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The Brooklyn-based punk-reggae chanteuse Santogold wears Crews and Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese artist who covers everything with polka dots and lives self-interned in an asylum, has collaborated with Rebecq. There's a YouTube video of this collaboration, in which Crews staged a children's workshop in the middle of a Kusama performance. "It was like her show became my playground," says Rebecq.
At colette last summer Crews set up a display [with Hint contributor item idem] of Louis Vuitton bags deconstructed into something closer to clothing. "Louis Vuitton wasn't happy," says Rebecq. "They threatened legal action if we didn't take the pieces out of the window, which we eventually did." But usually these events are more peaceful. In fact, they're joyful. Ordinary people discover their inner designer and how, for example, a sexy jumpsuit can be made from sewing together four XXXL tank tops.
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| Andrea Crews, spring/summer 2009, photos by Rachel de Joode |
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While Crews is considered a pirate by Louis Vuitton, the collective has become a frequent Nike collaborator. Rebecq recently made a short film featuring a stylized basketball game between kids, monsters and clubbers—all in Nike sneakers restyled by Crews. Imagine cut up Swoosh tees patchworked into a giant poncho top, or two zip-front nylon blousons morphed into a sexy cocktail dress on display at the Cannes Film Festival. Isn't it amazing where these collaborations end up?
When one strains to speculate the future of fashion in the post-meltdown economy, Andrea Crews seems like a breath of fresh air. The collective's clothes, which bear a striking resemblance to homemade Halloween costumes, are a pure exercise in style. While the New York Times spins crisis fashion scenarios—basically, men should dress in carpenter's pants from the hardware store and women should turn themselves into a "recessionista" and head to H&M—Crews shows that there is another way. Meltdown mode, if you will.
So don't worry about looking good this winter, next spring or beyond. Just get out the scissors and pull a Scarlett O'Hara à la Andrea Crews.
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