but now I realize we're back

ISNO...

harry

and

randa

May 12, 2023

From: Harry

Randa

We’re soooooooo back. Me and Eli brined a pork shoulder on Saturday, I’m in a somewhat active group chat called “spike ball”, my brother is texting me “what’s a cool bar to drink outside at in Williamsburg” its all coming together….in other words. ISNO

I actually randomly had a good winter, in part, because I’m on a new SNRI thats got my shit going “even keel” mode. But this spring I can tell is already going to be So Sick.

Now as the amateur vibe historians that we are, something that we both know intuitively is that one of the best times to assess the vibes is at the turn of the season. People are vibe-forward, they’re manifesting what they are looking for. Now I don’t wanna go into all of that, you could write a 10000-word essay on shifting vibes if you really wanted to. Instead, I have a specific and grounded vibe-adjacent question for you – Where did all the Supreme T-shirts go?

Supreme used to be EVERYWHERE. Especially on the first 7 spring days in Soho. I mean you cop a $75 t and spend the next 8 months wearing it under a champion hoodie…its brutal.

But this spring, and maybe last spring too, I haven’t seen any of it.

The most obvious explanation seems to be that Supreme has been replaced by Aime Leon Dore as the well-respected but overhyped clothing brand du jour. And I actually think that probably is the answer. And and I generally really like ALD. I think their clothes are beautiful albeit prohibitively expensive.

There's a certain air of tastefulness to the ALD vibe. I heard (unconfirmed) that they untag themselves from uncool-looking people’s Instagrams. Supreme is a lot of things but “tasteful” isn’t at the top.

It’s funny, as I started writing this I had it in my head that I was gonna lament the end of the maximalist supreme vibe and the dawn of a new sexless overly tasteful ALD era. But that’s totally not how it is. I just looked at the Supreme store and its so cool how different it is from the ALD store. From the ground up they’re going about selling a vision and clothes in such totally different ways, even though their target demo are similar people. Thats cool as hell.

Dirt had a great article about worldbuilding a few months ago. Both these brands are putting a ton of thought into the worlds they create, and i guess trying is ultimately cool. Its spring baby, me and eli just roasted a pork shoulder.

I think my questions are as follows: have you noticed supreme falloff? is worldbuilding in for SS2023? And perhaps most importantly, how fucking back are we?

Tuesday 12:29 PM

From: Randa

first of all happy ISNO* season

upon finding out i am back in new york everyone is saying to me “good timing”

i spent my first day of ISNO walking around downtown with an $8.29 iced almond chai and my friend lisa as tour guide. the tour? lines.

https://twitter.com/poolnoodle93/status/1655327091481624577

my knee-jerk perception of Supreme, ALD, and any other brand that has a line down the block is that the people who wear it are sheep. even if the clothes are cool, i can’t tell if you’re wearing them bc you think they will give you social status or because you actually like the garments themselves. because i judge the fans as uncool sheep, i judge the brand as reflexively uncool as well.

QED, supreme and ALD have both fallen off.

i think it’s cool to make your own decisions about what you like. in other words, i highly value originality. after i read your message i went to read about ALD and supreme and it made me appreciate them a lot more because of the people behind the brands.

the ALD guy grew up in Queens playing basketball and working at his parents Greek diner. so the store has a Greek cafe. the brand is an expression of his experience and life. i think that’s sick.

i am not sure ALD is really worldbuilding though. to qualify as a world, i would need to see stories and characters and stuff like that. perhaps you can enlighten me as to what the ALD world contains. i do think, however, that they might be building a community? they had a basketball tournament!

in this interview w the founder, he kinda implies that the world he’s building is simply the city of new york:

I want my brand to be known as one that touches beauty and real life in all its aspects—one that tells stories through these experiences. The biggest goal for me right now is to create a vibe and a platform for a kid who wants to continuously evolve, but with the same values. If I had to try and build a certain lifestyle like Ralph did, it’s about staying true to what we really represent, which is: We’re from New York.

so rather than building a world, maybe ALD (and Supreme before it) is trying to reflect a world that already exists. that doesn’t seem so bad! i think i’m pro both brands now.

whatever though. the real question we should be asking is obviously this:

is the ALD line a third space?

Wednesday, 3:14 pm (off .5mg of lorazypazzy on an Alaska Air Flight to SF)

From: Harry

It’s funny that you say is the ALD line a third space, because, with the coffee shop in there, and the general living room aesthetic of the stores, it certainly is trying to be. The only problem is being in one of those stores makes any normal person feel totally insane. You’re like touching a 12 oz cotton hoodie wondering if you exist or not.

I think your interest in the brand story of ALD and Supreme brings up this idea about just how quickly lifestyle media gets metabolized.

Here’s a quick timeline of the two brands:

Supreme was founded in 1994. It developed a cult following. In 2012 The New York Times Magazine wrote about the brand’s zeitgeisty coolness citing a number of sources claiming basically that Supreme was Cool as Shit

The current issue of British GQ Style, a men’s fashion bible, hails Supreme as “the coolest streetwear brand in the world right now.” And the Berlin culture magazine O32c called it “the Holy Grail of high youth street culture.” The Business of Fashion site called it “the Chanel of downtown streetwear.”

-In 2014, Drake wore the supreme leopard print puffer (one of my favorite clothing pieces ever) in the started from the bottom music video.

-In 2019 they released my favorite supreme piece ever, an all time grail for me.

-In 2020 they sold to some PE firm that also runs guns for the CIA or something.

-Then in 2023 a few hours ago I proclaimed them dead.

ALD on the other hand was founded in 2014. The barrage of positive media for them seems to crescendo in 2019 with Vogue calling them “the coolest store in Nolita”

My point is that this journey Supreme has been on is sooo much longer than ALD’s. But Harry you are comparing apples to oranges! In some ways, yes. But not totally. First of all ALD’s hype certainly feels like it has reached Supreme levels, and while ALD is by no means over the hump…I do think the aesthetic they helped popularize (or re-popularize, shout out Ralph), a baggier more traditional pant, the return of loafers, an understated camp collar…is already firmly in the realm of “that’s a type of guy” (derogatory). One not too dissimilar from the Supreme Bogo Guy.

And that speed at which we’re metabolizing ALD’s brand arc is certifiably BAD. Much like the joy of ISNO BK, it’s all about stopping and smelling the roses.

The pull of the next new thing in fashion is soo seductive, but when you do decide to press fast forward, you start to miss details, not only do you start to miss details though, but the details you miss begin to seem unimportant.

“Its so easy to be like who cares if Teddy Saints worked at greek coffee shop, i get ALD’s vibe without needing to know that.”

And this is where I get all fucked up This Is Water-y…but like you actually maybe do have a choice in what you focus on. Yes its true legions of swag neophytes line up awkwardly outside of ALD every day, but also the folks at ALD are building a world, as was Jebbia, and he can’t do much to improve it other than continuing to untag herbs he see’s tagging ALD in their fit pics.

You texted me you had a half baked idea about how AI fits into all this? Whats up with that?

Thursday, 4:13PM

From: Randa

jkjk

i actually deleted the AI take and now you are forcing me to contend with it so i will try.

basically there’s this idea of post-authorship that i believe was popularized by the Remilia Collective:

Recognize memetic culture cedes no authorship, no credit; art is produced in a lucid state playing handmaiden to collective unconsciousness—and accelerated by the web—Art comes from beyond the self, comes from the network, or God. Claiming it is hubris.
Information wants to be free, culture follows evolutionary flows—viral memetics—and accreditation, provenance, patents, copyright are all burdens that strangle the free flow of the work and ruin its memetic fitness: plagiarism is praxis, freeing work from hindrance.

what does AI have to do with this? that whole argument that AI is plagiarism holds no water under the “post-authorship” mindset.

what i am trying to figure out is how this might apply to fashion and brand. some initial thoughts:

i shouldn’t clown people for being sheep when it comes to fashion. we are mimetic whether we like it or not - myself included - and it’s fine to wear stuff because you want to be part of the in-group that wears the stuff. it’s not plagiarism, it’s community-created fashion? being a sheep is beautiful…
but also wearing a brand that is legible to others feels very pro-authorship to me. i am wondering what collectively created fashion might look like where the clothes just emanate from the culture unattached to a brand or person.
maybe you could argue that ALD isn’t owned by Teddy, rather, it emerged from NYC basketball slash greek diner culture and teddy is just the “handmaiden to collective unconsciousness.”

u can’t spell Aime Leon Dore without AI………..