The reveal of Supreme's seasonal collections used to be a singular moment in streetwear, when everyone would immediately stop whatever they were doing, head to the New York-based brand's bare-bones website, and take in the drop. But we no longer live in a monoculture, for better or worse, and the constant stream of headline-worthy drops has cut into Supreme's singular dominance.
Not that Supreme has been resting on its laurels, mind you, and certainly not that Supreme is going in the wrong direction. I'd say quite the opposite, really.
Ever since Tremaine Emory took charge, Supreme has been one to watch (speaking of watch, what's going on in LA?).
Fall/Winter 2022, the first Supreme collection under Emory's direction, deservedly brought a lot of eyeballs back to Supreme.
Supreme has always had a canny eye for design, to be clear.
I always think back to this one pair of diamond-stitched jeans that Supreme made a few years back: American-made, super wearable, subtly statement, and totally unappreciated by the vast majority of Supreme shoppers.
That's not the brand's fault, it's just indicative of the way that most Supreme die-hards consume the brand. They want Box Logos, they want designer collabs, they want obvious Nikes.
Actually, Supreme's approach to footwear is a great example of what it does so well. Often to the chagrin of fans, it rejects populist sneaker collabs and embraces the weird even when it could so easily opt for the easy collab.
Oh, sorry, expecting tonal Dunk Lows or Air Force 1s? None here. Instead, how about piped Air Max 98s! Quilted Blazers with snakeskin Swooshes! Shox!
It's a great encapsulation of how Supreme continues pushes forward the conventions of "streetwear" by refusing to play by anyone's rules except its own.
That being said, it's pretty clear that this approach chafes most Supreme fans.
You'll always see the same results on the Supreme Community site, where users can vote for the Supreme bits they want the most and least: BoGo hoodies get a big yes, most other stuff is middling at best.
Big name collaborations and artist co-signs are usually pretty well-received, too, but any sort of quietly stylish clothing is tossed aside.
For instance, the least desired item from Supreme's first drop of Spring/Summer 2023? Totally inoffensive basketweave shirts, for some reason, and the truly nutty leather GORE-TEX parkas are hardly moving the needles.
Now that there's no streetwear monoculture, we're over-encumbered by the sheer volume of new clothing issued nearly every day by brands across the globe. Thus, people are less open to appreciating fresh ideas.
They want familiar stuff and things that remind them of familiar stuff. Supreme's SS23 CPFM collab is welcome because that's a familiar, popular brand and its Kurt Cobain sweater will sell on the strength of the Nirvana frontman's earned nostalgia.
Nothing inherently bad about any of that and, in this economy, it's hardly shameful to be choosy with purchases but that only means that there's less room to appreciate Supreme's more thoughtful stuff and even it's weirder designs.
In the flattening of culture, anything that stands out is not to be trusted.
The one time that this is not the case is where Supreme's accessories are concerned because they're encouraged to be weird. Supreme Oreo, anyone?
Providing everything from a 34"-tall porcelain jaguar to Supreme-branded Tamagotchis, Supreme SS23 doesn't disappoint.
In fact, I'd say the entire collection doesn't disappoint. Let's just hope that fans can look beyond the obvious statement pieces and appreciate the quietly cool stuff, even if they aren't actually buying it themselves.
