Ethereal Escapism

The world of Sandler’s baubles is soft, yet radical, and intense, while precisely delicate all at the same time. The beauty of Sandler’s world lies in the fact that what precedes these balanced notions is the wearer. Sandler creates the intention, and the wearer truly brings it to life.

Step into Sandler’s world with us, below.

Did you have a strong tie to the jewelry world growing up? What facilitated this journey?

I didn’t. But growing up, I believe I subliminally became aware of jewelry through the amazing women around me. I went to art school with a fine arts degree at OCAD University in Canada to be a textile artist. During my second year, we had a mandatory introduction to jewelry soldering studio course (which I tried to switch out of) but luckily the Dean of my program who later became my thesis advisor — Dorie Millerson — told me to try one class. I'm so grateful she did because I fell madly in love with soldering.

Your pieces mesh beautiful, traditional gemstones with edgy metalwork and sharp shapes. Is this juxtaposition between soft and hardcore intentional?

I love that you picked up on that because I love when things have balance, so I think it was something subconscious because it wasn’t as deliberate as it looks.

Where did you come up with the idea for the iconic earpin?

It was at a time when earcuffs were extremely ubiquitous and I wanted to make my own type of cuff. To be honest, I thought that I invented it, but I tried to find others like it on the Internet and came across some versions on Etsy. This reinforces my belief that everything has been done before but the way you do it to make it your own is what makes it truly unique. That’s why I don’t get upset about people making earpins or lip rings because they can make it their own; which is extremely exciting to see.

Can you tell me a bit more about your stone forging process?

Forging is the opposite of casting which is the easiest way to produce massive numbers of jewelry. Casting is melting metals to their melting point and then pouring the molten metal into a mold which turns it into a solid form. Forging is a process of forming pieces with metals already in their solid form. Forging is actually 37% stronger, which in time, will last longer. That’s why my work takes longer to make but my hand and mind are present as I’m making my pieces. I love slowing things down, especially now. I also set my own stones which take the longest because I need to perfectly file the metal and then polish the whole piece. As tedious as it all sounds, making jewelry, for me, is like a moving meditation.

I’ve seen you post some of your pieces that aren’t necessarily for sale, but more like your inner workings come to life. How many creations do you have sitting on the back burner and why do you choose to keep some to yourself?

I feel as if jewelry is a medium to express myself, presently. I've always had trouble communicating my emotions so I believe that working with my hands is a way of sorting things out. You could say that they are my sculpture work; it's interesting because I’m grappling between commerce and my work. Am I an artist if my medium is viewed as craft, commodity, or even applied arts? In the beginning, I kind of approached my “brand” as a personal and ongoing art piece. This gave me the ability to do anything I wanted without the constraints of having to cater to an algorithm. So to answer this question, I choose to keep these pieces because they inform the smaller pieces I make and keep the soul to my practice.

What has been the most “pinch me” moment you’ve experienced since deciding to start this adventure on your own?

A real “pinch me” moment is seeing numerous people IRL and virtually who I don’t know wearing my pieces.

What is the most ambitious piece you have ever set out to create and what was the result?

Making a tiara to be worn by Grimes. It took me over 350 hours since I had never made something so intricate, but I definitely learned so much and will expand on this in the future.

Your designs seem to be, in many ways, informed by fantasy. What does your ideal fantasy world look like?

I think that I try to escape reality as much as possible. I also want to create things that will help people escape their own reality to become someone they’re not or a heightened version of themselves. Going to the movie theatre once a week is my form of escape, where my mind is a snow globe of fantastical imaginations produced by whatever I’m watching. I think this is why I also want to make films because when I make jewelry, I think of the overall milieu of it. Who would wear it, how would they move in it, and what adventures would they take in the pieces?

If you could be a gemstone, which would you be and why does that stone best characterize your personality?

A polished diamond wouldn’t be, without a bit of friction.

How do you urge those who are not as familiar with jewelry as an accessory, such as males who may be out of their comfort zone, to defy those standards?

I’m trying to understand this myself — what about sparkly gems makes them inherently feminine to us? There are many instances in history where men wore jewelry we wouldn’t deem masculine today. But these standards of gender are constantly changing so it's interesting to see how the jewelry market will play out for male-identifying consumers. I’d say that my customers are 96% female-identifying generation Z’ers, but I’m trying to market my work with all genders in mind. I am obsessed with watching male rappers display their jewelry on YouTube. The more gems and thicker the gold the better.

If eyes are the windows to the soul, then jewelry is....

The drapes to my mind.

Fashion

Happy 424 Day!

Simon Rasmussen — What's going on?

Guillermo Andrade — Right now we're just setting everything up.

So, what are you doing, is it a party?

Well, I kind of felt universally forced, right? Because 4/24/24, I was just like, I don’t really have a choice here. The stars also just kind of aligned, so to be honest, I got this settlement that came with a bunch of clothes so I had this idea to give back to the kids who fuck with us by allowing them to buy our shit first. Not handing stuff out for free, but to do it in a way where we could skip the middleman of the industry, so to speak, and not allow clothes to disappear into the abyss of Farfetch or whatever else. So what we’re going to do is a sort of warehouse sale, which we’ve never done before so that was really exciting for me. I didn’t want to do just another warehouse sale, so it’s like a sample sale turns rager. We teamed up with Adidas and a couple of other sponsors, then drinks, DJs, and a performance.

Sick, I love it.

Yeah. My dream sample sale. Also, it’s not just hoodies and t-shirts here in there, it’s proper collections from the past three seasons. I’m also not picking and choosing, trying to make it accessible, like this was the only way I could afford to buy shit when I was a kid, bro. Sample sales were the thing I looked forward to the most.

I feel you. In New York, there's the annual CDG sale, which is when I used to cop all my CDG.

The only time I could afford Rick. I flew to New York once for a Rick sample sale and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I got invited. And it was mental. I still have those pieces. I will never sell them. Not even because I got 'em cheap. It was also just really fun. Even on the flight to New York, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to New York for a sample sale, what a fucking loser I am. But it was like the adult version of when I was a kid and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I'm 20-something and I'm still doing the thing I was doing in high school. So I hope we can create moments like that for kids here in LA.

Yeah. I love that. It’s important to connect with them; they’re essentially creating the brand. If you don't have them, good luck.

I mean, yeah. Fuck, bro. It's cool that we've been around for this long. I mean, it got a little rocky there for a second I think, for all of us. So coming out of it, tomorrow is a celebration. And it’s like an odd day of the week. It's a Wednesday, super random. And now that we've set it up, the homies are all like, Yo, I'm coming. I'm coming. Let me jump on stage, let me do this, and that's really what it's always been about. It's not some other strategy to get likes on the internet.

That’s how the best things happen, you just couldn’t help yourself. It was intuitive.

Yeah, it all came together in a really nice way.

Would you say that’s how 424 started as well? I remember we met in like 2010 on Fairfax and I was visiting with Rasmus…

Oh bro, it’s probably the time when I started the branch… do you remember Cecilia from Black Dakini? She’s the one that introduced me to CIFF and honestly, I didn’t even care what she was doing, I was just like, I’m coming, I’ll go with you. She said she’d give me half of her booth and I said, Awesome count me in. At the time, I had just gotten my green card and I wasn't allowed to ever leave America, so Copenhagen was one of the first cities I went to when I could finally travel. I mean, you see what we did at CIFF bro? It became our fucking hub for half a decade.

That was a moment for sure.

I remember the first account I got was Antonioli, and he came super gangster, being like, You're going to sell me these clothes. And I was like, bro, I didn't come to sell clothes. I'm just kind of catching a vibe with my homie and I made these things. And he's like, No, you're going to sell it to me. And then I was like, Oh my god that’s Claudio Antonioli. So then I went home, I googled wholesale, and figured that shit out. [laughs]

[Laughs]

Like you said, I couldn't help myself, but I didn't just make t-shirts and hoodies either. I was really on my Rick wave, so I made my version of the Rick things. It was that meets like The Boondock Saints, because I'm still a little bit of a Cali bro, sort of rock kid, but not really. I like hip-hop, but I like the way the rock stars look. I like the contrast. I thought it was cool. After that, I just never stopped.

It was clear to me when I first met you that you were onto your own thing in LA. It made a lot of sense, and it was so cool. It was before 424 was its own brand; you just had the store and this really cool curation.

It was all my shit, bro. I was very, very invested in sharing all of these things that I was finding from all over the world, like Astrid Anderson. She was one of those designers at the time, so important to 424. The connection to Copenhagen specifically for me was huge. I had a big fan base there. It was incredible. And then here in LA, we were sharing the things that we were a part of and finding; it was still the early days of Fear of God, Rhude, Martine Rose. A lot of these brands, we were the first store to ever sell it — we were selling Hood By Air on the West Coast.

You had Rick as well, I remember.

Oh yeah. It took me a long time. But I got Rick, bro. By the time I had to close the store on Fairfax, I already had a Raf Simons account. I had reached my ultimate dream. It was really all the stuff I wanted to wear at the time. It was dope. The best of the best.

We had an office magazine newsstand in there as well.

Oh yeah, we did! I came to visit the one you had, and I was like, Yo, I got to bring this whole fucking thing over here. But yeah, in LA, after two days people forget you exist, but everyone’s been super supportive. We’re all 10 years older now. We've been around forever at this point.

It can be dangerous to take those breaks when you’re figuring shit out, but there’s something very genuine to this comeback you’re having.

Thank you, thank you. We’ve been in and out of those fucking showrooms in Paris for long enough. I've been in and out of these factories for the past 10 years of my life. We had to figure something out. And I think now really diving in, being in Italy full time and being there to develop these products over time, I think that the whole thing just really shows the suppliers respect you more. The people who are making your goods understand why you're making them. And I think now I finally got to the place where I'm not making Italian things, I’m making my clothes, I'm making Cali-centric shit, but with that European technicality and execution. With this Fall / Winter collection, it clicked.

So what’s the vision for the next year? What are you manifesting?

I'm just fucking relentless, bro. This is the way I want to live my life. Now that we are more aligned, more prepared, and have more experience, moving forward it is just more of becoming a fully functioning company that can provide and create opportunities for all of the people around me. We’ve been operating just on instinct for a long time.

Sustaining a business is scary, trust me I know.

Scary as fuck, dog. I just opened a store next to Bottega, bro, and it’s like what am I even doing? You have to just believe in the thing you're doing more than anybody else.

100%, and it seems like that’s what you’re doing.

And fashion’s kind of a competitive sport, as much as people don’t think it is. We can reach a certain level without losing ourselves. My biggest ambition at the moment is to create something that, when you leave one of our neighbors you come into our place you don’t feel that the level has been sacrificed at all. And it’s not easy.

Definitely. I wish I could be there tomorrow.

Thank you, bro. 10 years now. You’ve always shown me so much love. We have to do a booth or have the office part of the next 424 day. Shit let’s do a 424 day in New York.

That would be sick. Let's do it. I'm here. Let’s catch up soon.

Next season’s right around the corner so I’ll see you in Paris.

Yes, see you in Paris and Happy 424 day!

Fashion

Luis De Javier's Puta Takeover

April 25, 2024

Last night with Luis De Javier, guests were overheard confirming this generation's most vital conundrum: “If I’m cunt, I can still be pussy.” “And if you’re pussy, you can still be cunt.” This sentiment echoed throughout the night as we celebrated De Javier’s first-ever streetwear collection, "Puta". We spent seven hours at Ella Funt at a dinner turned party that only he could’ve thrown (co-hosted by emcee). It was too dark for even the most aspiring-to-look-mysterious of us to wear sunglasses inside. Under the semi-oppressive flash of party photographers, we danced as much as the space would allow, drank tequila out of teacups and kissed each other on the cheeks with a vaguely European intimacy. “I’m doing streetwear!” De Javier could be heard exclaiming — whether it be in disbelief or excitement, we couldn’t tell you.

Words and photos by Izzy Capulong

The Spanish-born London-based designer has been well-loved for his genderless tailoring, latex mastery, and overall message of empowerment. Dressing everyone from ravers to A-listers, De Javier’s latest drop pushes his design repertoire to a new level. “While designing for my celebrity clientele and showcasing my creations on the runway has always been my dream,” he notes, “It’s equally important to me that my brand resonates with a wider, more diverse audience.” While this collection’s medium has shifted from corsets to sweatshirts, the classic LDJ avant-garde sensibilities remain. Bikinis and booty shorts are shamelessly emblazoned with “PUTA,” blazers are constructed with ample shoulder padding, and I had my eye on the cheekily-named “Faguette Bag.”

The Puta collection will be available exclusively on emcee.

Fashion

Nadia Lee Cohen Celebrates Paris Texas Launch at the Chateau

To celebrate the launch, Cohen and founder and creative director of Paris Texas, Annamaria Brivio hosted an intimate dinner at the Chateau Marmont pictured below. Arman Naféei entertained guests throughout the evening with a special playlist he curated for the occasion.