The Urban Dictionary defines street life as living on the streets and struggling to survive. Often used loosely by white kids living in bubbles and think that it’s “cool”, a joke. In this context, street life relates to Hip-Hop Culture and/or gangs. Encompassing the graffiti culture, where many individuals engage in drug use and are desperate for money.
Yes, but street life is far more than this. Street life is all that happens on the street. The street obviously being universal – and what happens on the streets across many cultures varies hugely, even in different parts of the same city. Most people share the street, making it a melting pot that holds its attraction. Here, we have the opportunity to observe and encounter that which is unfamiliar to us.
Looking through the trash bins of second-hand clothes shops in Berlin. I always managed to find some tank top or hoodie I wanted to wear with pride for a few euros. Then one day, I was in New York for a job and saw in a shop window a pair of torn army trousers favored by tribes in Berlin selling for $ 2,000 …. it looked super ridiculous, trying to imitate a style that for some reason is considered cool, cool why? The answer is of course complicated.
I always desired to design a range of T-shirts to wear instead of purchasing those made by others. To me, each T-shirt serves as a statement. Reflecting factors like its creation, the wearer, the occasion, the location, the timing, and the seller, among others. I once bought 31$ T-shirts from the pavement I wore until they fell apart.
Of course, we are not our clothes. But we use our clothes to show other people in the street what our aspirations are. Even if we do this unconsciously. I believe that our actions are connected to our beliefs and vulnerabilities, forming the core ideas on which TRASH was built.
TRASH is the clothes I want to wear in the street.
