Complex.com - Style

Leaders Of The New Cool

Complex Magazine — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:14:10 -0400

THE NEW GENERATION OF RAPPERS DEFIES EASY LABELS. SO IF YOU THINK THEY’RE ONLY DEFINED BY STREETWEAR AND SNEAKERS, THEN LIKE KRS-ONE SAID, YOU MUST LEARN. SCHOOL’S IN SESSION. Photography by Matt Doyle
Styling By Anoma Ya Whittaker
MORE CREDITS »

(GROOMING) WILLIAM MARSHALL FOR KENBARBOZA.COM, Kool Kids: VALERIE HERNANDEZ FOR OPUS BEAUTY;

The Cool Kids (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE)

Name: The Cool Kids A.K.A.: Mikey Rocks (right), 20, and Chuck Inglish, 24
Listen to: The Bake Sale EP

ON MIKEY (RIGHT)

SUNGLASSES: RAY-BAN
BOW TIE: GANT
JACKET: SWAGGER
SHIRT: PRADA
PANTS: POLO RALPH LAUREN
SHOES: TOMMY HILFIGER

ON CHUCK (LEFT)

SUNGLASSES: MOSCOT
JACKET: J. CREW
TIE: GANT
SHIRT: DKNY
PANTS: THEORY
SOCKS: POLO RALPH LAUREN
SHOES: SEBAGO

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Charles Hamilton (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE)

Name: Charles Hamilton, 20
Listen to: DJ Green Lantern Presents Charles Hamilton: Outside Looking In

HAT: PAUL SMITH COLLECTION
JACKET: POLO RALPH LAUREN
SHIRT: RALPH LAUREN
SWEATER: GANT
PANTS: ROCKERS NYC
SOCKS: PAUL SMITH
SHOES: PAUL SMITH

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B.O.B (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE)

Name: B.O.B, 19
Listen to: 12th Dimension

GLASSES: MOSCOT
SWEATER: POLO RALPH LAUREN
SHIRT: WOOLRICH WOOLEN MILLS
TIE: TOMMY HILFIGER
GLOVES: CONFERENCE OF BIRDS
BAG: BILLY KIRK
JEANS: G-STAR
SHOES: SEBAGO

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The Knux (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE)

Name: The Knux A.K.A.: Krispy Kream (left), 26, and Rah Almillio, 24
Listen to: Remind Me in 3 Days?

ON KRISPY Left

JACKET: BARBOUR
SCARF: RALPH LAUREN
SHIRT: BROOKS BROTHERS
GLOVES: PAUL SMITH COLLECTION
PANTS: PHINEAS COLE
SHOES: J. CREW

ON RAH Right

HAT: PAUL SMITH COLLECTION
GLASSES: SUPER
TIE: TOMMY HILFIGER
SHIRT: POLO RALPH LAUREN
JEANS: PARKER
SHOES: COLE HAAN

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Wale (CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE)

Name: Wale, 23
Listen to: The Mixtape About Nothing

JACKET: BOSS BLACK
BOW TIE: GANT
SWEATER: TOMMY HILFIGER
SHIRT: JUST CAVALLI
PANTS: GANT
SOCKS: POLO RALPH LAUREN
SHOES: SEBAGO

Complex’s Preppy Style Guide

Complex Magazine — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:04:52 -0400

Photo: Band Of Outsiders

Complex’s Preppy Style Guide

Although the crisp dressing of preppy looks is so conducive to summer (cotton seersucker, much?) prepster style is here to stay for fall. But even if you're late to the country club, Complex has you covered. Here are our picks on what to drink, where to eat, shop, and, of course, what to wear to keep you staying dapper as the temperatures drop.

CREDIT »

Compiled By: Molly Szkotak

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Street Detail: The School Kids

Complex Magazine — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:12:03 -0400

We journeyed to colleges across the country to research the students of style. Pass or fail?

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The Third Annual Complex Style & Design A to Z List

Complex Magazine — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:42:45 -0400

Once again, we break down the trendsetting people, products, brands, and ideas of the year- and ask five artists to show us what sexy really is.

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Jay Baruchel: Breaking Out

Complex Magazine — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:28:48 -0400

The Tropic Thunder star talks style, cigarettes, hockey, and why Mos Def isn’t in his new movie.

Photographs by Andre McLeod
Styling by Anoma Ya Whittaker

Jay Baruchel is fucking cool. We say this not only because we’ve laughed at his antics as part of Judd Apatow’s crew in Undeclared and Knocked Up, but because he’s just fucking cool. He hails from a cool town (Montreal, Quebec), he’s passionate about a cool sport (ice hockey), and his career is about to blow up (Tropic Thunder) but he could give two shits about the Hollywood life. We shot Jay for the fashion story in our Aug./Sept. issue, and talked to him by phone a few days later from his apartment in Montreal. It was a week after he wrapped his first lead role, the upcoming rom-com She’s Out of My League.

Complex: What happened last night?

Jay Baruchel: Well I was just watching the Stanley Cup, and then here’s where it gets real lame and creepy: I played a computer game until about 4 o’clock in the morning.

What game?

Jay Baruchel: [Laughs.] I’m too embarrassed to mention.

Why, was it World of Warcraft or something like that?

Jay Baruchel: It’s so much lamer than World of Warcraft.

Guild Wars?

Jay Baruchel: I’ll say that we played some Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty as well, just to make me feel a little less lamer. I played this game called NHL Eastside Hockey Manager. It’s a text-based managerial sim game for hockey managers.

I know that game. I mean, I don’t know that actual title but I know Football Manager.

Jay Baruchel: Yeah, that’s it. It’s that for hockey. So that’s what I did until 4 o’clock in the morning last night.

Were you playing a franchise of the Canadians or something?

Jay Baruchel: Yeah, that’s exactly it. I was on my sophomore year as general manager of the Montreal Canadians. We won a Stanley Cup at the end of last season, so…

You won the Cup your first year of being general manager?

Jay Baruchel: Yes sir. I made a few big trades and I just sort of...it’s always good to come up with a slogan or an overriding philosophy, and mine was just, “younger, bigger, faster, younger, bigger, faster.” So every trade that I made I tried to gain a couple of years on whoever I was trading.

And when you’re playing the game it’s just like little dots, right?

Jay Baruchel: That’s exactly it! [Laughs.] Okay, I was waiting for that bombshell, whether or not I had to be the one to admit that the lame thing was you just watch these little dots, but you know, so okay. It’s the little dots. The little dots kept me awake until 4:30.

So you just wrapped your new film, She’s Out of My League, in Pittsburgh. How was Pittsburgh, you were there for—

Jay Baruchel: Two and a half months.

Was it dreadful?

Jay Baruchel: No, it’s awesome. It’s a great fucking town. Dare I call it the best-kept secret in America? It’s chill as fuck. I mean number one, it’s honestly—and everybody looks at me cross when I say this, but it is really one of the prettiest cities in America, which is something you never hear. But it’s really, really gorgeous. It’s about 250 years old, it’s all built on hills. It has the most bridges of any city in America. Their ballpark is just fucking sick and gorgeous. It’s a really, really cool place with a really neat people and tasty food and all that stuff.

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How do you feel about She’s Out of My League? You’re the romantic lead?

Jay Baruchel: I’m the “my” and she’s out of my league. I mean, it was not without its problems. There are a few rated R-scenes where I have a, there’s a—

Cock out?

Jay Baruchel: There’s an English Mastiff licking semen off my crotch and stuff like that. But no, it was fun. I mean, it beats what my roommates have to do on their average days, so it was definitely fun.

You have roommates?

Jay Baruchel: Yeah, I live with two guys; two of my best friends since I was 15. One of them is probably the biggest music video producer in Quebec, and the other one moves furniture, so it’s a diverse, eclectic mix of jobs in this house.

Let me ask you about Tropic Thunder. In an old interview of yours, it must’ve been prior to shooting, and you mentioned Mos Def was going to be in it.

Jay Baruchel: Oh shit, yeah. [Laughs.] That’s old school. Yeah, well without getting into it too much, I personally witnessed somebody fucking themselves out of the movie. [Laughs.]

Are you serious?

Jay Baruchel: Oh, dude. It was just like...there’s a table read and I’d say that 60% of the most famous people on Earth, including Tom-fucking-Cruise find a way to be there 20 minutes to a half an hour ahead of time. What the fuck are you doing coming in fucking half an hour late? We all just sat there—the head of DreamWorks, Tom Cruise, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson—we sat in the room waiting a half an hour for him to show up. I mean, he was fucking nice as hell to me, but he definitely didn’t bring his A game.

Maybe he had reservations about the character?

Jay Baruchel: You know what? That might actually have something to do with it. For me, it just seemed more like that muthafucka was late and then he was like, asking the driver to take him to buy sneakers and all this shit. So, it’s priorities.

How was the experience making the movie? Brandon [T. Jackson] said that Ben suggested watching some war movies to get in the mood?

J: We had these little gift baskets containing Platoon and Hamburger Hill and Full Metal Jacket when we showed up there. I’d say filming Tropic Thunder was at the same time the single most arduous and most fun, best job I’ve ever had. It was just like—the shoot was fucking behemoth. It was like six months on the island of Kauai on the island of Hawaii.

Okay, so that’s not bad [Laughs.]

Jay Baruchel: No, there’s definitely worse places to be, I would imagine, than Hawaii. Kauai was nice, it’s just real small there. But it’s a beautiful island. Just the fact that like everyday we’d show up and like…you know that big opening battle sequence?

Yeah.

Jay Baruchel: That was the first month or month and half of work. We showed up in Hawaii, had one or two days of rehearsal and weapons training and then jumped right into the muthafucka. All of the sudden, I’m showing up to work everyday and there’s 50 stunt performers and 50 to 75 extras and three Huey helicopters flying overhead strafing and there’s fucking Napalm blowing up and singed tree lines. Yeah, that’s fucking fun.

How handy were you with a weapon or firearm before? Had you fired a gun?

Jay Baruchel: I had never fired any assault rifles. I had fired Berettas and Glocks and a few shotguns and such, but I got real handy with it just by virtue of the fact that I was literally holding an M16 everyday of my life for four months. In between takes, that’s what I did to keep myself occupied. I’d have the choice of either smoking another cigarette or seeing how quickly I could unload and reload my M16 with my eyes closed. And my record was four-and-a-half seconds, Brandon and I used to time each other.

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How much do cigarettes cost in Quebec?

Jay Baruchel: It depends what brand you’re buying but anywhere from 8-12 bucks a pack.

US dollars?

Jay Baruchel: Well now it’d probably be like 10-15 bucks, American.

In New York they just added another tax. So they're now $9-$10 here, which was a big deal.

Jay Baruchel: Well, here’s my prediction: it won’t change anything. I grew up in a country where not only do our packs of smokes cost $12, but instead of, you know how they always say "Surgeon General warning, These may be harmful...," [it says,] "Cigarettes kill, cigarettes cause impotence, cigarettes cause this that and the other," and here’s a picture of a fucking cancerous lung, of rotten teeth, and people still smoke here more than anywhere else in North America.

There’s a new study that says cigarettes contribute to hair loss as well. So they're getting you on impotence, erectile dysfunction, hair loss, cancer—

Jay Baruchel: Yep, hair loss, cancer, terrorism. We’ll see what else happens—it will be cigarettes can open some sort of portal into the dimension where the demons come from.

Montreal seems like a smoke-friendly town.

Jay Baruchel: Oh, it’s chill as hell. Yeah, I mean it’s just friendly, period, more than any other place. The people here have no hang-ups. I went to fucking high school in downtown Montreal and on my walk to school everyday I’d have to pass strip clubs and peep shows and all sorts of nonsense. Lots of strip clubs, lots of random guys smoking pot walking past and all this stuff. So you grow up not giving a shit what anybody does with their spare time. Everywhere I’ve been, I find people give way too much of a shit about everybody else’s hang-ups. Like who the fuck cares? If you want to go spend your money however you want to spend your money, it’s none of my business what you’re doing with your free fucking time. So it definitely didn’t make me a crackhead at 16 or a fucking alcoholic.

Not ’til 18.

Jay Baruchel: [Laughs.] Not ’til 18. You know, it didn’t make me a fucking miscreant. It just made me like know there are some people out there that want to do certain things. If there’s anything the world needs now, it's fucking tolerance.

So what’s the longest period of time you’ve been in L.A.?

Jay Baruchel: I think I’ve done like four months straight there once.

What’s your impression of living there?

Jay Baruchel: Man, there’s a reason why you’re calling me in Montreal. I don’t love it. I really—I have to be diplomatic here because I must give credit where credit is due: I have a lot of really close, important friends of mine who live in Los Angeles and a lot of good things in my life have happened to me in Los Angeles or have come from Los Angeles. That being said, it’s too hot for me. The architecture is ugly. You can’t walk anywhere. The food sucks. Everyone’s carrying guns. It’s like every time I go down there, the division between rich and poor becomes increasingly more and more marked until…Los Angeles seems to be up there with Bogotá in terms of cities where the super rich are as rich as anybody on Earth but they live in gated communities and have black SUVs driving them with bodyguards and then the rest of the people live in fucking shanty towns. I’ve never seen it as bad as L.A. There’s just no middle class. It’s horrible.

You're obviously a huge hockey fan. I’m thinking that a hockey role for you would probably be like a dream role, no?

Jay Baruchel: Well, it would be one of those great, beautiful double-edged swords. It would be a dream role to have the marriage of two of my favorite things. On She’s Out of My League, we shot at a Penguins game at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh—the New York Islanders were visiting. My friend T.J. turned to me as we were shooting and said, “This is literally a marriage of your two favorite things on Earth.” I said, “Yeah, pretty much man.” I’m actually in the process of writing [a hockey movie] with my friend Evan Goldberg, who co-wrote Superbad and Knocked Up and Pineapple Express. But here’s the thing: I skate like a drunken, retarded Clydesdale and I just never can get my footing. So being in the hockey movie, as much as it’s the greatest sport in the history of the world and it would make nobody happier than me, I just don’t like falling on my ass in front of America.

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Can’t they do the Rob Lowe Youngblood thing where it was just upper body and then it was like Peter Zezel’s legs?

Jay Baruchel: [Laughs.] That’s right. Fair enough. I don’t know what hockey player has legs skinny enough to be me. I could get Kristi Yamaguchi’s legs for me. That’s Peter Zezel? That’s crazy. Youngblood is fucking awesome. The Rocket’s a damn good movie. And the guy who plays the Rocket is probably up in the top three greatest living Canadian actors—this guy named Roy Dupois—he’s incredible.

I guess other than that there’s like Miracle and Mystery Alaska…

J: Yeah, Mystery Alaska. I pretend that there aren’t any good hockey movies after Slapshot. That’s the one, you know? That’s truly the one. Almost every other hockey movie, somehow they just pussified them. They cut the fucking balls off it. Hockey is not softball. [Laughs.] The dialogue in Slapshot, you’d never see in a movie now. And I don’t know if you remember the scene when all the players have to do a fashion show, and they come out wearing like suits and you know, chic, haute couture sort of—well as haute couture for a small steel town would be—and the first line in that scene is a player looking at his clothes, and he goes, “I look like a cocksucking faggot!” You’d never see that. I’m not going say whether that’s good or bad, but it’s fucking funny and it would never be in a movie anymore.

Speaking of fashion, you just did a style shoot for us. What kind of stuff do you wear on the day-to-day?

Jay Baruchel: Um, yeah. My mother buys my jeans exclusively.

[Laughs.] Are you serious?

Jay Baruchel: Yeah.

From where?

Jay Baruchel: We have a store here in Canada called The Bay, which is our biggest department store, sort of like a Sears or Macy’s. And that’s where 90% of the pants I have on my legs at any given time come from. I guess I like if there's a middle ground between looking like—not looking like a fucking bum and not looking like a nancy-boy. So I like to have a bit of panache. My dad was quite the well-dressed man—he was a fucking big time label whore. But at the same time, I live in the kind of neighborhood where kids get their sneakers taken, so I can’t look like too much of a fashionista. So, I hover somewhere around Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. That’s kind of what I look like and I usually have a crazy Mohawk as I do now.

Did you do that like the minute you got off the set?

Jay Baruchel: Yep. I did the photo shoot for your magazine, went to visit my friend in L.A., shaved my head at his place, went home to Montreal the next morning.

What’s the style like in Montreal? Is it overrun by hipsters like New York and L.A.?

Jay Baruchel: Yeah, there’s a shitload of those. I’ll tell you, there’s a big wannabe Williamsburg contingent up here. There’s a lot of dudes wearing chick jeans and tight leather jackets and all that shit. But also, Montreal’s always been a crooked, crooked town. There’s not a single bar or watering hole in the whole town that isn’t owned either by the Irish mob or the bikers, or that doesn’t sell drugs out of the back of it. So everything’s a bit crooked. But as long as there have been hipsters, there have also been two-bit wannabe thugs. I come from a neighborhood that’s for the most Italian, Irish and Jamaican, so it’s a good place to get your ass kicked. [Laughs.] So I’d say in Montreal, there’s always been quite a bit of that sketchy, urban hip-hop look to everything as well as the whole fucking emo-boy leather jacket, tight, fluffy hair look. So we got it both in spades. The fact is the Arcade Fire comes from Montreal so that should be a good indication to how a lot of people at least here dress.

Did you every go through any baggy, hip-hop phase at all?

Jay Baruchel: I never did. I’ve always liked big, high-top sneakers and I always liked dancehall but no, I never wore Exhaust Jeans or anything. I’m like the only one of my friends that didn’t. I have no Fubu or Southpaw or whatever the hell that’s called. I had never had any of that shit. I did go through a pretty embarrassing punk phase where like I had the pink hair and workmen’s jacket, a little Communist-looking jacket, and shelltoe Adidas and a funny polyester shirt. It made Christmas shopping with my mother very difficult. But she’s gotten used to people giving us crappy looks when we walk down the street because it looked like I was going to be stealing copper wiring out of your house.

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What’s your take on the skinny jean phenomenon?

Jay Baruchel: I definitely wear skinnier on the scale of skinny to baggy, but I don’t like—

The ball-huggers?

Jay Baruchel: [Laughs.] Yeah, stuffing my dick in everyone’s face. Like my friend literally buys his pants in the girls' section at Gap. I guess if you’ve got it, flaunt it. If you can pull it off, then I guess kudos to you, but I need pocket space. Skinny jeans rob me of valuable places to put my smokes and cell phone and whatever bag of weed I have on me. I have a lot of stuff to carry so I can’t be wearing spray-painted-on black jeans. It just looks like you have some sort of battery pack instead of a penis. They’re not practical.

We took some pics of you in a fedora.

Jay Baruchel: Oh shit, the stupid hat.

[Laughs.] You didn’t like the hat?

Jay Baruchel: I said it before, I’ll say it again: it’s not 1932. Muthafuckas be wearing fedoras and those cabby hats. Every party you go to, there’s one guy in one of those things and he always makes a big entrance and it’s like, “Oh the party animal showed up, the guy that wears fedoras.”

With the pointy shoes.

Jay Baruchel: Oh man, my fists clench right the fuck away. I kept wanting to kick my ass so bad.

So it seems like you're not really a hat person.

Jay Baruchel: I wear baseball caps like a muthafucka. And it gets really cold here, so I wear hats in the wintertime. But not anything like that. You also have to understand that I went to fine arts high school, so I had my fill of stuff like that. You know how desperate kids are to identify themselves with anything in high school? Imagine that at fine arts school. [Laughs.] So kids try real fucking hard.

Is there anybody living or dead, that you wouldn’t mind being stuck in an elevator with?

Jay Baruchel: That’s a good question.

Are you claustrophobic at all?

Jay Baruchel: Yeah, definitely. So that figures into the equation. No, I wouldn’t mind being stuck in an elevator with Shannon Tweed.

In the shoot, you also wore a shirt with a bunch of Star of Davids and crosses on it. Are you Jewish?

Jay Baruchel: I am. I’m half-Jewish, half-Catholic. Guilty as fuck.

[Laughs.] Did you do like the bar mitzvah and stuff like that?

Jay Baruchel: No, I didn’t do either. I wasn’t baptized nor was I bar mitzvahed. I grew up celebrating both holidays and going to church and temple. I went to Catholic school for a period but that was just because it was the best school and my cousins already went there. My mother always said when I was a little kid, we’ll expose you to both religions so that if in time you decide that you want to pursue any of them, you can make the decision based on having experienced this. You know, here are our two faiths, if you like either of them, here’s the experience, here’s a way for you to make an informed decision, whatever one you feel closest to. And then the other thing was, “No matter what, remember Jay, that God didn’t write the Bible, men did.”

So now you’re agnostic?

Jay Baruchel: I would say probably agnostic, yeah that’s—I mean I still pray when I fly and all that stuff and it can’t hurt anything but there’s too many things in both religions that I don’t believe in.

There’s another shot of you wearing sunglasses indoors.

Jay Baruchel: Well, yeah this is where I get embarrassing and say that I'm all for it. My roommates and I, we have the lamest gang in the world: the “stylish sunglasses” gang. And there’s only three members—my roommates and I—but that’s like the one thing we all will always spend a lot of our money on. I’ll wear dirty socks until the cows come home, but I’ll always spend money on sunglasses and my roommates do the same thing. And we just sit there, the three of us all day long in the living room playing video games with our sunglasses on.

Lupe's Legendary

Complex Magazine — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:53:21 -0400

Lupe's Legendary

Mr. FNF breaks down his personal style-and-design classics.

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Inside KCDC With Amy Gunther

Complex Magazine — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:41:19 -0400

Inside KCDC With Amy Gunther

Located in Willamsburg, Brooklyn, KCDC has become a mainstay of NYC’s skate culture. Unlike so many other stylish so-called skate shops, the store actually sells skateboards, as opposed to just hanging them on the wall to match a Nike SB account. While the shop caters to skate fans with an indoor mini-ramp, its owner Amy Gunther keeps KCDC stocked with a wide range of footwear and clothing by NYC brands like Verte, Hops, and Amongst Friends, as well as product from bigger companies like Vans, Insight, and WeSC. This weekend, the shop is launching its first signature shoe: a Chukka Low collaboration between KCDC, artist Neckface, and Vans. Amy recently sat down with Complex to talk about the shoe release, her shop and projects she has on tap for the rest of the summer.

Complex: This is KCDC’s first shoe, right?

Amy Gunther: Well, this is the first KCDC shoe that is actually making it to production! We’ve had a few “almosts” with other skate brands, but nothing ever made its way to the shelves.

Complex: How did the relationships with Vans and Neckface develop?

Amy Gunther: I’ve been working on a marketing level between the shop and Vans for a while, doing a lot of events with the brand. We just did a shoe release party for Steve Olson’s new shoe, and we’ve always done demos with the team. We helped promote Neckface’s first round of shoes last year. As far as Neckface being part of this new project, we used to get all of his mail sent over here to the shop. So we’re tight.

Complex: What’s his real name?

Amy Gunther: [Laughs] I’m not telling you, but it’s in my phone if you want to look when I’m not paying attention.

Complex: Okay…So what made you want to design a Chukka Low?

A: I think it was a good choice for us. I mean, we designed this shoe over a year ago. At the time, the Chukka Low hadn’t even really been on shelves, so we weren’t sure the response it was going to get. Right now, it’s one of our top selling styles, but at the time we kind of took a shot on a new silhouette. We originally wanted to do a Half Cab, but Vans pushed us to do this one. I’m psyched that they did.

Complex: How many pairs of these are there?

Amy Gunther: 100

Complex: You mention that Neckface used to get his mail sent to your shop. How come?

Amy Gunther: For a while, Neckface was living in Brooklyn, and we were receiving all of his personal stuff here at the shop because he was always traveling. He doesn’t live in Brooklyn anymore, but for a while, KCDC was his mailbox.

Complex: How did you meet him in the first place?

Amy Gunther: [Pro Skateboarder] Tony Trujillo was staying at my house, maybe five years ago, and Neckface came by and hung out and we just kind of were friends from there. He was still bombing a lot then and just starting to really gain some popularity. But he was traveling all over the place, so we let him have all his stuff sent to KCDC.

Complex: Samples and stuff?

Amy Gunther: Yes. Neckface would get all of his samples sent to KCDC, and all the things that he was working on would come through our shop. It was kind of a joke at the shop, you know, like, “What is all this stuff in the back?” All of these “Neckface c/o KCDC packages.” We got to see a lot of his samples, like boards for Baker and his first series of Vans shoes that came out last year. He would open up sample packages while we were there, and we would go back and forth like, “Oh, maybe change this, lighten this up.” So when it came to this project, it made a lot of sense to work together.

Complex: Who did you deal with at Vans?

Amy Gunther: The main person that [Neckface] was working with at Vans was Robin Flemming, and she used to be the team manager at Baker. We were friends from back then, and then when she moved to Vans, it was awesome for us to have someone “on the inside” in a big company like that. She really spearheaded this project, as kind of like a thank you for us being the go-between with Neck. The box the shoes come in is based on us getting Neckface’s mail. It’s made to look like a package that’s getting sent to KCDC.

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Complex: In addition to the shoe, you just did a pretty cool series of T-shirts.

Amy Gunther: We just did a soft launch, so right now they’re just available in-store, but we will be selling them online [at kcdcskateshop.com] in a little and then we’ll be shipping some out to the West Coast and internationally when we do a second print of the graphics at the end of the summer.

Complex: They came out really sick.

Amy Gunther: Thanks! The whole thing with our shop is that I really like being able to showcase artists and artwork of artists who wouldn’t normally get a lot of press. We’ve been open for seven years, so we’ve really been able to work with a lot of very talented people.

Complex: You have some heavy hitters in there, like Jeremy Fish.

Amy Gunther: Well, you know we actually had Jeremy’s first NYC show ever. So we go back with him. I guess he’s kind of famous, but to us, he’s a friend. He’s been in like three shows at our shop.

Complex: So he drew a dog and a cat holding hands…

Amy Gunther: Do you get it?

Complex: Um…

Amy Gunther: [Laughs] “KCDC” is one of those things where we don’t really tell anyone what it stands for. About 50 times a day, I get asked what KCDC means, so for this series, we encouraged artists to do “interpretations” of the name. Jeremy’s is Kitty City, Doggie City.

Complex: [Laughs]

Amy Gunther: And then this other one, by our friend Beau Velasco, Barbaric of New York—with the chicken shooting lasers out of the eyes—his is “Kill Crush, Destroy Crew.” With that little neon chicken, it’s hilarious.

Complex: And who is this dude French who did the Viking shirt?

Amy Gunther: Another friend of ours, Marc Foster, who does Altamont, did a show at KCDC as well a little while back. But he brought in a friend of his, this guy French, and they did a group show. Through that, we became friends, and that’s French’s shirt with the Viking on it. I really like black metal, and French’s work is really demonic, so I’m psyched that we’re working with him. Since we started, we’ve always done evil shirts, always satanic and blood and things like that. But I had a request from my employees/manager that we lighten it up a little. So this series is a little more fun. No blood or skulls this time.

Complex: The other two shirts are by Grotesk and Adam Squires. Do you want to talk about those?

Amy Gunther: Grotesk lived across the street from the shop until about a year ago, and he also works at Zoo York, with whom we just did a project as well. We’ve always wanted to do something together, and this was an opportunity for us to make that happen. Adam Squires did the “Bless This Mess” shirt. That shirt is kind of a parody on the business we’re running over here. Sometimes the skate world gets a little crazy over here, but it’s our baby, you know? So “Bless this Mess” is kind of our way of saying you know, we love the place, but sometimes it’s just nuts.

Complex: So, you’ve worked with a lot of people to get this mini-collection off of the ground. Any dream collabos in your future?

Amy Gunther: A Manolo Blahnik

Complex: With Neckface?

Amy Gunther: Probably. That would be so sick.

Street Detail Hawaii

Complex Magazine — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:59:11 -0400

We trekked to the land of Lost to talk island-style with the locals. Meet our Hawaii four joes.

[!Ditto? &summarize=`4` &paginate=`1` &paginateAlwaysShowLinks=`1` &tpl=`Ditto_Reviews`! &sortBy=`menuindex` &sortDir=`DESC`!]

Locals Only

Complex Magazine — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:07:29 -0400

LOCALS ONLY

Nike, Neighborhood, and Stüssy team up on Boneyards, a collection inspired by the dark side of Cali surf culture.

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Nas: Colorful Language

Complex Magazine — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:35:26 -0400

NOBODY KNOWS MORE THAN NAS ABOUT THE POWER OF WORDS: HIS NINTH ALBUM CREATED CONTROVERSY BEFORE THE RELEASE OF A SINGLE SONG. NEVER AFRAID TO TAKE CHANCES, THE RAP LEGEND EXPRESSES HIMSELF HERE IN SUMMER’S BOLDEST SPORTSWEAR.
Photographs by Phil Knott
Styling by Anoma Ya Whittaker

JACKET BY Y-3
T-SHIRT BY MHI
JEANS BY 55DSL
SNEAKERS BY ADIDAS
SUNGLASSES BY BOTTEGA VENETA
{NewPage}

JACKET BY BOSS BLACK
WINDBREAKER BY NIKE
POLO BY MARITHÉ + FRANÇOIS GIRBAUD
JEANS BY 10.DEEP
SNEAKERS BY CLAE
{NewPage}

JACKET BY KSUBI
T-SHIRT BY SPLENDID MILLS
BELT BY MONEY JEANS
JEANS BY LEVIS CAPITAL E
SNEAKERS BY NIKE
SUNGLASSES BY MARC JACOBS

{NewPage}

JACKET BY FILA
SHIRT BY MALO
T-SHIRT BY RED CLAY
PIN BY RICKY & D
JEANS BY PRADA
SNEAKERS BY D&G
WATCH BY G-SHOCK
SUNGLASSES BY MOSLEY TRIBES
{NewPage}

JACKET BY STONE ISLAND
T-SHIRT BY CALVIN KLEIN
JEANS BY UNIQLO
SNEAKERS BY CREATIVE RECREATION
SUNGLASSES BY YVES SAINT LAURENT
{NewPage}

JACKET BY ORTHODOX
WINDBREAKER BY NIKE
BELT BY ORIGINALFAKE
JEANS BY DIOR HOMME
SNEAKERS BY DSQUARED2
SUNGLASSES BY MARC JACOBS

Inside Verte With The Razos

Complex Magazine — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:35:59 -0400

Even with their new etnies collaboration hitting the streets, this New York-based clothing company is still a family affair.

Interview: Bradley Carbone

Verte is a New York-based clothing line started by brothers Andre, Mark, and Tino Razo and wives Athena and Desiree in 2002. They're known mainly as a T-shirt brand, but through creativity and connections, the team has been able to escape the empty hype that has become synonymous with Lower East Side and Williamsburg screenprint shops. We sat down with the crew to talk about family, New York, skateboards, and their new collaboration with skate shoe company etnies that drops this weekend.

Complex: So how does one go about pronouncing your brand?
Mark: “Vert” but we kind of leave it open for interpretation, just to see what people say.

C: When did it first start?
Athena: In 2002 we started doing a T-shirt line for our friends, and since then it’s been mostly shirts, but we are also do some special projects with different brands. Come Spring/Summer ’09, we’ll be launching a full clothing line.

C: Can you talk a little about the shoe you are doing with etnies?
Mark: Well, A good friend of ours is working over there as the Art Director. We are doing a Jameson [the low] and the Ollie King [the hightop]. We asked for the Ollie King shoe specifically because it was an older, beefy skate shoe that reminded us of skating back in the day in Vermont. We had to ask etnies to go and find one so that we could re-create it.

C: What did you change?
Mark: We streamlined the Ollie King to cut down on the padding a little bit. The Jameson is more of a wearable shoe, and then the jackets round it out into a little mini-collection.

C: What is that jacket made of?
Athena: Pleather! It’s lined, and came out really dope.

C: Had you done a shoe before these ones?
Andre: We hadn’t done a shoe before, but etnies made the collaboration process really easy. We first sat down with the templates, and were like, “Okay, so what are the restrictions?” The guys at etnies were like, “Do what ever you want.” They have it down, so it worked out.

C: It seems like going from ideas to the finished product could be somewhat challenging. Who is the point person creatively between the five of you?
Mark: The good thing is everybody has really strong ideas and viewpoints of how things should be. While sometimes that makes it harder, it’s good because in the big picture, we all have similar taste. We all throw a bunch of ideas out there and then we give it to Andre. One person is like, “I want a wolf howling at the earth” and then someone else figures out how to make that cool, whether that means us doing it ourselves or working with an outside illustrator to get it done.

C: What was the motivation behind starting the company?
Athena: Andre was like, “I want to do something with my family. I want to do something we all can do together”. It’s so fun seeing the brand evolve. First you see some of your friends with the shirts on and it’s like, “Oh, cool, you’re rocking our stuff.” But then a couple months ago, I saw this Japanese kid rocking one of our shirts and that’s just awesome! [Laughs]

{NewPage}

C: How does your distribution work?
Andre: It’s pretty much just distributed from Mark’s apartment! Our product really gets out through all of our friends. We’re always at the bar [Max Fish], where we meet tons of people that own skate shops like, “Oh you have a brand? We’ll carry it.” We’ll meet one person who links us to another who hooks us up with another guy. We’re just building a ton of contacts through word of mouth and through friends. We have had a ton of help with everyone here in New York from the skate shops like KCDC and Autumn to DQM and Supreme. They all have been incredibly supportive. Brands are hooking us up with props as well like In4mation and Rockers NYC, so it’s like a big family kind of thing.

C: Who designed the logo?
Athena: Tino drew the logo. He was working on a lot of calligraphy at the time, and we all like anchors. No real meaning, but the anchor is a good strong image, and we’re all into it. The anchor makes the V for Verte, and the name relates from the French word for green, “vert”. We also all grew up in Vermont, so for us, that’s all about green mountains, and friends. It’s also a key tie in with skateboarding—you know, vert skate ramp.

C: Verte seems to have more of an organic feel than some of the hype brands. Do you consider yourself part of that world?
Mark: We don’t look too much at other brands, it’s more about working with each other and letting it happen. A big part of the brand is that it’s just really New York. We never tried to cater to exclusively skateboarders, but because we skate and we’re in that world, it works. A little while back we did this Hawaiian shirt at DQM, and they sold out in like 2 days, so those guys kept ordering them. I’m like, “Who’s buying this shit?” It was all these hoodie kids matching the gear with the shoes, and that’s dope. We pull a really random and diverse crowd.

C: Is that what makes it a New York brand?
Athena: Yeah, because people here continually take things and re-appropriate them; make things their own. So it’s hard to say it’s going to be this, because people will take things and do what they want with it. There’s so many things that we like that don’t necessarily fit into categories. We’re all over the place.

C: Do you want to see the brand grow to the next level?
Mark: We do, but we’re not going to push it. If it will, it will. When we first started, it was just one or two t-shirts. It was just at Autumn and KCDC and now it’s all over New York, and in Harpers Bazar and in rap videos. And now we have a sneaker!

Snappy Seconds

Complex Magazine — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:50:54 -0400

You call it “vintage shopping,” we call it “recycling.” We hit a Cali swap meet to talk to four trader Joes.

[!Ditto? &summarize=`4` &paginate=`1` &paginateAlwaysShowLinks=`1` &tpl=`Ditto_Reviews`! &sortDir=`ASC`!]

Dirty Denim

Complex Magazine — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:14:02 -0400

FOUR DIFFERENT TAKES ON THE UNWASHED JEAN, AS SEEN ON THE STREET FROM TEXAS TO TOKYO

[!Ditto? &summarize=`4` &paginate=`1` &paginateAlwaysShowLinks=`1` &tpl=`Ditto_Reviews`! &sortDir=`ASC`!]

Bright Stripes

Complex Magazine — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:56:09 -0400

you can’t deny the power of stripes—keep the colors bold and the lines moving

[!Ditto? &summarize=`4` &paginate=`1` &paginateAlwaysShowLinks=`1` &tpl=`Ditto_Reviews`!]

Anton Yelchin: Cult Classics

Complex Magazine — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:43:58 -0400

DENIM’S MORE THAN BLUE AND GRAY, IT’S A SPLASH OF COLOR. THIS SPRING, THINGS ARE GOING TO GET A LITTLE BIT PUNK AND A LITTLE BIT NEW-WAVE. CHARLIE BARTLETT’S ANTON YELCHIN IS READY TO ROCK.

HAT BY HUSH PUPPIES
T-SHIRT BY CHEAP MONDAY
SHIRT BY MARC BY MARC JACOBS
JEANS BY INSIGHT
SHOES BY Y'S
SUNGLASSES BY RAY-BAN {NewPage}

HAT BY PAUL SMITH
SWEATER BY IMPERIAL JUNKIE
SCARF BY JOHN VARVATOS
JEANS BY LEVI'S CAPITAL E
SNEAKERS BY NIKE
SUNGLASSES BY RAY-BAN

{NewPage}

SHIRT BY ARMANI EXCHANGE
T-SHIRT BY RICHARD KIDD
JEANS BY MARC BY MARC JACOBS
SUSPENDERS BY MORPHINE GENERATION
HAT BY DC SHOES

{NewPage}

JACKET BY LOUIS VUITTON
SWEATSHIRT AND JEANS BY KSUBI
SHOES BY Y'S
SUNGLASSES BY RAY-BAN

{NewPage}

JEANS AND JACKET BY GUCCI
SWEATER BY PATRIK ERVELL
T-SHIRT BY CALVIN KLEIN
SHOES BY SHOES BY
SUNGLASSES BY FEDERICO

{NewPage}

HAT BY EUGENIA KIM
T-SHIRT BY YOHJI YAMAMOTO
JEANS BY POLO BY RALPH LAUREN
SHOES BY COMMON PROJECTS

Stealing Home

Complex Magazine — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:32:08 -0400

THE LEADERS OF BASEBALL’S NEW SCHOOL, B.J. AND JUSTIN UPTON, REVISIT THEIR VIRGINIA ROOTS BEFORE LEADING THE NATIONAL PASTIME’S NEXT GENERATION.

On B.J. SHIRT BY CONVERSE BY JOHN VARVATOS
OVERALLS BY DIESEL
BOOTS BY RED WING CASUALS
HANDKERCHIEF BY R BY 45RPM {NewPage}

On Justin
HAT BY ROGAN
JACKET BY MAIDEN NOIR
SHIRT BY WOOD WOOD {NewPage}

On B.J.
T-SHIRT BY PRADA
SHIRT BY RAG & BONE
SUSPENDERS BY G-STAR RAW
PANTS BY KATO
SNEAKERS BY CONVERSE

On B.J.
HAT BY PAUL SMITH
SHIRT BY CORPUS
VEST BY Y’S
PANTS BY ROGUES GALLERY
WATCH BY BREMONT

ON JUSTIN (LEFT)
JACKET BY A BATHING APE

On B.J.
SHIRT BY RAF BY RAF SIMONS
PANTS BY BILLY REID
SNEAKERS BY CONVERSE
{NewPage}

On B.J.
SUNGLASSES BY OLIVER PEOPLES
JACKET BY BUREAU
SHIRT BY PRADA
JEANS BY EDUN

On B.J.
HAT BY PAUL SMITH
SHIRT BY CORPUS
VEST BY Y’S
PANTS BY ROGUES GALLERY
WATCH BY BREMONT

On B.J.
HAT BY PAUL SMITH
BLAZER BY POLO BY RALPH LAUREN
JEANS BY KATO
SHOES BY CLARKS ORIGINALS
{NewPage}

On B.J.
T-SHIRT BY PRADA
SHIRT BY RAG & BONE
SUSPENDERS BY G-STAR RAW
PANTS BY KATO
SNEAKERS BY CONVERSE
{NewPage}

On B.J.
HAT BY PAUL SMITH
SHIRT BY CORPUS
VEST BY Y’S
PANTS BY ROGUES GALLERY
SHOES BY CLARKS ORIGINALS
WATCH BY BREMONT
{NewPage}

JUSTIN
HAT BY Y’S
SHIRT BY A BATHING APE
JEANS BY PRPS

PRADA

Complex Magazine — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:41:00 -0400

The name alone connotes luxurious style, but Prada has function to match its form. Try this water resistant jacket and pair it with Prada’s new calfskin loafers. It may be rainin’ but you'll be stuntin’

Prada.com
GORTEX LONG JACKET- $815

Tote 'em Poll

Complex Magazine — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:13:41 -0400

Backpacks are still cool, but man-bags are running the streets these days. Here are four men who are unafraid to carry on.

[!Ditto? &summarize=`4` &paginate=`1` &paginateAlwaysShowLinks=`1` &tpl=`Ditto_Reviews`! &sortDir=`ASC`!]

INSIGHT

Complex Magazine — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:02:32 -0500

Clothing is just one medium of many for this brand. Which champions surf/skate/punk/art culture with a fun-lovin' Aussie twist. Check the website for info-plus some truly dope wallpapers.

insight51.com
FOLK DEVIL T-SHIRT - $28

Chairman of the Board

Complex Magazine — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:46:18 -0500

It's so brick on the slopes, you gotta look cool. Complex took an up-north trip to see what's good for snowboarding season.

[!Ditto? &summarize=`4` &paginate=`1` &paginateAlwaysShowLinks=`1` &tpl=`Ditto_Reviews`!]

Complex.com - Style

Leaders Of The New Cool

Name: The Cool Kids A.K.A.: Mikey Rocks (right), 20, and Chuck Inglish, 24 Listen to: The Bake Sale EP

ON MIKEY (RIGHT)

ON CHUCK (LEFT)

Name: Charles Hamilton, 20 Listen to: DJ Green Lantern Presents Charles Hamilton: Outside Looking In

Name: B.O.B, 19 Listen to: 12th Dimension

Name: The Knux A.K.A.: Krispy Kream (left), 26, and Rah Almillio, 24 Listen to: Remind Me in 3 Days?

ON KRISPY Left

ON RAH Right

Name: Wale, 23 Listen to: The Mixtape About Nothing

Complex’s Preppy Style Guide

Complex’s Preppy Style Guide

Street Detail: The School Kids

The Third Annual Complex Style & Design A to Z List

Jay Baruchel: Breaking Out

Complex: What happened last night?

What game?

Why, was it World of Warcraft or something like that?

Guild Wars?

I know that game. I mean, I don’t know that actual title but I know Football Manager.

Were you playing a franchise of the Canadians or something?

You won the Cup your first year of being general manager?

And when you’re playing the game it’s just like little dots, right?

So you just wrapped your new film, She’s Out of My League, in Pittsburgh. How was Pittsburgh, you were there for—

Was it dreadful?

How do you feel about She’s Out of My League? You’re the romantic lead?

Cock out?

You have roommates?

Let me ask you about Tropic Thunder. In an old interview of yours, it must’ve been prior to shooting, and you mentioned Mos Def was going to be in it.

Are you serious?

Maybe he had reservations about the character?

How was the experience making the movie? Brandon [T. Jackson] said that Ben suggested watching some war movies to get in the mood?

Okay, so that’s not bad [Laughs.]

Yeah.

How handy were you with a weapon or firearm before? Had you fired a gun?

How much do cigarettes cost in Quebec?

US dollars?

In New York they just added another tax. So they're now $9-$10 here, which was a big deal.

There’s a new study that says cigarettes contribute to hair loss as well. So they're getting you on impotence, erectile dysfunction, hair loss, cancer—

Montreal seems like a smoke-friendly town.

Not ’til 18.

So what’s the longest period of time you’ve been in L.A.?

What’s your impression of living there?

You're obviously a huge hockey fan. I’m thinking that a hockey role for you would probably be like a dream role, no?

Can’t they do the Rob Lowe Youngblood thing where it was just upper body and then it was like Peter Zezel’s legs?

I guess other than that there’s like Miracle and Mystery Alaska…

Speaking of fashion, you just did a style shoot for us. What kind of stuff do you wear on the day-to-day?

[Laughs.] Are you serious?

From where?

Did you do that like the minute you got off the set?

What’s the style like in Montreal? Is it overrun by hipsters like New York and L.A.?

Did you every go through any baggy, hip-hop phase at all?

What’s your take on the skinny jean phenomenon?

The ball-huggers?

We took some pics of you in a fedora.

[Laughs.] You didn’t like the hat?

With the pointy shoes.

So it seems like you're not really a hat person.

Is there anybody living or dead, that you wouldn’t mind being stuck in an elevator with?

Are you claustrophobic at all?

In the shoot, you also wore a shirt with a bunch of Star of Davids and crosses on it. Are you Jewish?

[Laughs.] Did you do like the bar mitzvah and stuff like that?

So now you’re agnostic?

There’s another shot of you wearing sunglasses indoors.

Lupe's Legendary

Lupe's Legendary

Inside KCDC With Amy Gunther

Inside KCDC With Amy Gunther

Complex: This is KCDC’s first shoe, right?

Complex: How did the relationships with Vans and Neckface develop?

Complex: What’s his real name?

Complex: Okay…So what made you want to design a Chukka Low?

Complex: How many pairs of these are there?

Complex: You mention that Neckface used to get his mail sent to your shop. How come?

Complex: How did you meet him in the first place?

Complex: Samples and stuff?

Complex: Who did you deal with at Vans?

Complex: In addition to the shoe, you just did a pretty cool series of T-shirts.

Complex: They came out really sick.

Name: The Cool Kids A.K.A.: Mikey Rocks (right), 20, and Chuck Inglish, 24
Listen to: The Bake Sale EP

Name: Charles Hamilton, 20
Listen to: DJ Green Lantern Presents Charles Hamilton: Outside Looking In

Name: B.O.B, 19
Listen to: 12th Dimension

Name: The Knux A.K.A.: Krispy Kream (left), 26, and Rah Almillio, 24
Listen to: Remind Me in 3 Days?

Name: Wale, 23
Listen to: The Mixtape About Nothing

NOBODY KNOWS MORE THAN NAS ABOUT THE POWER OF WORDS: HIS NINTH ALBUM CREATED CONTROVERSY BEFORE THE RELEASE OF A SINGLE SONG. NEVER AFRAID TO TAKE CHANCES, THE RAP LEGEND EXPRESSES HIMSELF HERE IN SUMMER’S BOLDEST SPORTSWEAR.
Photographs by Phil Knott
Styling by Anoma Ya Whittaker