. The video for iconic 2018 release “Praise Tha Lord (Da Shine)” with A$AP Rocky was shot in both London and New York, featuring Skepta and his cohort dancing outside London high-rises and decked out in puffer jackets and tracksuits, interspersed with footage of the A$AP Mob outside Harlem bodegas. Accruing well over a billion Spotify streams, the track put this new genre of London culture – across music and fashion – on the map.
Skepta himself is well aware of his role as emissary, and when we meet, he tells me how these first experiences in America revealed the untapped potential of London fashion, with Americans commenting on how unique Londoners looked in their tracksuits and trainers. His first collaboration with Nike in 2017 produced the now-classic Air Max 97 SK: an iridescent colourway of the trainer that had been a UK staple for decades. More than just a new crep for us to wear, the release felt like a validation for London street culture. Kids across the capital and beyond felt a sense of pride seeing the musician rocking the shoes on billboards and at festival appearances across the world.
Now, he’s dropping a new collection, this time in partnership with Puma, which has been two years in the making. Billed as a uniform for Skepta, the matching cap, tracksuit and trainers first previewed at London Fashion Week 2023. The set dropped last week (May 16) and was christened with a pop-up grime performance at Sclater Street Car Park in Shoreditch, featuring fellow MCs JME, Jammer, Jammin, Shorty, DJ Maximum, Novelist and Chip, followed by an after party at Village Underground. The show notably saw Skepta rapping the lyrics to “Dark” over the “Nasty” instrumental, the very same lyrics that students like me had rapped along to at the back of the school art room all those years ago.
Despite his now prolific international career, Skepta is still as London as they come. When I arrived at Village Underground before the performance, Skepta was already being interviewed. “Who do you think of when you get dressed in the morning?” they asked. “Ay, that’s kinda mad you know” he responded to giggles in the room, before adding that he just wears what feels comfortable, what comes naturally to someone from London.
Then, it was my turn.
This look debuted at the London Fashion Week. How long has it been in the works?
Skepta: Yes, my guy! We've been working on it for a couple years now. I think, initially, it was just us going into the archive. They allowed us to make and design our own shoe, but I definitely wanted it to feel like it was Puma language. I didn't want it to be like, ‘Oh Skep’s brought out a shoe, but it doesn't look like anything Puma would ever make’. So, it's been a process of tweaking for a while. As for the fit as a whole, I just wanted it to be that sports style of London, making a nice fashionable fit to kick off the story.
How would you describe the evolution of your fashion sense?
Skepta: Fashion had all these little pockets before, but the world all shares it now. Some days people are dressing in a London sports-style version, then they might go and do some preppy stuff tomorrow, or they could get real baggy with it, hip hop style. The world can just use everyone's swag now, that's what I think has changed. Back in the day everything was compartmentalised, you know?
That's interesting because when I was growing up, at least, I don't think street culture always felt represented in fashion and you've done a lot to close the gap between the two. Was it intentional?
Skepta: Yeah, for sure. I think it took me to go to America, actually, to see how people spoke about the UK, our clothes and how sick we looked in a tracksuit and stuff. I remember thinking that around the time when I made "That's Not Me" and "Shutdown". It was about me putting the designers to the side and showing people that, when we're standing in a tracksuit with our trainers on, we feel stylish. We feel elegant. It's one of many things I've been doing to help put this language on the map. I don't think it will ever be over, I enjoy doing it. I'm blessed to be one of the candidates that people credit for that.
“It took me to go to America to see how people spoke about the UK, our clothes and how sick we looked in a tracksuit and stuff. When we're standing in a tracksuit with our trainers on, we feel stylish. We feel elegant” – Skepta
When you were designing this collection, did you ever have a picture of an ideal target audience in mind? Who did you picture wearing it?
Skepta: I picture that young G, that young girl, who's trying to go to school in trainers. You're not allowed to wear trainers at school, but they just wear these and the teacher somehow doesn't notice, you know? Everyone's like, ‘Ah! I need those! How are they getting away with that?’ That was the swag I was going for with these. Smart trainers.
So you think that they can fly under the radar of teachers?
Skepta: Sure. Once the school trousers are rolled over the lip, as long as no one don't take no pictures with flash we're good to go! [Shows off iridescent colour way].
Talking about experiences in the US. As someone who spent a lot of time in America and also Nigeria, do you see this collection translating internationally?
Skepta: Of course. Nigeria is going to support me regardless. You're about to see this all over the markets.
Your rap style has always been known for being clean, and not overly complex, right? How is that reflected in your clothes?
Skepta: Yes! I always tell the guys whenever we're designing, whenever we're thinking of music, ideas, whatever we're doing, I'm telling the guys less is more. Like, as you said, even when I'm rapping it's just simple, I write nursery rhymes. I always tell people, ‘Bars? Yeah, cool. But I write nursery rhymes’. I want it to be simple. I want to be able to just be in the show like, ‘I take what's mine, then take some more’ [lyrics from "Praise the Lord" featuring A$AP Rocky]. I'm trying to make the blueprint. Everyone else can make the jazzed-up version. Across the board, whatever I'm doing, I always try to go for less is more. I'm working with that phrase. Minimalism.
Well, taking it as wide as possible, then, you've been doing a lot of creative endeavours at the moment. How would you describe this phase in your career?
Skepta: I think the thing with being a creative is that you're always going to find yourself around other creatives, init? I've got, as well as everyone else around me, we've got so many ideas. But until I picked up the microphone, it didn't open the door and put me around the creatives to make a shoe. I can make shoes, and I'm going to keep meeting new creatives. I might meet someone tomorrow who designs furniture and then, now, I'm making some fire furniture, you know? I don't want to be a jack of all trades but, when I'm travelling and I'm looking around at creatives, if I find myself in a space where I found someone who could do marketing, that person who could do the hand work, okay, and then I could do the design, okay, and then they could do the online stuff [Skepta points at different people around the room]. Okay, cool, let's make a sofa. It's like that.
Love that. So Skepta x IKEA coming soon?
Skepta: Nah! Virgil [Abloh] already did that!
Skepta’s new PUMA collection is available now.