Bape 3 Year Anniversary Party went down this Friday. Despite the notion of Bape slowing down globally (I’m many if not all share the same sentiments), of all the major Japanese brands that have a flagship store presence in Hong Kong, Bape is bar none the one with the strongest and most consistent following. Maybe chock it up to the visual aspect of Bape, the brand is often instantly recognizable with some noteworthy iconicism behind the brand. While the hate for Bape goes hand-in-hand with a lot of talk about the brand, if you look beyond what they’ve become known for and subsequently been pigeon-hold as, the brand’s season to season offerings have been pretty good in terms of diversity and quality. It’s all always the items that are based around their print tees and camos that often get the most shine and shut out other aspects of their collections. For Hong Kong, this seems to be an easy sell in terms of bold designs where cohesive and synergistic fashion is put to the side in favor of flashy labels that many associate with high-prices. When I look at so-called “streetwear” in Hong Kong, I find that the societal set-up in itself makes for a tough sell. Ask anybody and most will agree, Hong Kong drives money straight-up. If you have money, you’re often going to want to showcase this aspect meaning sometimes by-passing subtly for brash or iconic pieces which many people will recognize as being highly unaffordable to majority of the population. I suspect this is why a lot of foreign streetwear brands never really pick up in Hong Kong. First off the price-points of for example American brands is usually lower than a brand from say Bape (side-note: My new homie Jenn who does Vans PR for the Asia regions mentioned that in China, retailers wanted higher price points for regular stuff like Eras/Chukkas/Slip-Ons etc cause then people would associate Vans as a more expensive/luxurious product… Vans x luxury is a big time oxymoron no?) . As well, like I said when you have Bape, people will quickly recognize it and know you paid like $70-something USD for the t-shirt. This coupled with the fact that most American brands aside from maybe Supreme have little foundation, people really go for the quick, easy fix with something that gets the point across efficiently. Has this argument degraded that Hong Kongers just have on goal in mind… flossing? Hmmmm I’m not too sure if it’s that simplistic but I can see it as a front-running theme.
P.S. Realized how shitty point & shoot cameras are in the dark, even shooting in RAW.
Anyways, back to the party… Nigo showed his age in his opening DJ set. Not in a bad-way, but there wasn’t any Hip-Hop to be heard. Instead, close your eyes and you might have felt it was a NEIGHBORHOOD/WTAPS party with the abundance of guitar-music. We didn’t stay for too long which sucked cause as we left, Verbal came on and started playing Hip-Hop haha.
Yeh, Bape fans still do exist.
Uhhh yeh…
You knew that taking a classic such as the Mercedes Benz 300SL and then transplanting a new contemporary powerplant would definitely turn a few heads as is. But of course adding a conspicuous green Bape Camo pattern to the fold would make the attention grow exponentially. A friend got a chance to drive it around the block and obviously said it was amazing. The paint is just a skin, so consider it more promotional than anything, I’m sure down the line there’s a chance the camo will come off. Mind you I really had no idea how special a 300SL was up until a week ago haha.
If you had to put a picture beside “Hypebeast” in Urban Dictionary, this is a strong candidate…
Kevin got a little excited and busted a glass during the inaugural season of my newly launched sporting franchise… “Peanutball”.
Lights-out man…