G-STAAAR
This past week, G-Star launched Los Angeles Raw Nights, the first US based event in the series that is driven by “forbidden combinations.”
Dennis Hopper curated the event, which was held in a parking lot outside the G-Star showroom.
The crowd enjoyed killer mini-burgers and fries, watched Henry Hopper tear apart an art installation, and sipped sweet champagne.
Below are our favorite photos, plus an interview with the G-Star peeps.
Bonus:
Can you spot Lindsay Lohan?
–CAITLIN COBLE
The art installation begins: A composition of materials found in the trash.
And then the destruction… the “transformation on energy.”
Now a little chat with Shubhankar Ray, global brand director for G-star…
* What was magnetic about Los Angeles for the first Raw Nights event in the states?
We wanted to introduce the brand in a way that is organic, interactive and creates a link between the mind set of Los Angeles and the rawness of G-Star. Having it in LA reflected our appreciation for underground creativity and unique artists.
* The pairing of art with denim reflects G-Star’s image of luxury streetwear. Tonight, what does the art do for the denim, and what is the denim doing for the art?
For G-Star the art-denim axis is based on transformation where we take denim craftsmanship and apply it to art by creating objects like chainsaws, cement mixers, rhinos, sharks, etc. in denim. We asked The art on display is from Dennis Hopper’s personal photo collection and served as inspiration for the billboard art. We asked Dennis Hopper to curate the event because he ties back to G-Star’s raw attitude. His son, Henry Hopper had an art recycling installation for this event that was made from G-Star denim and objects found in the trash. The art clash between ourselves, Dennis, and Henry set the tone of the evening but the environment (showroom & carpark) was still signature G-Star.
For the installation, Henry and his friends built up structures from all the objects they found- shopping carts, wood scraps, decks of cards, sheets of plastic, etc. After letting it sit briefly for the audience to absorb, they spent the next hour and a half destroying it (which was awesome!) by jumping all over it, slamming objects together, tossing the cards in the air… Henry said it was about “transforming the energy of the objects,” since energy is neither created nor destroyed. Totally cool.
* Dennis Hopper joined you for a poetry reading at your fashion show in February- is this an on-going relationship, or do you have plans to seek out other iconic individuals to represent G-Star?
This is the second time that we’ve worked with Dennis and both experiences have been extremely rewarding. It is part of our brand philosophy to always look for new and interesting ways to collaborate with like-minded people and we will continue with Dennis as he is a legend and a Raw icon…he is now part of the G-Star family of collaborators. We are always open to collaborate with creative people.
* What’s the most exciting thing for the G-Star brand in the near future? (Collaborations? Events? Design?)
We also have some new things coming up later in 2008/09 in the shape of a renewed collaboration with Marc Newson on a new clothing collection, Raw Gallery installation in Tokyo at Designers Week in October, and a new fashion show with a high art performance intervention for NY fashion week in September.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:19 am
I am trying desperately to get out of Florida right now…also a fellow FSU student and Floridian. How did you get your “foot in the door” with Nylon? It’s pretty much my dream magazine to intern for. What did you include in your resume that made them choose you, and how did you even go about applying for the internship??? I want to do this so bad, I Just don’t know where to start! I would genuinly appreciate any advice!