Kimora Lee and Russell Simmons; Image: Getty images
tFS: What do you think makes a successful urban brand because they’ve come and gone…
RS: Well, they all come and go because they were young men. You think Diggy (Simmons) would walk downstairs and see his father (Rev Run) in Phat Farm and wear it? Of course not. So, they have a life span. It’s impossible for them to survive beyond 15 years. You don’t know any that did, and it’s not because they’re bad, it’s because they ran their course. Real fashion, if you can survive with the times, you don’t run your course. So, Argyleculture is a men’s brand. If we have 40 urban men’s brands, then 34 of them would still be here. But there’s none. Young men’s businesses are gone, and African-American designers are gone with it. So, maybe I can start something out, maybe I can help usher in a new generation. I don’t want to go through any door alone, ever. If I go through a door, I’m bringing a whole bunch of black people with me.
tFS: Let’s talk about hip-hop and fashion. Who do you think right now in hip-hop is changing the game?
RS: I would say Kanye.
tFS: Why do you think what he does resonates with people?
RS: I would not have these drop-crotch pants on if Kanye hadn’t worn them. It shifted a lot of designers who are defined as “urban.” Big Sean makes these pants I’m wearing. His line is called Aura Gold.
tFS: What was your favorite piece in this collection?
RS: There’s a wool vest I really like, the fun, bright argyle sweaters I like. No one makes them. If I walk around department stores to find an argyle sweater like that, even though it’s the most obvious piece, it’s not trending this week. But it’s always trending in the African-American community.
tFS: Yes, argyle is timeless!
RS: Yes, it is, but especially in the African-American community.
tFS: What do you think is the next frontier for hip-hop dressing? Now we’ve got dudes walking around in skirts, and it’s OK. A far cry from five, even ten years ago.
RS: That’s the point. Someone like Kanye puts on a quilt, and that opens up a door. You never know when creative work is going. You don’t know if someone is going to play a sitar and strike a nerve, and then everyone is playing the sitar. Trends are funny, but inspiration for trends, you don’t know where they come from. Someone could smell something in the street and it does something to them, making them do something dramatically different yet it feels like it belongs. That’s the creative process. Commercial creativity is not a trend, it’s a feeling. When someone does something that’s unique and completely different, it then inspires a whole wave of things that are like that. That’s how trends are built. By inspiration from something that’s totally out-of-the-box. So, you can’t say what the next music, fashion or any kind of trend is. You can only predict a season ahead. You can predict colors because everyone knows the same color palettes. You can predict fit because everybody’s wearing the same fit. But, can you predict that Kanye’s going to put a dress on that I’m going to be wearing two years later? I’m 56 years old…
tFS: You’re 56???
RS: I’ll be 57.
tFS: [High Fives] You look great.
RS: Thank you.
tFS: What are you doing to wind down after Fashion Week?
RS: I don’t wind up. I meditate, and I enjoy every moment. I don’t get too stressed.
tFS: And you do yoga.
RS: Every single day.
tFS: What do you wear to do yoga?
RS: I have my own collection. I’m building a whole school of yoga science and I have a collection, Tantris, and I’ve been wearing my samples lately. We haven’t shipped anything yet.
