Ever bought (or in my case, made) an outfit with no place to wear it to? Sometimes a nightclub or bar is not open long enough for you to really show off your apparel. Well this weekend from Saturday 24th to Sunday 25th October, I found just the place for my new garments to be admired at length, at a movie screening, aptly entitled Fresh Dressed!Fresh Dressed is a fascinating chronicle of hip-hop, urban fashion, and the hustle that brought over-sized trousers and graffiti-drenched jackets from the street to high fashion's catwalks and Middle America shopping malls. Director Sacha Jenkins' music-drenched history draws from a rich mix of archival materials and in-depth interviews with rappers, designers, and other industry insiders.
The 89 min film features Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Nas (also the films producer), Pusha T, Swizz Beatz, Damon Dash, André Leon Talley, A$AP Rocky, Marc Ecko, Big Daddy Kane, Kid 'N Play & many others.
To celebrate the special London screening, We Are Parable have created "The History of Fresh" on the 24th -25th October, a weekender that will chronicle the relationship streetwear has with popular culture in the US and here, in the UK.
The film will have in-depth interviews featuring Pharrell, Kanye and this is one film I personally don't want to miss! The Fresh Dressed weekender will also have a panel discussion with some of the UK's most prominent streetwear experts, many of whom I grew up wearing their garments, and now look up to in the fashion business.
Wale Adeyemi MBE (Founder of B-Side), Marc Hare (Founder of Mr Hare), Richard Mkomola (Designer Sean John, Fila and Puma)
Angela Phillips (Founder of 677Fly Creative), Claudine Rousseau(London College of Fashion) and Thomas Elliott(London College of Fashion) will be the guests speaking. One question I wish to pose to the panel is the obvious influences of US culture in UK during the 80's to late 90's and then vice versa during the 2000's.Now, after a lot of talking and debating, I'm going to need to be entertained! From 5pm Saturday evening, at The Brewhouse, (formally known as London Fields Brewery).Richard 'Rich Blk' Mkmola, will curate an immersive night of fashion and music celebrating upcoming designer and customisation talent in the UK. The night will then round off featuring audio and visual performances from Vision Bombing and Foreign Bodies Orchestra.
I hear they'll be a dope photographer called Visual Marvelry taking snaps so I'll make sure I edge up in the frame so he can get my fly attire!
Finally, I plan to close my weekender of dressing fresh on Sunday 25th October with a let-your-hair-down good time vibe at Got Soul's "Dressed Up", at Juno Bar Shoreditch. It's billed as a night out that wants you to dress your freshest, while you listen to some classic hip hop by some of the artists featured from the Fresh Dressed movie.
So, i'll catch a film on the history of dressing fresh, have a Q&A session with some UK fashion icons, listen and watch some amazing acts and fashion designers before ending with a party, all while looking fresh to def!