Helmut Lang As Seen By Jeremy Deller

From designing for the likes of Lady Gaga, FKA Twigs, and Beyonce to shocking the culture with his debut runway show in 2019, Wesley continues to evolve, shifting intentionally and writhing in his own becoming. Now, as WESLAH reaches new levels of technique and production (everything's basically handmade), Wesley finds a new thrill in distilling his love for avant-garde design in products that are both approachable and wearable.

The collection is an “aura enhancement system” in the form of innovative fashion silhouettes that augment the human aura to promote healing, creativity, and the will to dominate one's destiny. Each piece comes with a mantra and instructions on how to “charge” it so that when you wear it, the intention is set and the energy flows. Wesley's approach is both intuitive and methodical and reflects a "less is more" mindset that rejects the status quo of endless production. He blurs the boundary between fantasy and reality and pulls us into his counterculture realm where the uninhibited self eternally resides. 

Forever is your first official collection since pre-pandemic, your last was Obsession back in 2019. That’s a long stretch. Do you ever feel a pressure to produce? How do you ignore it?

Pressure definitely exists, but I feel like it doesn’t affect me. I’ve never had an issue doing what I want to do, I just do it. I like ruminating over a body of work for months to a year. I have to take my time with all of it you know, live in it, obsess over it, reconfigure it.

Has your technique evolved since Obsession?

For sure, I feel like I'm in a completely different realm of experience, emotionally, physically, and technically. For Obsession, I was making every single piece on my own. Now I'm working with different seamstresses, pattern makers, and sample rooms. The technical aspect has evolved and I'm super excited about that, especially working with others to create an evolved form.

I see traditional materials and silhouettes, white tees, hoodies, mini-skirts, baggy denim in a way that feels distinct and somehow organic. How do you go about striking a balance between wearable and avant-garde?

One of my favorite ways to create is through a distillation of some unfathomable form into objects that are viable and accessible to humans. The form is born from the same unmanifest world where everything that exists comes from, a realm we can never reach, but are intimately connected to.

All of it seems otherworldly, but this idea of an “aura-enhancement system” also feels interwoven with materiality. What compelled you to make such a system?

My designs and the ethos of my work is so connected to my identity and my own internal world. I’ve always been interested in this aspect that you can create your own reality. As I’ve become more acquainted with my own aura and energetic existence beyond my physical existence I have learned how to manipulate my own sense of self. I also love objects, crystals, metals, plants— especially plants. There’s a subtle force they emit that manipulates the aesthetic of the space and even your own aura. If all that we interact with can affect our mood, energy, and aura, why not create a system to live more intentionally? Clothes act similarly, they can be imbued with your own energy and that's what I wanted to show. 

We hear so much these days, especially online, about manifestation, which of course isn’t a new idea, and this concept you bring up of augmenting your reality feels somehow related. 

I’m really into alchemy and hermetics. I love reading all the old alchemists of ancient times. I like the way that they refer to it as an art. It is an art. We’re not trying to create anything new out of nothing, we’re separating and recombining the elements that already exist in the universe and gleaming the knowledge of creation in order to manipulate life.

Is transformation central to your ethos as a designer? 

Yes, it’s this continual transformation that happens, from the inspiration to the contemplation to the design to the techniques involved. When we finally do have an object or silhouette, it's then further manipulated by putting it on someone, seeing it through another person’s lens. I’m more interested in coaxing out a meaning of the work that I'm inspired to do than anything else. It’s not something you can start one day and stop. Even the alchemists, they always speak of how it's a lifetime’s work. You must dedicate your entire life to the great mystery.

How do you decide on who should model your pieces? 

I don’t know until I’m actually putting it on them, that’s why I love meeting people and playing dress up. Everyone has their own beauty. The question is whether that person fits into what I’m projecting. People have such unique styles and I have a very pointed style, and for some, it's not their vibe. If they’re not into the clothes then it doesn’t work out and that's okay.

Forever evokes a quality that seemingly exists apart from our current cultural epoch of late capitalism where everything feels so temporary and nothing ever lasts. Why that title?

Forever really does exist outside of this. Capitalism never really pierces my inner world. I’m always dealing with more eternal elements, the eternal themes of the universe and humanity, those that lie beyond the physical world. It’s no longer about coming up with anything new or unseen. It’s about reflecting the perfect qualities of nature, things that exist outside of and apart from humanity, like love.

How do you see your own work in the wider context of the metaverse?

It’s hard for me to say because I’m so enmeshed in it physically. It’s difficult for me to fully express my work in the digital realm, there’s so much left unseen. If anything the digital expression is only a dim reflection of the actual collection. At the end of the day, the clothes are physical objects that have to be experienced that way. I am still inspired by it and grapple with that to figure out the best way to express the depth of the work online.

How does this collection fit into the next transmutation of WESLAH?

It’s the next stepping stone of what is to come. It’s hard to think about because I’m so caught up with what's happening right now. The name itself references the future for sure. I’m still working on figuring out what forever means as far as our existence. For me, forever is more about love. I think it exists right next to love, the kind of energy that never dies.