I chose Tyler The Creator for my blog post because it was the first designer to pop into my mind. Love him or hate him, he’s made huge contributions to music, fashion, and pop culture as a whole. I will even say that he has created his own aesthetic and style that can be easily recognized if you have seen or heard it before.
At this point his clothing brand, Golf Wang, is a little bit played out and not as trendy as it once was, but in the last decade or so, the brand made a huge splash. The design that comes to mind and is easily the most recognizable is the blue background with flames over the top. Say what you want about the design. I think it looks childish, but also really good.
I know I may be a little bit biased towards his clothes because I like him as a musician, but what I really like about the design is how there’s nothing insanely groundbreaking or intricately detailed. He takes a stylish cut of a certain piece of clothing, picks a simple pattern like stripes, flames, or nothing, then he picks some bright colors. The clothes in general are just regular street clothes, but it is the simplicity and the colors chosen that make the clothes look good.
I think Tyler the Creator and the Golf Wang brand exemplify how you don’t need to be incredibly technically artistic as long as you have an eye for how good colors will look next to each other. Most of the Gold Wang clothes I’ve seen are one solid color with a logo in the middle. A lot of the clothes have stripes, some used to have flowers, and of course, some used to have flames, but for the most part, it is all about colors.
I think designing clothes is impressive, but looking at Golf Wang, it seems like it is much easier than it sounds. I haven’t looked into it, but maybe I should.
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With the direction things are going, it seems like the brand is going to fizzle out. That being said, Tyler has plenty of money to keep it going, so I think it will be around for a while longer. Also, as we all know, fashion is cyclical over time, so maybe in twenty years, people will be wearing it again. Thank you for your thoughts and question!
Super cool to know a little bit more about Golf Wang and Tyler building a clothing company to match his musical aesthetic. I think his clothing line has a lot of good influences such as simplicity and basics. Breaking things down to simple forms and just having what is necessary is a really beneficial way to get people to buy into your ideas/products. I believe Tyler did exactly that and because of his status was able to quickly grow the brand. Although I do also think that the unusual use of patterns, colors, and textures is what the broader range of people saw, which caused a lot of stagnation. Do you think those design choices that he implemented ultimately led to the decline in the company?
Possibly, but I think it was just a huge trend that got a little burnt out. Everyone wanted the clothes when it was new and hip, when not everyone knew who Tyler or Odd Future was. Now that everyone has seen it a million times, the style is a little played out. I think the company could certainly do more to progress fashion, but I would imagine most of the customers that are still around like it the way it is, of course. Thanks for the comment!
Very cool post Michael! I didn’t think about Tyler until after I finished my blog post but this is a really cool take. I agree that there is something to be said for the Odd Future / Tyler’s aesthetic that has been created over the past 10 years, it is hard to capture and explain but I think you did a great job of that in this post. Do you think his fashion brand is doomed to continue to fall off or do you think it has a chance to return to more popularity?