Nothing to Hide: Hood By Air Spring 2016
Hood By Air continues to thumb its septum-pierced nose at convention, tweaking and blurring notions of race, gender, and identity, as well as family, propriety, and nudity, until it’s hard to remember what the old normal was. You’d never guess they still live at home.
Spring saw an evolution of the brand’s signature piece-y look, familiar items like trenches, blazers, and pleated skirts broken down to their essential parts and exaggerated to outsized proportions, attached to each other with zippers and straps. But then, humble hubris is the name of the game at HBA and in-your-face egalitarianism is the guiding ethos.
No question HBA is enjoying the spotlight, particularly after nabbing a CFDA award earlier this year and guest-presenting at Pitti trade show in Italy. It’s also thought that designer Shayne Oliver is currently navigating serious LVMH interest. Add to that a feature in The New Yorker in the coming months and we may be watching a major label rise out of the streets of East Brooklyn.
