What is Hood by Air?

Hood By Air is a New York based streetwear label created by Shayne Oliver and Raul Lopez in 2006. Inspired by hip-hop culture the line features edgy garments and graphic tees printed in bold colors, usually bearing the signature HBA logo. Started as menswear with a collection based on sweatshirts and T-shirts, Hood by Air gradually evolved to more complex constructions. The outfits tend to be rather unisex.

Key words: T-shirts, sweatshirts, logo, prints, Centaur boots, bold, denim, leather, genderless, powerwear.

While the classic HBA tees play a lot with graphics and logos (such as Paramount-inspired logo), more recent collections introduce daring cutouts, bold accessories, lace-up details and sophisticated layering. After Oliver Shayne was awarded with the LVMH Young Fashion Designers special prize there was a significant shift in label’s evolution, which obviously became more luxurious.

Hood By Air items can be purchased online  (check VFiles), as well as from famous boutiques like Opening Ceremony and Colette.

Why is it so relevant?

Firstly, because it is an example of American design at its best! Hood by Air delivers extremely clean and wearable clothes, re-imagining Americana style and giving it a fresh allure. The collaboration with Italian footwear brand Forfex resulted in a line of amazing boots, another great addition to the HBA overall look. Although the clothes per se are neither artsy nor emotional, they have instead an experimental component and an evident sexual charge.

Then, because it succeeds to be avant-garde being in the same time ’normal’. Actually, Hood by Air is a smart hybrid between streetwear and high-end fashion, better said an avant-garde streetstyle. In the context of boredom and indifference which dominates fashion lately (see normcore), HBA delivers something new.

Finally, HBA already means much more than clothing. Exploring notions as body, identity, gender, Hood by Air aims to grow its influence as international lifestyle brand. Indeed, working across different creative mediums, they succeeded to build an entire world around these garments. And that’s precisely what makes the difference between ’another label’ and  a powerful force in contemporary culture.

A prominent event in their work it’s the recent ‘HBA trilogy’ conceived for the  S/S 2015 collection. Having the exploration of the male self – id, superego, ego – as the main theme, the collection has been exposed in three parts:

Part 1 (EGO), presented at NYFW introduced some cool kids wearing signature cut out pieces and amazing plexi choker necklaces; Part 2, (SUPEREGO), which took place in  an abandoned office space in Paris focused mainly on  “refashioned versions of men’s tailoring, meant for a world where the codes transmitted by a traditional suit no longer exist“(Maya Singer); Part 3 (ID), back in New York at MoMA did not present a new collection, but a party performance and multimedia installation. Bringing together costumes and elements of the previous two collections, with the participation of artists as Mykki Blanco, Boychild, Venus X, Fatima Al Qadiri, Leilah Weinraub, SSION, Total Freedom, HBA’s PopRally event at MoMa delivered an unified view on brand philosophy.

Hood By Air – SS 2015, Part 1, NYFW / images via style.com

Hood By Air, SS 2015 – Part 2, Paris Fashion Week/ photo via mtv.com

Hood By Air – SS 2015, Part 3, MoMa , New York/ photo via i-d.vice.com