Your Cart is Empty
Mar 2020
In the line of work I’m in, the image is super important. That’s both the imagined “image”—meaning status—or the definition of image as in photography. Fashion has always been about image-building and image-making, and it has been like that for over a hundred years.
However, in the roughly ten percent of those hundred years that I have been working in fashion, I have seen the image, and more specifically the use of that image, change. Socialites became influencers, photographers became social media users. The camera is everywhere, all the time, and it’s changing our lives more and more.
While ten years ago it would pay to send your designs to a stylist, who would then make sure they look decent in a magazine editorial, now it would definitely pay more to just send a seeding package to a celebrity you know. The directness and personal touch work a lot better. Hence the emergence of influencers and celebrity seeding. Again, it’s all about “the image”, it’s perceived more genuine when someone posts a selfie rather than a completely stylized photoshoot.
I have to stress that things are not always as they seem though. Because of our experience with social media, even the most DIY content from your little brother has become professionalized, curated and edited. Ten years ago people might have been hesitant to record or photograph themselves publicly, let alone share. Now, everyone is a content creator. Everyone films and photographs themselves, but even that weird selfie on the corner of the street has been taken at least 10 times before the final shot is selected and posted.
I guess what I am trying to say is that cameras have become so pervasive that you’re constantly being scrutinized (whether you like it or not). Many comparisons have been made with the Truman Show, in which Jim Carrey unknowingly lives in a real-life soap. I personally think that we’re not only the main subject of our real-life soaps, we’re also the directors and producers of it. It’s scary, but it also gives us more control over our own public image.
There is no way of avoiding being filmed or photographed nowadays. Especially when you work in the fashion industry. The only thing we can do is try to be more mindful of it.
Olaf.
Tiffany Chung
29 Nov 2021
Text by Tiffany Chung
29 Nov 2021
“In terms of knowing what I wanted to pursue in my career, it was from being at fashion events and afterparties. I wanted to do more than just be a guest. I knew I’d love to be part of it, do nights, program nights, DJ, and everything else. But my actual start in music was just from being around musicians in general and having a community of musicians that gave us the opportunity to DJ for them, produce for them, and get immersed in their own careers."
“We were signed to the same agency when we first started modeling. I was 19 and Ashton was 16. Going to Milan, Paris, all these shows in Europe and America, we just created this bromance from traveling, living, eating, and working out together. Being like-minded individuals, we decided to join forces to create something."
Photography by Travis Gumbs.
With Ashton.
“Whether it’s business, creative, or financial, we both do the same stuff. In terms of role and character, I’d say Ashton is the good cop and I’m the bad cop."
“We were doing a lot of radio shows in London, both commercial and underground, NTS, Rinse FM, Capital XTRA and BBC Radio 1Xtra. We had these small residency series off the back of DJs that were already on those shows and what we wanted to do is to create a show within those spaces but realized very quickly that we had no creative freedom. So, we decided to just make it ourselves and do something that feels a bit more us. Be in a position to pick the guests and tailor it to our own interests. We just wanted to give people inspiring, insightful conversations from people that kind of look like us and speak like us."
“Not really. I just want to keep carrying on with the broadcast and keep creating spaces for me to breathe in when it comes to fashion, music, and lifestyle. Everything else is just up to destiny. I'm just happy with where I'm at now."
“Easily sport. Music is something I listen to every single day. Fashion is something that I have to think about in order to get ready. Sport is something that I do when I have the off time, it's a bit of a hobby, and I'm definitely not making any money from sport haha."
Fashion is something that I have to think about in order to get ready.
Self care.
“Worst advice is probably somebody telling me somewhere along the line of ‘this is impossible, and you can't do this’. The best advice was ‘move towards it’. It wasn't even advice; I was speaking to one of my mentors at the beginning of the year and saying how much juice and energy I have at the moment and how much I wanted to create. His response was actually just ‘move towards it’ and it made me realize that even a step forward is better than a step back, even if it's a tiny step forward. "
“Prada. I loved Prada since I was a child. From the age of 12 to 15, I wore Prada to school. I didn’t go to an affluent school where people had unlimited pools of money, I saved up so much money to buy it. So, it was one of those full circle moments working with them. It wasn't something I did for the paycheck, I'm proud to wear the stuff because of the child in me that just loved to wear them in school."
Working with Prada.
“My staple item would probably be jewelry because we change clothes. So, I would say somewhere between my Cartier bracelet and my Rolex."
“At the moment:"
“Greenwich, probably. I grew up there and it’s so different anywhere else in London. It’s not super fancy and it's not super hood, it's just normal. It’s so diverse, it’s got both historic and new monuments, and the O2 arena. It’s a good balance."
“Berlin. We love Germany. We haven't been able to go back for a while, but we’ve been fortunate to play a few things in Berlin. It's not like there is a massive hip hop presence but the kind of people there just love the music and are there to have a good time."
“The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. I’ve never been there but I’m dying to go. It's incredible, from the layout of it, to the chairs, the light, acoustics, the whole thing. The design and architecture make it the best venue in my opinion."
“Person. That’s a hard one. Can I say God? I’ll say God."
“A place that inspires me is London. Naturally. London has so many success stories whether it's football, music, fashion, community lifestyle, culture, business. So many people have made it here."
“In terms of a thing that inspires me, I would probably say, it’s an idea. The idea of achieving everything. Knowing that you could possibly achieve what you put your mind to. Even if you haven’t achieved everything that you want to achieve or know how to exactly, it keeps you going, getting to one hurdle, conquering it, then another. Then you realize everything can be done. I think that is so inspiring."