The ubiquitous cult of celebrity is a supersaturated vat of mediocrity. Yet amongst the tell tale baby bumps, and insider sources I must admit to my interest being piqued by paps of those wearing more underground labels (take note, that for BAPE this only applies pre 200/1). One name that frequently pops up in threads along the lines of “celebs seen wearing...” is Eric Clapton. His patronage of Visvim etc is by no means news to fellow otaku, but I have been a bit lost as to how it started for him. So whilst browsing the shelves of my local library today I chanced upon his autobiography and was pleased to find it indexed.
After the end of a turbulent relationship and a fire in is London house he sought to make a fresh start in many aspects of his life. Eric writes”...I woke up to what was happening with street fashion too. It was weird, because a lot of it tied in with the old fifties and sixties street look that I would wear with the Yardbirds - Levi’s and wind breakers, hoods and sneakers...”. He goes on to write...”I started looking at graffiti art, and began collecting it. It was like a whole new world had opened up to me, the only problem was , I felt I was too old to be getting into this. I hated the idea that I was this old guy, trying to come across as a hip young street dude, but the culture was drawing me in, it was powerful and I felt like I understood it. What could I do? I was hooked again.” So true Eric, so true.
Living in Chelsea and with this new found interest it was no surprise that he went onto befriend the folks at Fly (RIP). Now this is news to me, but those of you who remember Choke clothing may not have realised that Eric was on board with “me [EC] sharing most of the design duties”. With time Choke folded. It was through Fly’s Simon and his friend Michael Koppelman he met Hiroshi Fujiwara and Hiroki Nakamura, “...and over the last few years we have become friends.” On Visvim “...these are the clothes I wear every day, they are simple and beautifully designed.”
