Middleman store archive#

Middleman, ran by Kyle Muhlfriedel and Clif Shayne, has a large and dedicated following revolving around their weekly drops, which consist of eight items released every Friday after being previewed on their Instagram during the week. ItвЂ™s aspirational, with garments that look like they would have hung off the shoulders of the pastвЂ™s most iconic celebrities - Bowie, Warhol, Cobain, Madonna - and in regards to some pieces, quite literally did. Visually, the end result of this curation is an aesthetic that feels both familiar and foreign. They pulled influence from taboo subcultures whom by means of survival existed only in dimly lit clubs and abandoned warehouses, thus thrusting entire epochs of maligned people into the brightest of spotlights. Many of these designers emerged into high fashion through unconventional outlets - often lacking a traditional education in fashion - and brought with them visuals wholly foreign to the scene.

The curation stretches back to the formative outputs of вЂ80s icons like Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Stephen Sprouse, and leads up to the status-quo rattlers of the 2000s, such as Raf Simons and Jun Takahashi. Their collections span decades and trends, emphasizing disruptive designers who reoriented the status quo of fashion, both visually and culturally. The opportunity for any and all lovers of fashion to peruse and shop the storesвЂ™ complete collections makes this event a must-stop, as the chance is only presented once or twice a year. Newly listed grail pieces and rarities unlikely to ever be seen again are often snatched up within minutes of their release online. Though the trioвЂ™s high-profile clientele, which includes Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, and Playboi Carti, have established them as the go-to stores for fashion forward celebrities, their highly curated web-stores typically boast fewer than fifty items available for purchase at any given time.

Middleman store archive#

In collaboration with Wallplay and Vibes Studios, Middleman Store, Silver League, and Horror Vacuo will be presenting a special New York Fashion Week pop-up, in which the trio of stores will open up their archive of over 800 curated grails, runway one-offs, and personal favorites from Raf Simons, Jean Paul Gaultier, Undercover, Kapital, Yohji Yamamoto, and more.