A-COLD-WALL* 2015 Fall/Winter Collection

The transition into 2015 still bears the foul tinge of societal dissent around the world. Your choice of global events has fostered a rhetoric of right versus wrong, de facto versus de jure, and ultimately, ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ Of all the things fashion is not, the industry is in many senses open right now; Internet-born streetwear companies are quickly infiltrating the floors of high-end retailers, while the ostensible institutions themselves have developed a taste for the specific aesthetics of said brands.

In the midst of this intersection is longtime DONDA affiliate Samuel Ross, who has just quietly launched a first look at his new label A-COLD-WALL*. Rather fitting that the aesthetic can stand alongside high street favorites like OFF-WHITE or Raf Simons, but beyond this, Ross’s brand does not directly aim to harmonize streetwear and high fashion. Instead, Ross insists to GQ that the brand is meant to address “the realistic circumstance shared by many inner city, working class urbanites…[and] London’s ability to place council estate buildings alongside million dollar properties that in turn represent everything but a working class urbanite.” As such, the pieces are haunted by references to British public housing, detailed with time-worn effects across classic working class silhouettes. While the inaugural collection is set to hit stores in Fall 2015, the statements made in this debut are as timely now as ever.