August 14, 2020 |
For those who have been living under a rock these past few weeks, Hood By Air is back (and back for good, this time). Founded in 2006 by Shayne Oliver and Raul Lopez, Hood By Air gave the New York fashion scene a rude awakening upon arrival; totally defying the prim and proper fashions that occupied the city with a gender smashing, club kid-inspired wardrobe for the misfits that lurked in the dark. A disrupter at heart, many credit HBA for pioneering the streetwear-meets-luxury collision ever-present in today’s fashion industry – worn by everyone from A$AP Rocky to Rihanna. The brand took a hiatus back in 2017 and in the meantime, Lopez founded his own label Luar and Oliver worked on collections for Helmut Lang, Colmar and Diesel. After a bunch of cryptic press interviews and subtle hints that the brand was set to make a return, Oliver is officially reincarnating Hood By Air into its next iteration.
Yesterday afternoon it was announced Hood By Air is launching Museum; a new home for re-interpretations of signature pieces from the brand’s “first incarnation.” Launched on the brand’s new website, the first Museum drop is a celebration of HBA’s 13th anniversary. Dubbed the H13A collection, the capsule features a range of hoodies, tees and socks that feature both the spiral and cookie logos HBA first debuted in 2013 and 2007, respectively. In a Matrix-style green coding theme, the majority of the collection has already sold-out and on its way to Hood By Air devotees across the globe.
And this is only the beginning. H13A is a pre-curser to a Genesis, a brand new film which will be debuted this autumn that features Oliver’s first full collection in four years. Moving forward, Hood By Air will be split into four divisions. There’s Museum for archival re-interpretations; Hood By Air which will debut Oliver’s catwalk collections; direct-to-costumer product released under HBA; and Anonymous Club, a young talent incubator. The latter was debuted back in July where Oliver released a small collection which raised £153,000 for the Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, the Emergency Release Fund, and Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS). This is just the beginning of Hood By Air 2.0, strap on in and enjoy the ride.
