Signaling Wealth with Hotel Merch

and inside NYFW, Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl, and the Douchiest Watch of All Time

GM everyone. I just got back from a wedding in Ohio.

Word of advice: if you’re renting a tux, try it on before the day of the wedding.

I looked great from the top but my suit pants were skin tight which made it really difficult to pull off any advanced choreography for my reception entrance.

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In Today’s Newsletter

• What’s Going on at Fashion Week?

• Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl

• The Douchiest Watch You Can Buy

• Luxury Hotel Swag

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WTF is Happening at Fashion Week?

• NYFW is officially in full-swing with several shows and events kicking off over the weekend.

• If you want advanced, on the ground coverage I highly suggest reading Magasin by

  laura reilly
  . She’s really embedded in these streets.

• But I’ll do my best to recap even though I was out of state this weekend—

Off-White

• Off-White made debuted its first American show, and its first full collection under the creative leadership of Ibrahim Kamara.

• Kamara was tapped to takeover Off-White’s by their investors, the New Guard Group, after the sudden passing of Virgil Abloh in 2021.

• He worked alongside Abloh to create his Louis Vuitton mens collections, but says he was by no means a designer by trade at the onset of his tenure.

• And he was previously an editor and stylist for Dazed Magazine.

• After a stalled collection, the brand is now trying to regain its footing, and find new cultural relevance post-Abloh.

• Their first showing at NYFW took place at Brooklyn Bridge Park on the community basketball courts.

• In addition to the show, Off-White is taking over Casa Magazines window display with a custom version of Dazed Magazine, and they’re collaborating with Joe’s Pizza to sell pies out of Off-White branded boxes (can’t wait to see hypebeasts picking these out of the garbage LOL)

• Abloh’s shoes are nearly impossible to fill, his prolific output across Off-White, LV, Been Trill, global DJ sets, and numerous collaborations made him a truly central figure. But Kamara will bring his own unique perspective to the brand, telling the New York Times—

I’m working at an American brand, founded by an African American man, made in Milan and shown in Paris. It’s already very global. To that I’m adding Africa, my British experience, clubbing in London, seeing so much culture around me. I had to infuse that into modern clothing, but from a point of view that is rich in a culture that maybe is not referenced enough or not referenced by the right people. I look at Off-White as a melting pot of ideas.

• As for the clothes, you be the judge—