Katie Eary took us back to the streets of nineties Camden for S/S 18. Collaborating with urban brands BOY London and Spliffy, Eary wanted to claim back sportswear from the super lux clutches of the fashion elite and take it for what it is - a bit of casual fun.
Spliffy, a brand that rotated around baggy jeans and the mascot of a grungy boy smoking weed, was hugely popular in the nineties. Likewise, BOY London, while nowadays popular with the 16-year-old-Kylie-Jenner-loving-Instagram-fiend, was a hugely influential brand on the Kings road in the eighties. Both rocketed to popularity with knock-off versions becoming readily available on the markets of London. The BOY London logo arguably one of the most bootlegged names of the decade.
As Spaceman by Babylon Zoo boomed overhead, baggy-trousered dudes with neon hair accents and exposed silk boxers - all with Eary’s signature prints (this time creepy crawlies) - strutted out to greet the cameras. One thought of the weed-smoking skater-boy from Clueless, particularly apt considering Eary’s ticket was a pack of long-skin rolling papers. One was transported to the market stalls of NW1 with Eary’s itsy-bitsy printed one-piece swimsuits, Spliffy print hoodies and oversized parkas and then on to Cyberdog as neon mesh tank tops and dresses, giant orb head-pieces and neoprene tees appeared.
Anklets, braids, glitter make-up and the jungle print backdrop all hinted toward a festival abroad aesthetic - undoubtedly a positive notion for sales. Eary had also collaborated with Liam Gallagher’s brand Pretty Green on this collection - a little odd considering Pretty Green is more rock’n’roll than the Travis Scott that had begun to play. However, the partnership did cement the sentiment of British culture and streetwear that Eary had so explicitly specified as reference.
I hadn’t imagined the BOY London customer to be anything akin to Eary's but perhaps that is the genius at play here. Eary’s vivacious prints give the nineties street-style a new modernity that appeals not only to those nostalgic for the era, but to Generation Y too.
