Baja East F/W '20

We got the chance to speak with Studenberg after the show, under the ever-glistening disco ball ceiling of the WeHo EDITION’s basement club. Read below to hear more of the designer’s realizations and references that ultimately lead to the A/W '20 line we were so awed by.

Can you talk about the references this season? There was so much.

For this season, one collaboration was in the doodle boots, which were drawings we had painted on. The other collab we did was the fringe. So it's like ‘desert, disco, boom, boom, pow.’ Those were the two collabs. Then I did boots in black. The ones with black fringe also. Another element was Haus of LaBaja. Which is like...

Paris is Burning.

Yes… the whole Paris is Burning moment. Then Disco 90s. I mean, Selena was obsessed with disco and I really, really like my version of her in many ways. I did like a little tribute on a sweatshirt, on the back it said, ‘dreaming of you’.

Have you always been a big fan?

Selena? Anything for Selena.

I love it. I heard you talking about Joshua Tree. I love Joshua Tree.

I went there two years ago. I think it was the first time I went. I'm a Cancer, Sag rising and moon, so I'm very fiery and watery, and I love being grounded. I'm still looking for my other half, wherever he is, who hopefully will... Well, he's supposed to be a Libra, which is random. At least that's what my psychic told me. My dating life... Do you have a column of where we can put ads of what I'm looking for? [laughs]

Yeah, for sure. I can just make this just that.

Anyway. Joshua Tree is a super grounding place. It's creative. You can put your phone away, cook, and explore. Chill out. Nio actually took me there for the first time. That's one of my best friends. He was filming it all there. He was there when my life was hell and I was like... I need to do something.

Did that inspire a lot of your work?

Yeah, totally. I don't know if you saw Sophia Bush but she was wearing this kaftan from my first comeback collection, which is called "The Joshua Tree Drive-By". In my fantasies, I’m driving there, and thinking, ‘oh my god, what if some wild horses were running alongside us’. I also do this crew with horses that run on it. That's a moneymaker for me. My thought is, let's make it art, though. So, that's my version. If you saw Paula Abdul, she was wearing—I cannot believe she came—she was in my little slit mini dress in 'sunset' from pre-fall. So it was day and sunset. Then tonight, we did "Midnight in Mojave".

Fashion

The Archive of My Mind

Soft Debris "1998" t-shirt

T-shirts are a blank canvas, and I’m continually drawn to them as a medium. I see presenting graphics on a plain black or white surface as a way to allow us to focus in on symbolism as it moves through the world, carried atop the human form.

I’m an archivist before anything else. I like to collect cultural artifacts from past decades, whether in digital platforms, my saved folder, Pinterest, or just in my mind. I see the creative brain as a filter and processor into which we feed information, defining our taste and interest as the output. And this input/output is at the core of everything I do, from creating t--shirts and other clothing that feature anachronistic iconography, to writing about design and art exhibitions, to making strange furniture with my hands; it’s all a representation of the complex creative-biome that has been cultivating in my mind.

When REESE reached out to collaborate on a shoot for Soft Debris, my clothing brand and newest project, it was an immediate yes. The energy of her photos, pulled from both 35mm and VHS video stills, capture the decade-less feeling I want for the brand, which references a handful of favorites pulled from my archives: everything from warped old desktop wallpapers to prehistoric symbols.

Soft Debris is technically very new (we launched last October), but if you were to tug it out of the ground and examine the roots, it has existed in one form or another for a long time. The project — so far simple digital and physical prints as well as hand-applied dyes and distressing — is focused on representing the images in my head, but physically, on the human body. Right now, I’m fascinated by a visual idea that I’ve been calling “techno-tarot”; the name came from something my friend and collaborator Juliyen said during a meeting. Techno-tarot is the primitive meeting the digital, the idea of applying ancient systems of iconography to create new symbols and semiotics. Early internet computer wallpapers, glowing orbs, bleached spirals, rough SVGs, AI-generated land art, logo variations, angel numbers in Times New Roman and more bleed together in this past-future, new-old assemblage that occupies the inside of my brain.

Soft Debris “Collage 3” t-shirt, GRIEVE skirt and M.G.L.O. Bag

The photoshoot was a new experience for me, as this whole project has been, stepping into the role to co-creative direct the shoot. I wanted it to feel less serious and less curated, allowing a story and the thoughts I can’t quite verbalize to me brought to life with a group of creative friends. Rodrigo, who I’d worked with for office’s Girl Ultra feature, and I talked through the styling, and decided to complement the collection with a few vintage pieces of my own and some by CDMX-based brands GRIEVE and M.G.L.O. Vanely, who I met through launching the brand at CDMX’s VENA, modeled with a fresh and straightforward energy, and my friend Tatsumi, a talented photographer and artist, stepped in to help with makeup.

Soft Debris Artifact Logo hoodie, Shoes courtesy of Farfetch

We spent the day in Parque Chapultepec and Parque Lira, two city parks with very different atmospheres, taking in the environment. REESE had this image in her head: a young woman lost in a daydream who drifts between two opposite landscapes. This framework gave us a structure for styling the shoot, which reflected the constant undulation between dystopian and utopian directions I’m often drawn to in creating Soft Debris.

Soft Debris Late Night Logo Shirt

REESE’s style is simple and intuitive: a few directions, a firm eye, and an immediate sense of what she wants to see. At the very end of the day, she and Vanely jogged over to the skate park to shoot the end of the roll and ended up with my favorite shot. In the image, Vanely stands in the middle of the bowl, making eye contact with the camera as a skater flies toward the camera. The photo — a collage of symbolism — perfectly captures the energy I want to put into Soft Debris: a mirror for myself and the archive of my mind.

Soft Debris is a streetwear brand rooted in concept exploration and archival practice, materialized through found graphics and retrofuturistic symbology. The brand was founded in 2023 by David Eardley, creative director of design platform and creative studio Pink Essay. Soft Debris is available in-store at VENA and softdebris.com.

Fashion

Gaetano Pesce teams up with doublesoul

This year, Pesce has collaborated with Gen-Z sock brand doublesoul to create socks that are comfortably confident, playfully considering the question, "What if our socks need some love too?"

Pesce creates a springtime of colours in all his work and here, distills his imaginative style into wearable ornaments for the everyday. Floral forms stem from the rim of the socks. They look like upturned tulips on fuzzy black stems. Gesticulating with the wearer, the red-hearted bulbs provide a visual ‘pop’ that keeps the hearts and knotty stalks unobtrusive and fun. You can wear these to work, on a date, or when tucked into bed.

The austere cut from doublesoul allows Pesce to play with the visual and external makeup of the sock, bringing an ecstatic vibrancy to the utilitarian everyday.

I think the socks, like a lot of things, need to express. So I thought that the socks can talk and say 'I need affection.'

Pesce shows us how a pair of colourful socks can add a touch of quirk to an achromatic sole. And in this collaboration, Pesce’s animated abstraction comes to life, fitting in the world like a glove (or a sock…lol). As part of the collection, Gaetano's studio produced 100 handmade resin heart charms that can be threaded onto the socks on rubberized strings.

Dappled hearts on socked feet. Shop calzacoure here.

Fashion

Denim Tears Opens Flagship Store "African Diaspora Goods"

Curated by Lee and Whitney Kaplan, owners of the Culver City art bookstore Arcana: Books on the Arts, the African Diaspora Goods library was assembled from the libraries and collections of numerous collectors, academics, art dealers, and publishers over the course of nearly four decades. The collaborative initiative was also partially inspired by Gates’ dedication to elevating and democratizing the public’s access to Black archival images and objects throughout his practice and career. The store location promises to bring cultural programming later this year in partnership with Emory’s budding media company, with a commitment to using fashion as a vehicle for education, storytelling, and community engagement for the African diaspora.

You can visit African Diaspora Goods at 176 Spring Street.