What Hysteric Glamour Did 40 Years Ago, Madhappy Is Doing Right Now
Is Madhappy not a spiritual successor to Hysteric Glamour? The occasion of the Madhappy x Hysteric Glamour collaboration, exclusively revealed here by Highsnobiety, provides a perfect opportunity to ponder.
40-ish years ago. Hysteric Glamour cultivated a niche Harajuku following that predated the proto-streetwear of '90s Ura-Hara labels like BAPE and NEIGHBORHOOD, codifying a notion of rebellious casualwear not so far removed from the terror that ingenius labels like COMME des GARÇONS and Yohji Yamamoto were wreaking upon Paris' staid catwalks.
Madhappy, meanwhile, is young enough to be Hysteric Glamour's grandchild. But the ways in which the young California lifestyle label cuts against streetwear's grain, catering to young women in an industry still lousy with streetwear bros, has earned it a similarly ardent young consumer base.
Again, emphasis on spiritual successor — obviously, the Hysteric Glamour and Madhappy approaches are pretty distinct. The former is pure rock 'n roll, sweat and sass, leather jackets and skinny jeans. Madhappy is more hoodies and cut-offs, dELiA*s through a TikTok lens.
But even if Hysteric Glamour is more Sunset Strip and Madhappy is more Malibu, a West Coast throughline remains. And is made abundantly clear by Madhappy's expansive Hysteric Glamour collaboration.
This team-up is an equal share of the partners' disparate visions, anchored by a dozen-piece capsule collection that even includes a co-branded surfboard and shiny metallic Crocs clogs patched with Jibbitz like a well-worn battle jacket.
Retro graphic prints recall faded surfwear of decades' past, which is important. Beyond the riffs on motifs preferred by each partner — Madhappy's signature whip-stitched hoodie, Hysteric Glamour's patterned denim pants — the unifying motif of this collection, which releases April 24 on Madhappy's site (save for the Crocs that drop May 1) is pure throwback appeal.
Save for the co-branded Yamaha WaveRunner, perhaps, a perfect summation of both brands.
That is, Madhappy has long since arrived, and can put its stamp on even jet skis. And Hysteric Glamour, well, it's just here for a good time.
Nostalgia for a past one need not have lived through to appreciate — that's the key. That's what informs much of Madhappy's take on modern retro, which filters everything from graphic design to GAP hoodies through a terrifically mallcore lens, for instance.
But it's long informed a core Hysteric Glamour slogan, one that most modern makers still live by: Everything old is new again.
