DKNY JEANS v PAUL POPE
Text Muna Noor
Images DKNY
It’s been said if comics were a rock band, Paul Pope, complete with pouty lips, pipe-cleaner legs, and shaggy Jagger haircut, would be its front man. Having cut his teeth for major Japanese manga players Kodansha, the American artist has gone on to create award winning DC Comics graphic novel Batman Year 100 and monograph Pulphope, and designed tour posters and album art for bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and White Stripes.
His fashion credentials are no less stellar. Having committed silkscreen prints, window designs, and store installations, his capsule 2089 Collection collaboration with DKNY Jeans could be his most ambitious. “I see this line as a way of stealing Pop back from Warhol,” Pope says. “We’ve seen comics endlessly pillaged in the high art world and adapted to film, for better or worse. We’ve seen comics images quoted in fashion and copied in street art. The comics have a cultural currency all its own. But this is maybe the first time an actual cartoonist has been given the chance to launch his own brand, to build it from concept on up, to do it within the bounds of an established label such as DKNY jeans. ”
Designed for DKNY’s exclusive menswear Holiday 2008 collection, the line sees comics and fashion collide in a story of futuristic love and the battle between nature and industry set against the backdrop of New York City circa 2089. The 15 piece collection includes jackets, hoodies, trousers and t-shirts and the prints are updated camouflage with graphics. No need to wait ’til 2089 for this marvel however, the collaboration hits stores November 2008.
DKNY Jeans is located at the Ground Floor 1-Utama, Bandar Utama.
This report was published in the October issue of JUICE.