Home as Corpus: Chapter Two

January 09, 2024

Honoring the Nigerian heritage of founder, designer, and multidisciplinary artist Taofeek Abijako, Head of State has always been dedicated to both interrogating and uplifting the culture and experiences of young people living in the shadow of colonialism. Head of State’s last fashion week presentation, titled Home as Corpus, eschewed the traditional runway format in favor of an exhibition model, placing an emphasis on the sculptural qualities of the garments and encouraging onlookers to spend more time observing their details. The collection examined and attempted to resolve the question of home, a concept that can be particularly fraught for first- or second-generation immigrants, and explored the memories of Abijako's father through his travels from Nigeria to Spain and back. In this latest installment of the series, Head of State collaborated with office to create a fashion story that opens the questions of Home as Corpus to three multidisciplinary models and artists.

Photography BENJI GEISLER
Creative Direction, Styling GABRIEL RUJA
Words SAMUEL GETACHEW
Talent PAPI DIAGNE, MECCA ALLAH, MAI PHAM
Casting KAT MATEO
Movement AILSA MCEVOY
Set Design MILENA GORUM
Makeup MEGAN KELLY
Production ASHLEY TONG
Photo Assistants FELIX FRANCISCO, ALIZAYUH VIGIL

For this story, Head of State photographed Mecca Allah, Mai Pham, and Papi Diagne in spaces that reflect their personal interpretations of "home." View the story below, along with their conversations with office on what home means to them.

Mecca Allah, Model and Movement Artist

What does “home” mean to you? Is it always a place? Has it always meant the same thing?

MA— Throughout my life the commonality of feeling at home is when I have been my most genuine self & can be grounded. I think it doesn't have to be a place necessarily but it’s a feeling that comes from within and you just know you're home. That internal feeling has never left and it has always meant the same thing. The places may change, my surroundings may change but that feeling inside is truly distinct.

When does your body feel like home?

MA— I think my body will always feel like home, because I’ve always understood it to be a temple that I am existing in. Sometimes your home isn’t perfect & it’s chaotic, but other times it is nourished and warm and it feels good inside.

Does your movement practice have a home? Where did it “grow up”? Where does it feel the least inhibited?

MA— It doesn’t have a specific home. I think traditionally studio spaces feel good because they’re dedicated to myself and moving my body, but that space is malleable and can be anywhere. The origin of my practice definitely grew up in a studio setting though. The ballet bars, the mirrors, these are my very first memories of understanding movement and that inherently feeling like home. I think it’s the least inhibited when I am just truly free within.

Mai Pham, Video Creator and Creative Director

What does "home" mean to you? Is it always a place? Has it always meant the same thing?

MP— Growing up, I never truly knew the meaning of home. I first moved out of my parents' home at 15 due to problems at the house and found myself constantly moving around. From a small town in Alberta on the West Coast of Canada, after moving 6 times, I somehow made it all the way to the East Coast of the USA in New York City.

It wasn't until I felt homesick being away from New York that I discovered a sense of missing home. Fast forward to the present, I've been living in New York for a couple of years, and I signed a 2-year lease on my place, which is the longest lease I've ever signed. It’s safe to say, I feel confident being here for a while. Recently, I was able to retire my parents and bring them to New York. There's nothing better than coming home to my mom cooking me a hot bowl of pho made with love; I've truly never felt so at home.

When does your body feel like home?

MP— Home is not just a physical space to me, but a feeling that resonates within me. I get overwhelmed very easily, so sitting down to spend intentional time to reaffirm myself through journaling is where I find clarity. I always feel refreshed after journaling. It's amazing to be able to go back to my journals from different periods of my life and read all the manifestations I would journal about and see them come to life. Journaling has become my sanctuary.

Does your creativity have a home? Where did it "grow up"? Where do you feel the most fearless to create?

MP— My creativity grew up on my YouTube channel that I started in 2010 as a kid. Whether it be unboxing toys, streaming myself playing Minecraft, or singing covers online. I grew up expressing myself on the internet. I always feel the most creative when I'm creating a YouTube video. Wherever I go in life, my camera and my community on YouTube have always been there by my side.

Papi Diagne, Model and Rapper

What does “home” mean to you? Is it always a place? Has it always meant the same thing?

PD— Home is where the love is, home is where I became who I am today. Home is where I learned teranga: The act of good hospitality.

When does your body feel like home?

PD— My body tends to feel like home when surrounded and embraced by nature. I promise there is nothing like the roaring waters of the river in my hometown Richmond, Virginia that could keep me calm and his world full of controlled chaos.

Does your music have a home? Where did it “grow up”? Where do you feel the most creative or inspired?

PD— My music has a strong base in southern roots, looped around the trap vibe, sprinkled with a little bit of a bubbly texture, if I can describe it. I tend to find myself being the most creative when I’m in a place of solitude, whether that be my car, an empty home, or the bathroom. The people that know me could tell you that if I’m really locked in, you will see me in the bathroom for at least 2 to 3 hours. My parents say it’s bad luck. I say it’s a therapeutic shut off.

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.