The Master of Disguise
We also have Bizar, whose abstract creations resemble Basquiate heads with their thick outlines and childlike vibrance. Some of Bizar’s floating heads look suspiciously like pickles, which can be no coincidence for a man (boy?) who has the word stick-and-poked to his upper arm.
Left - Audi wears shirt by JACQUEMUS, cycling shorts by 7 DAYS ACTIVE
Right - Audi wears jacket and shirt by DRIES VAN NOTEN, t-shirt by S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA., pants by BERLUTI, shoes by RAF SIMONS
That love for pickles may be the only thing that’s stayed the same since we last spoke to Audi, his chosen name for the purposes of the story. Well, that and his love for Buffalo. When we spoke on set, Audi had only been in town for a couple of weeks, having just moved to Brooklyn.
But it’s Buffalo that’s inspired his latest lookbook—that’s right, Audi’s a designer, too. Last time we sat down with him, it was to cover his senior year collection School Day, which he’s following with the upcoming sequel 2 Years Later. Literally.
Left- Audi wears jacket, shirt, pants, tie, and shoes by GUCCI, sunglasses by GENTLE MONSTER, watch by CARTIER
Right - Audi wears top by ACNE STUDIOS, overalls by CARHARTT WIP, shoes by BALENCIAGA, bags by THOM BROWNE
Left - Audi wears top, shorts, and cycling shorts by 7 DAYS ACTIVE, tank top by DIOR MEN, sneakers by NIKE, sunglasses STYLIST’S OWN
Right - Audi wears jacket, pants, and belt by DIOR MEN, sneakers by ADIDAS, sunglasses by GENTLE MONSTER
Audi wouldn’t spill the beans on what 2 Years Later will look like, outside of Buffalo’s influence on its layered looks and rainy-day hues. Beyond that, who knows what’ll drop? The thought of an autobiographical collection made by someone so full of characters makes us a little dizzy.
Take his spin on a Mick Jagger rocker look, for example, or maybe have him try on an Elton John-esque dandy on for size. Admittedly, Audi is a big fan of dad rock. Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, the works. So, in this case, he’s cheating a little, pulling from his own experiences to become the world’s quickest method-actor-cum-model.
But what about a character study in The Staycationer? Or the case The Mogul, where Audi takes on the look of a suave prom king? Is he really The Golden Boy in front of Tyrell Hampton’s lens or does the sly wink say it all?
Left - Audi wears jacket, shirt, pants, tie, and shoes by GUCCI, sunglasses by GENTLE MONSTER, watch by CARTIER
Right - Audi wears shirt by JACQUEMUS, cycling shorts by 7 DAYS ACTIVE
There’s no question: Audi Bizar is the king of disguise, the master masker, the man of many hats. He’s an expert at making us believe, if only for a minute, that whatever character he’s wearing is exactly what Audi was born to be.
When asked if he knew this sort of star is what he was born to be, Audi’s answer is “Oh, 100 percent. 100 percent. I thought I was going to be the next Goblin King.”
Left - Audi wears jacket, shirt, pants, tie, and shoes by SAINT LAURENT
Right - Audi wears top, shorts, and cycling shorts by 7 DAYS ACTIVE, tank top by DIOR MEN, sneakers by NIKE, sunglasses STYLIST’S OWN
Left - Audi wears jacket and shirt by DRIES VAN NOTEN, t-shirt by S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA., pants by BERLUTI, shoes by RAF SIMONS
Right - Audi wears shirt by JACQUEMUS, cycling shorts by 7 DAYS ACTIVE
David Bowie’s Goblin King, from Labyrinth, is one of Audi’s obsessions. If we were to make a list, it’d run like this: pickles, bats, action figures, gargoyles, and monsters. Like any of his characters, Audi chews it up, embodies it, and spits it back out again into a new Bizar form.
“I started making my own Labyrinth, in a sense,” Audi says of how he began making his creations. “I started drawing monsters, wearing my mom’s tights when I was super young, just trying to be the Goblin King. I wanted to create all the monsters that would fit the puzzle.”
Left - Audi wears jacket, pants, and belt by DIOR MEN, sneakers by ADIDAS, sunglasses by GENTLE MONSTER
Right - Audi wears jacket and shirt by DRIES VAN NOTEN, t-shirt by S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA., pants by BERLUTI, shoes by RAF SIMONS
The need to assimilate his creations from the realm of inspiration into the Audi world probably propels his interest in upcycling. Though he’s made his own garments from scratch in the past, he prefers to deconstruct and personalize vintage pieces.
We had to know—if he could dress anyone alive or dead, who would it be? We didn’t say alive, dead, or fictional, but we should have known. Audi said David Bowie, without skipping a beat, but David Bowie as the Goblin King.
Left - Audi wears jacket by BOTTER, pants by WALES BONNER X ADIDAS, sneakers by ADIDAS, hat STYLIST’S OWN
Right - Audi wears top, shorts, and cycling shorts by 7 DAYS ACTIVE, tank top by DIOR MEN, sneakers by NIKE, sunglasses STYLIST’S OWN
“I would honestly have to go in the opposite direction from what was given to me,” he says. “I would have to go all white and beige instead of all black and grey. It’s the dynamic where he’s kind of in the opposite world but it’s still the Goblin King.
His monstrous, sly little smile with his missing teeth begs the question: is Audi this generation’s grotesquely beautiful Goblin King?
Left - Audi wears jacket and shirt by DRIES VAN NOTEN, t-shirt by S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA., pants by BERLUTI, shoes by RAF SIMONS
Right - Audi wears jacket, shirt, pants, tie, and shoes by SAINT LAURENT
Who knows? We have time to find out, and Audi’s got time to decide on a character. If anything connects The Mogul to The Mall Rat, The Golden Boy to The Dandy, it’s that Audi brings a boy’s charm to every character. He’s only 19, though he says that he feels exactly 22.
“I’m still so young that if stuff doesn’t work out the way I want it to, I still have time to change that,” he says. “So my expectations are very high. Whenever things don’t go as planned, it’s like, oh well, I’ve still got time. The answer for me is just time.”
Left - Audi wears jacket, pants, and belt by DIOR MEN, sneakers by ADIDAS, sunglasses by GENTLE MONSTER
Right - Audi wears shirt by JACQUEMUS, cycling shorts by 7 DAYS ACTIVE
