Kendrick Lamar has been tapping into a range of small and young designers for his Grand National Tour fits.
Kendrick’s new stylists, Marika-Ella Ames and Zara Mirkin have been doing a 10/10 job with Kenny’s fits. During the Grand National Tour with SZA, the rapper’s been dripped out with oversized camo pieces, studded belts, dice motifs on his denim, sweats and jackets, and custom denim pieces created by small and independent designers, mixed with Supreme and his signature LA caps.
K-Dot’s been wearing a lot of military-inspired camo pieces, including a custom camo set by young designer Noah Lugh Brown, custom military pants by denim brand Badson, using its signature gather stitching, and waxed army shorts and cap by Fountain of Soul. He also wore a custom denim piece by Italian vintage space Archive Surplus, and woven jeans by NYC-based designer Gabe Gordon, (who’s known for his subversive knitwear). A few of his belts were by B. B. Simon – a brand that works on studded and bedazzled belts with a range of jewels, all handmade in the US. His jackets were made by leather designer MAW and his patchwork dice jacket was by Robin Goods.
Kenny’s also been donning his custom diamond “X” chain, created by NYC jewellery designer Elliot Eliantte (his go-to jeweller) – the “X”, we have to assume, stands for his album GNX. The “all pointers” diamond-encrusted “X” pendant is a similar vibe to his lowercase “a” necklace – the typeface is a subtle reference to his production company pgLang, and potentially nodding to his “a minorrrr” lyric from “Not Like Us”.
It seems that Kendrick and his former stylist Taylor McNeill have parted ways. Kenny and Taylor had been working with celebrity stylist Taylor McNeill, who put him in that thorned Tiffany-diamond crown for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, dripped him in Celine and Martine Rose for his Super Bowl halftime show back in February, and dressed him in Margiela Canadian Tuxedo for the Grammys. During his time with McNeill, the rapper donned custom Chanel, Willy Chavarria, Wales Bonner, and, obvi, a lot of pieces by his long-time collaborator Martine Rose, paving the way as the best-dressed. As he raps in “The Hillbillies”, giving Martine a shoutout: “Yeah, n***** know that I’m best-dressed / Wear Martine when I board jets”.
Kendrick’s got his fit game down, and even after being such an established figure in the world of fashion – working with luxury houses and big designers alike – it’s nice to see him supporting small and emerging designers like that.
Featured images pgLang©
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