Photo C/O Foreign Waves International

By Anastasia Gaykalova

The Silhouette sat down with the creative mind behind Zander, Matthew Alexander, and Foreign Waves International’s designer duo, Michael St. Jean and Kadeem Jarrett, during Supercrawl weekend to talk about the Hamilton-based streetwear brands’ take on street fashion, their creative process and friendly competition.

 

The Sil: How would you describe your brand in three words?

Jarrett: Wavy. Free. Real.

Alexander: Efficient. Athletic. Useful.

 

The Sil: Why did you start designing?

St. Jean: We wanted to create a brand that everyone around the world can rock and be represented, hence the name Foreign Waves International.

Jarrett: We printed a whole bunch of t-shirts, because we came up with a name and people loved it, and we said ‘let’s go full throttle’ and it’s been three years rocking and we’ve done a lot within the three years and we’re proud.

Alexander: I was really into art and just being artistic, touching as many mediums as possible: painting, photography [and] graphic design. I was getting into graphic design and slowly realized that it is not the career path that I necessarily wanted to take, and clothing ended up being it…I love clothing and it just fell into my life with the combination of the different things I was into.

 

The Sil: What is your creative process when designing?

St. Jean: That’s a hard thing to think of still…Our creative process is usually we see something and we think ‘yo, what can we do differently, what can we do to change it, how can we make it better’…And then we talk about our design with each other and decide what will work better, what colour scheme we’re going to use. Sometimes we go to places like [Supercrawl], this would be an example [of] where we gain inspiration.

Alexander: It’s a lot of internal brainstorming, just thinking out concepts in my head whenever I get influenced by certain things. Drawing out influence from everything and anything I possibly can. It could be anything from other designers or something a person says to interactions with my friends.

 

The Sil: Do either of you draw inspiration from other brands? If so, which and why?

Jarrett: In the beginning, yeah, but now it is more what we feel, what comes from our hearts. That’s what designs are based off of. But in the beginning, it’s just [like how] musicians look up to one musician, want to sound like them. And then they establish their own sounds.

St. Jean: Nike’s a big one, New Regime.

Jarrett: Shout-out to New Regime.

Alexander: I guess, when I first started getting into clothing and streetwear, the list of brands I would’ve listed then is completely different from now. Now I’m more into high fashion designer brands. I just feel like the designs and the materials and the backstory of the different brands and concepts are a lot more thought out. Few brands I could list now that I’m really into would probably be…Ader Error, Undercover, Palace, which is more on a streetwear, skatewear level.

 

The Sil: What makes a good fashion show?

Jarrett: When everything is running smoothly, [when] music [and] designs are on point.

St. Jean: I think there’s got to be a wild factor.

Jarrett: Exactly, in our day and age everyone does a fashion show. When you’re on a runway, add a little bit of something, add a little bit of art, add performances, add anything like that, you know…Be as free as you can. That’s what the brand represents. Be you and embrace what you wear every single day.

Alexander: I think outfits, for sure. I know for myself, I really like to add something more. [W]ith our latest fashion show we had more theatrics going on. It’s more than just outfits and models walking down a runway. It was like an actual show.

 

The Sil: What’s more important, expressing yourself or catering to an audience?

St. Jean: I think you have to have a mix of both. We want to express ourselves, but we want to make sure we are catering to the audience as well. So, we want to be like ‘I really like this, but I want to make sure my people are going to like it too’.

Alexander: I think, especially in terms of creative level, expressing yourself matters most at the end of the day. Where it gets tricky is on the business level of things, where, yeah, you do have to make money and you have to invest a lot of time, effort and money into certain projects, so you do have to cater to the audience. So I like to find a little bit of both.

 

The Sil: What are some challenges of the fashion industry and how to best deal with them?

St. Jean: One big thing is manufacturers. We’re a very small brand, so when it comes to manufacturing clothing, they want big orders, like you know, a hundred pieces, two hundred pieces. We’re very small, very local, so we don’t order that much. That’s why our clothes are very limited…So, it kind of leaves a little bit of exclusivity to our brand as well.

Alexander: I guess a big one right now would be finances. I know for me and my team, we have a lot of ideas and projects that we like to do, but it’s a hurdle we have to cross where we can’t financially make it happen. And that’s just a process of continuing to work and grow as a brand and building those resources in order to make those projects happen.

 

The Sil: What does street style mean to you?

St. Jean: Expressing yourself.

Jarrett: Yeah, exactly, expressing yourself. Streetwear is growing now. It used to be small brands like Stussy, Primitive, but now,  big time designers are making streetwear. Like, Gucci, and stuff, they’re all making hoodies with “Gucci” on it, and t-shirts and stuff. So, streetwear is literally taking over the world, and everyone loves streetwear.

Alexander: I love street style. Every single day I think of an outfit and I just love putting together clothes and showcasing how I’m feeling that day with the colour palettes and the theme of certain pieces I’m wearing… Street style is growing and it’s awesome to see other people getting more and more into it… especially in Hamilton.

 

The Sil: Since both brands share a similar style, do you consider each other competitors?

St. Jean: For us, personally, we don’t look at things as competition because we want to see everybody succeed, so we actually know Zander personally from showing support to each other. So, when we’ve done pop-ups, they’re there and when they’ve done pop-ups, we’re there. And we promote each other, so we don’t look at it as competition. We look at it more as a community and we should all work together.

Alexander: Yeah, I 100 per cent agree. I guess, back in the day when streetwear brands weren’t as many, maybe like 6 to 7 years ago, it would’ve been on a more competitive level, but as of right now, I think brands that are succeeding and growing together as a community. If everyone’s doing well, that only makes the community better at the end of the day.

[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]

By: Jeffrey Ye

Streetwear started out as a simple idea, but grew increasingly broad and complex beyond the word’s dictionary definition. When we think of streetwear, the words “hype” and “exclusive” often come to mind. We think of brands like Supreme that take influences from skate, hip-hop and various other youth subcultures, all combined to make a potent mix of nostalgia and on-trend styles that makes hype beasts foam at the mouth. However, these notions of streetwear represent only one aspect of the word that seems so difficult to define these days.

In the past few years, an incredible number of youth are embracing streetwear without having any connection to the various subcultures that shaped it. Look at me: someone who didn’t have the faintest interest in hip-hop, skate culture or even fashion growing up, but now streetwear is one of my biggest interests. It’s a topic that I love sharing and learning more about. What is it about streetwear that draws millions of kids like me around the world to it – kids who have no connection whatsoever to streetwear culture?

For one, I think attitude plays a large role in the appeal of streetwear. Streetwear is expressive and personal, almost an escape from the path that I personally rarely ever stray from. Growing up as a first generation immigrant, there is a lot of pressure to work hard and find success quickly. There are times when I feel like I not only carry my own goals and expectations, but those of my parents as well, who left their previous lives for me. Similar themes of familial pressure and expectation are present in the backgrounds of many of my friends.

Some grew up in religious families, private education and generally the farthest things from what is traditionally considered streetwear culture. Attitude is taking a step away from the pressure and knowing what it means to be an individual. I’m not saying streetwear is a way of giving the finger to one’s upbringing, neither is it disdainfully stating, “You can’t tell me what to do.” What I feel streetwear represents is a medium to experiment and express yourself however you want to.

The second reason may come as a surprise, but I think that the endless possibilities of streetwear are key to its popularity. You might be thinking, “Wait, there’s more to streetwear than bogo tees and Jordan’s?” Yes, because streetwear isn’t just exclusive drops and the hype-beast uniform. Perhaps even deeper than its roots in skate/surf culture, streetwear embodies a haphazard melting pot of the myriad fashions on the streets. These other aesthetics range from high fashion looks inspired by streetwear (“Raf Simons, Rick Owens usually what I’m dressed in,” A$AP Rocky), to Japanese streetwear (Visvim, Undercover), to what seems like an entire cult dedicated to biting off Kanye’s latest fits. The point is that there isn’t really a particular look or wardrobe that you need in order to get into streetwear. You can really experiment with whatever you already have, take inspiration from magazines, blogs, or people, and build your wardrobe from there. This is a powerful idea and part of the reason many prefer streetwear over the uniformity and rigidity of classical menswear—don’t forget to leave the bottom button unbuttoned!

It seems now prudent to address the issue of cultural appropriation and whether or not taking pieces of basketball history (or any other subculture) such as Chuck Taylor’s, and turning it into a fashion statement dilutes the significance of the object. I can relate this to seeing others adopting aspects of my own culture, but as long as it’s not done in a mocking manner I personally cannot see any harm. Hopefully that doesn’t stop anyone from experimenting and developing their personal style.

Sometimes I look back and see how different I look and feel since I got into streetwear, even if I’m the same kid trying to decide what looks good and what looks bad. As Rachel Zoe said, “Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak.”