Chicago Tribune
Jul 18, 2019 12:00 PM
Designs from Kristopher Kites, Gutter, Vita Worldwide and Sheila Rashid. (Sam Fitzpatrick; Shahrnaz Javid; Sam Kfare; Sheila Rashid)
ComplexCon, the immersive, hybrid culture conference from Complex magazine, launching its first satellite edition in Chicago July 20-21, promises attendees will experience “the future made physical.”
Billed as a “groundbreaking festival and exhibition,” the event aims to bring pop culture, live music, art, food, sports, innovation, activism and education together at McCormick Place. Hypebeasts, audiophiles and others looking to keep up with the latest in emerging trends will shop an oversize, global streetwear, sneaker, tech and visual art marketplace boasting special collaborations and exclusives from brands such as Japan’s Cune, California-based Bait and Skullcandy, to name a few.
To celebrate its first Chicago edition, ComplexCon singled out four emerging, homegrown designers who are redefining how the city is seen for the next generation. Announcing its “Brands to Watch” activation last Thursday, organizers offered free booth space within its sprawling marketplace to those who didn’t flee to the coasts to find success in the fashion world: Sheila Rashid, Casper Wright, Rello and Kristopher Kites.
Here’s some of what you can expect from each.
While Sheila Rashid stepped into design by painting hoodies and T-shirts for herself and her friends in high school, she made her name with a pair of now-signature drop-crotch overalls for Chance the Rapper in 2016. But the designer proved she has mastered much more than the reimagination of a classic.
The reversible jacket from designer Sheila Rashid’s capsule collection for Nissan. (Sheila Rashid)
Rashid marries her attention to detail with her personal “tomboy” aesthetic, delivering unisex looks that you can sport year-round. Her pieces, from eight-pocket denim and drawstring cargos to geometrically blocked jackets and knits for layering, have caught the eye of celebrities such as Zendaya, Lena Waithe and Bella Hadid.
After leaving Columbia College Chicago, she interned in Chicago with designer Horacio Nieto for six months, before putting on her first fashion show in 2010. The following year, she took part in Brooklyn Fashion Week in New York and eventually — like most budding designers — made the move east.
“That kind of technical way of making clothes, it was definitely different, and it made me look at things deeper than just hand-painting on stuff,” she says of her experience alongside Nieto. “I learned a lot from him, and after that, I wanted to make my own collection.
Designer Sheila Rashid wearing her own designs. (Allie Rowe)
“But I feel like I didn’t even get to figure out myself or my brand out in New York. It was really just trying to survive,” she continues. “Working in retail, then going to find people on Craigslist who might’ve needed some tailoring work. I met with a doctor who needed a clown suit. It was just really different.”
Returning to Chicago, she finally discovered what she should be creating: clothes that cater to everyone and every body, and — with her hometown on her mind — clothes that can weather the elements, first with the overalls, then expanding to jeans and denim jackets. In March, she partnered with Nissan for a capsule collection inspired by the automaker’s 2019 Rogue as part of its “Woven Into Tech” ad campaign. The collaboration, featuring six complete outfits, has been her highest-end presentation to date, showcasing an evolution in not only what is considered streetwear, but what is considered luxury and who the driving force is behind it.
“I don’t look at things one way. I don’t look at things as black and white, for men or women, and that’s how I present my clothes. Streetwear is open to that; they see that. That’s how it should be,” Rashid says.
At ComplexCon, the Sheila Rashid brand will sell a run of denim along with T-shirts, sweaters and hoodies. Those willing to put down a deposit can also have their measurements taken on-site for one of her made-to-order pieces.
Casper Wright found inspiration at the bottom, which is how he ended up naming his label Gutter. In 2015, the Cleveland native moved to Chicago to study fine art at the School at the Art Institute of Chicago and began reselling archival pieces he owned by fashion heavyweights like Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Raf Simmons and Undercover to get by. Through this, he met local influencers at hot spots like RSVP Gallery and began working on graphics for folks like fellow streetwear designers Joe Freshgoods and Vic Lloyd.
A look at Casper Wright’s brand Gutter, available for purchase at ComplexCon July 20-21. (Shahrnaz Javid)
A visual artist at heart, Wright traded painting and drawing for design and fabrication, and a year later launched Gutter with a cropped hoodie emblazoned with the words “Hot Water” — an ode to his living without such an essential at the time. The response was swift, and by the time he presented his first installation for the brand at experimental retail and arts hub Congruent Space in 2017, he already had a hungry fan base.
Most recently, Chance the Rapper sported Gutter’s fit gray patterned jacket from the 2018 “Shift/Shattered” capsule collection designed for Chicago-based retailer Notre at the world premiere of “The Lion King” in London.
“Him wearing something I made, I feel more a part of this city,” Wright says.
Inspired by Japanese cult-brands, anime and the American working class he grew up in, Wright describes himself as a designer “interested in exploring the inner machinations of the garment.” His pieces play with hardware and reflection, shape and texture, at times pushing the limitations of his chosen textiles to emphasize the distressed feel that has always resonated with him. Slightly utilitarian and always sustainable, Wright wants the wearers of his clothes to know that a piece will outlive them — and hopefully himself.
Casper Wright, designer and founder of fashion label Gutter. (Shahrnaz Javid)
Although Wright works primarily with earth tones and neutrals, he manages to surprise with pops of color and inventive details, like hiding pockets inside of pockets and creating multiple uses for single pieces. His beloved Gutspack backpack draws on his childhood love of frogs and toads — and can hold a 13-inch Macbook.
Though the young designer says he doesn’t feel he has a definitive “style” yet and is still finding his voice, he hopes his work will eventually speak for itself and be recognizable even when thrown over the back of a chair.
“I want things to have their own identity,” he says. “I can’t really stand out in this sea, the mainstream of what’s happening in fashion or culture, so I ducked out to the side street and just stayed in the shadows to be myself. I feel like the best way to be myself, through a garment, is to just make it from scratch. I know what went into it; I can see it. But it wasn’t other designers that inspired me — it was life.”
At ComplexCon, Gutter will sell select pants, shirts and coats, including summer-to-fall transition pieces for layering, as well as a small capsule release of three T-shirt designs.
One-fourth of the creative force behind Fat Tiger Workshop, alongside friends Joe Freshgoods, Des Owusu and Victor Pitre, and the mastermind behind Vita Worldwide, designer Rello makes clothes that explicitly rep Chicago.
Vita Worldwide’s Rello with his reimagined Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Ozzy the Bad Mouse and Ruby Bad Mouse. (Kendall Hurns)
For Rello, streetwear has been at the heart of the city from the day he began working at the storied Hyde Park institution Leaders 1354, the lifestyle and sneaker shop that is now in the West Loop.
“Leaders was the equivalent of me going to college,” he says of his most formal introduction to design. “It was super eye-opening to show that you can kind of do anything you want to do. Leaders showed me that I can exist, and I never realized that at 17 or 18. I was like, ‘What am I going to do after high school?’ Go to community college or maybe trade school? I didn’t know. I never thought my passion and doodling would turn into anything. But if you don’t know better, you can’t do better. I always thought making clothes was cool, but Leaders showed me that making clothes could be your job.”
Streetwear as a “gateway education” and cultural uniter is part of Rello’s ethos and approach to design. Vita Worldwide’s recent collections marry bold prints, textures and applique with foundational basics like denim jackets and joggers.
“Blue-collar streetwear,” Rello says. “We make streetwear for the guy who has a job, and maybe on payday, he wants to come get two tees for $40 or $50. But we still make limited runs of stuff, so it still, in essence, holds value because some stuff will never be made again. And streetwear is fashion right now. The T-shirt is the most important item in fashion across the board — no garment is more important. T-shirts have always spoke for us.”
His designs have been sported by local artists, like G. Herbo and Twin Peaks, and have since caught the attention of Lebron James, Quavo of Migos, and singer SZA. These “Chicago victory stories” are what he hopes to showcase at ComplexCon.
“I don’t have an investor; I don’t have some company to help me figure it out. I really sat down, learned, grinded,” he says. “I figured out how to make all these things on my own, source them on my own, designed everything on my own, just to show, like, ‘This is the type of stuff you do when you’re from Chicago.’ You keep your head in the grind.”
At ComplexCon, Rello will sell pieces at the Vita Worldwide and Fat Tiger Workshop booths, including remakes of his most popular garments and Chicago-driven works. At a third booth, he will be selling his first vinyl statues: his Ozzy the Bad Mouse and Ruby Bad Mouse characters.
Almost a year ago to the day, Kristopher Kites began preserving toy figurines in acrylic and ended up in Vogue. Debuting his collection “Conversation Pieces,” Kites’ bold, playful riffs on the rapper’s chain trades silver and gold for translucence and a bit of childhood nostalgia.
Designer Kristopher Kites sports one of his chains featuring different iterations of D.C. Comics’ the Joker. (Sam Fitzpatric)
Named for the reaction his designs elicited when he first wore his prototypes, the jewelry designer’s work definitely is not for those unwilling to make a statement. Blending superhero confidence and hip-hop moxie, garish and cool, youthful and adult, Kites isn’t just designing to encourage people to be their own heroes, but to be their own person.
“I feel like the most ‘superhero’ you can be is to be whoever you want and do whatever you want before knocking yourself down,” he explains. “A lot of people put themselves in a box and only do what they’re told. That’s already been done.”
The series of plastic, chain-link necklaces are decorated with small figurines housed in clear plastic rectangles, displaying characters from the Joker and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Elmo and the Powerpuff Girls, and even the ultimate millennial keychain game, Tamagotchi. In 2018, his work even caught the eye of Colombian reggaeton rapper J. Balvin, and in November, Kites ended up at his very first ComplexCon in Long Beach to launch the collaboration.
“I used to go to the beauty supply when I was kid and buy all the fake cartoon jewelry,” he explains of his aesthetic. “A lot of rappers I was into at the time would wear that. They would wear their favorite cartoon characters and just ice them out to wear them on the chain, you know? That was part of bridging the gap.”
That gap he has filled between his comic book inspiration and real world application has since taken him to Tokyo to launch a pop-up with streetwear brand AIPL and Paris Fashion Week, courtesy of Nike’s Jordan Brand. At pop-ups, he’s greeted by buyers already sporting multiple necklaces — his fellow collectors who recognize and appreciate the art and design in the artificial.
With what he refers to as his spin on culture, Kites is looking forward to dropping his translucent Jesus pieces, along with his take on Gucci’s chain-link necklaces (the style popularized by musician/producer and ComplexCon chair Pharrell Williams), items he calls “the key into hip-hop and culture,” adding, “They’re the most essential jewelry pieces to have in your collection.”
“Honestly, I was surprised at first. I didn’t even think the chains were going to last a month,” he admits. “But with me pushing the boundaries more with my work and pushing the envelope of design, it’s something new and fresh. If you do it in a cool way, people will love it even more.”
At ComplexCon, Kites will have various chains for sale in addition to previously unreleased pieces and archival works. He will also have edible ice pops shaped like his pendants (yes!).
- ComplexCon
- Complex magazine
- Sheila Rashid
- Kristopher Kites
- streetwear
- Rello
- Vita Worldwide
- Fat Tiger Workshop
- Gutter
- Casper Wright
- fashion