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A Day With Ian and Carti
12/12/2015.
A day I will forever cherish.
When I started getting into street wear a few years back, I had always been getting my visions and creative aspect following the steps of Tyler, Earl, Domo, and all the OF crew. Back in 2010 those were the dudes that were poppin'. That's without a doubt. They put Supreme on. That box logo blew up off their hype and for that, I always credited them. Earl even said "and if ya (boy) be wearing Supreme, we was the reason he copped" and half the time i'll see some beat kid wearing a gross fit and that echoes in my head. But when time progressed and the New York scene kind of blew up and started influencing me I found out about Ian and that entire realm. At the time, Ian had been styling Wiz Khalifa, putting him in all the hot fits and pieces. I remember when I watched the video for The Play and Wiz was wearing the Palace T and the ACNE big white glasses and that preme S Logo hat and I always thought 'huh? How did he get into this'. Keep in mind, he was wearing Stussy and Obey months prior. That's when I started investigating and the pieces came together. I found out that Ian had been the reason all of that had gone down, and that was the time that I was initially backing Ian.
Over time I did my investigation and found out about Austin Butts (Asspizza) and then learned about his entire crew, Father Steve, Kerwin Frost, Warren Lotas, and most importantly Gianni Mora.
Gianni Mora is one of the smartest people i've ever found. This, granted, was with alot of help from Ian.
Gianni, if you are into streetwear and always had been wondering where this piece came from, is the one behind the most iconic piece of the 21st century: the dad hat reading "I Think About You Sometimez" with the extended Z. This, to me, is a piece of our time.
Gianni put a saying on the front panel of the black hat. Using a Port & Company hat (running for under $3 from distributors) and having someone embroider the saying on the hat, this piece was a two step process.
What they did with it, now that's worth admiring.
Ian, having nearly full control of Wiz' outfits, style, and visual appearance, was a key vital part to the recognition of the piece. Having Wiz wear it in an interview got eyes all over it.
"What's that?" or "ID on this hat?" I'd read on all the forums or the Facebook groups. Yes, there's Facebook groups for streetwear kids. I'm in four and I can confidently say I go on almost every day to make sure i'm not missing out on good deals or exclusive pieces that I have on my list of to-gets.
Everyone found out who Gianni Mora was.
Or, atleast, what he was about. The nail-painted black-fit wearing teen had made it, and he made it quick. He'll forever be someone I admire just because of his quick track record and growth. Humble, too. That's cool. That's really cool.
Because of Ian, and Gianni's creative aspect and direction, this piece broke the bank. Charging $80 shipped, he sold out in a day. Ian said in the No Jumper interview that Gianni, over the span of this, had made a quarter of a million dollars off the iconic dad hat.
Did they pave the way for every person that now draws on their clothes and tries to get their iconic features on every cosign out there? Maybe. Maybe not.
But it had always been on my to-do list to see the real Ian Connor. Not the depressed Soulja Ian from Twitter or the 1x1 lifestyle flex Ian from Instagram . I had always been like "I want to hangout with this guy, just to see the real him".
Now, I guess its' every persons' dream to spend a day with Ian Connor, based off his 300k followers and the fact that he's the self-proclaimed "King Of The Youth".
Tweeting Every Word With A Capital Beginning, Ian has literally crafted a cult following better than any individual I've ever watched.
So I watched, and I watched. And months went by and I always checked his twitter, seeing that he can't find a love of his life but can get any girl he wants.
I would look to him for advice, how to portray myself, and what to be into.
Into weird Supreme clothes and the brand Palace, he single handidly changed streetwear over the past year.
Because of Ian and Rocky (Rocky manages Ian), the Palace Tri-Ferg logo has landed a spot on the most wanted left-chest logo of the year. If not the most desired logo.
That being said, I got into palace as well. Maybe I like it because of the status of having it, but part of me does love the hype. The fact that the pieces are only available for purchase in London makes it 10x more exclusive. And with exclusivity comes price, as we all know.