At AWGE's Second Runway Show, A$AP Rocky Got His Day In Court (Again)
If A$AP Rocky's first AWGE fashion show was a stab at political fashion, his second one is obligatory fashion. Or so AWGE said on its Instagram page a day before the enigmatic fashion collective hit the Paris Fashion Week runway.
For its second runway show, AWGE took guests to court. Literally: there were metal detectors on the makeshift runway inside the neo-Gothic United Protestant Church of the Star, which was set up to resemble a courtroom. No doubt, this was an oblique homage to Rocky's recent legal case.
To the strains of chopped 'n screwed tracks and apparently new Rocky music, purportedly off long-awaited new album Don't Be Dumb — more on that later — models hit the runway (an hour and a half after the show was scheduled to begin, mind you) with such gusto that one person lost their shoe.
Clad in enormously oversized shirts with matching slacks, gargantuan denim gaucho pants, check shirts expanded into dresses, and enormous fur neckties strolled through the metal detectors
Rollers were in their hair and Rocky's newest PUMA sneakers were on their feet, as if the cast had dashed off to the courthouse in a rush (Rocky, meanwhile, always rolled into court looking entirely, elegantly unbothered).
Others were dressed like lawyers, clutching document-folder clutches, or judges in flowing robes of blown-up bomber jackets.
Rocky was visible in the enormous pulpit that towered above it all, but he was also visible in the styling, which wrapped plaid skirts around the waist and topped off "NOT GUILTY" basketball jerseys with clear-frame sunglasses.
This is what Rocky called "Obligatory Fashion," which sounds sort of like a roundabout way to say "Court-ordered Fashion."
Though it's existed as long as A$AP Rocky and the rest of the A$AP mob, AWGE is still an unknown quantity.
Rocky has never clarified what those four mysterious letters stand for, for instance, preferring that the brand's name be as open-ended as its oeuvre.
As such, AWGE has come to be a creative agency, a phrase that brands Rocky's clothing and, now, a fashion imprint.
Created with young designers whom Rocky and his stylist apparently discover on social media, like French upstart Coucou Bebe, the AWGE clothing line is as intentionally vague as its namesake.
Even as Rocky's fashion aspirations have expanded and the rapper-turned entrepreneur has begun demonstrating a form of prenatural stylishness that has in turn lured all manner of luxury labels, AWGE has leaned into a sort of ribald graphic fare more in line with Rocky's early-'10s outfits, albeit mildly updated for the modern day.
Its garments, which include Katherine Hamnett-style ALL-CAPS graphic tees and multi-waisted pants, are seemingly only ever going to be available direct from AWGE itself. They're also not going to be easily categorizable beyond being grungy, loud, and somewhere between streetwear of the past and present.
Much like AWGE's curious clothing, Rocky's Hommemade furniture line, which also made an appearance at the first AWGE runway show and can be spotted at his second, is quite quixotic. Though it does produce oddities like a chromed-out speaker set and trash-bag-shaped cushions, Hommemade's output over the past few years has equated to a single collaborative cactus sculpture.
Much like his musical output, you could say.
Supposed fourth album Don't Be Dumb was presumed to release in 2024 and is now rumored for 2025 though nothing has been released or confirmed. The tracks that Rocky premiered at his second AWGE fashion show, however, did sound quite complete if that's of any comfort to fans desperate for new tunes.
Meanwhile, Rocky's corporate gigs are just himming along. His work as creative director of Ray-Ban has birthed eyewear that can be purchased immediately, for instance.
But that stuff pays the bills whereas AWGE is Rocky's creative id, an outlet for his restless desire to shape newness.
And to that end, whether its product ever materializes or not, it's working exactly as intended.
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