Beginner's Flow (w Dante, streetwear brand owner: Life's Art)

In this episode, we sit down with Dante, the owner of the streetwear brand Life's Art, to discuss his creative journey, what it means to stay true to oneself in a world full of trends, (and more...)💫 

Transcript

Hi guys. Welcome to this episode. I'm here with Dante, the owner of Lifes Art, a streetwear brand, and we are here to talk about his creative journey and. What it means to go through a creative journey in general. And yeah, I mean, we just finished recording and I think it's a sick episode, so I hope you guys enjoy.

How would you describe yourself and thes work you do? Um, my name is Dante. I'm a, uh, clothing brand owner called Life Art. Uh, professionally I do marketing for a marketing agency, but on the side I run live art. Uh, the whole thing behind lives is about self-expression. It's about being yourself. You know, it's about being, staying true to yourself, doing what you like rather than.

The following trends are kind of faking it to yourself. But yeah, that kind of sums up the work I do, I guess. So your journey with, um, starting off your brand basically came from the fact that you just didn't see essentially what you wanted to wear. You saw too many people wearing the same thing and you basically, I would argue, just trusted yourself and like really followed your intuition.

Yeah, precisely. I mean, uh, the, I mean the lives that started in 2020, uh, December, 2020. Mm-hmm. I was working at McDonald's at the time. I was back from uni for Christmas break and I wanted to buy a graphic t-shirt, but at the time, I don't know why all the graphic tees, I was seeing where of Tupac or Biggie and I was just like, uh, I don't really, don't really want to have that.

Everyone else will have it. So then I was just like, maybe if I can draw something and then put it on a t-shirt. But were you, was it almost like you wanted to wear something like that and then you saw the options there and you thought like, no, I don't, I don't fuck with this. I've al I've always been into fashion.

Uh, I grew up in Poland, so like in Poland, I would always try to replicate what I was seeing on like Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Mm-hmm. So. I was always kind of trying to think of something different. So then when I was seeing that everyone's just wearing two packs and biggies, I was like, uh, and then the next closest thing to it was like sponge graphic T-shirts.

I was like, oh, that's, I'm not gonna do that. Yeah. So I guess that's what pushed me into kind of trying to create something myself that I would like, you know, be different like no one would have. Yeah. And I definitely think that you incorporating your own drawings. Really differentiates you from anything else.

I mean, I like what is your inspiration behind your drawings, your art? Because it's sick. It's, it's actually 50 50. Uh, case one is I didn't know how to use Photoshop and I didn't have access to Photoshop. Yeah. And I was like, oh, okay. I could, well, my brother had an iPad at a time and I was like kind of just looking at what the faster, cheaper version of achieving what I wanted would be.

And that was getting procreate on his iPad. Mm-hmm. And it just started sketching. My first drawings were absolute ass, like they were so bad. So that actually came from not being able to actually make graphics. Yeah, exactly. Wow. Exactly. Yeah. So if so, do you look back and kind of see that as like a blessing in disguise?

Yeah, I do. I really do because I feel like the graphics I make are just very different. I feel like if I knew how to use Photoshop at that time. The graphics that we are producing now would be very standard. Yeah. Like very kind of what you see around, but it adds a lot. I would argue that it adds so much more depth to your work.

Hmm. I mean, I wanna understand like when you draw, what is your inspiration behind it? What do you like to draw? What's, what are your thoughts behind it? It just, I like to draw anything, to be honest. I might, I always call myself a fraud because if you give me pen and paper or even pencil and paper and ask me to draw something right now, it'll be ass like I card.

That's why I'm saying I'm actually a fraud. I can't draw traditionally. Yeah. But no, I'm the same when I have the iPad and I can kind of, you know, you know, an iPad you can like. Reverse something and then Yeah, you can see that. Yeah. Yeah. So because of that, then I can have like a reference picture. I can sometimes even like go over the reference picture, zoom out, and then start doing it myself.

So, um, I like to draw anything that catches my eye. Like, for example, I'm wearing Basquiat now, and I [00:05:00] was like, I, I'm not a good realistic paint draw as well. So I was like, Hmm. The thing is that I would think that you drew that on. With a pen, with a pencil and paper? No. Nah, nah. This is on my iPad. It was on my iPad, yeah.

Wow. So obviously you can change the type of like, I might actually try that out. Yeah, yeah. Honestly, yeah. You can change like the style of the pen or whatever. So I kind of, I chose a pencil style, so I guess maybe that's why, but Right. Yeah. So I've actually quoted something that you said when you were just describing like your work and what basically creativity means to you.

And I wanna read it out. So you said that my clothing brand simply acts as a vessel where I can be creative and expressive in many ways. And I think that. Speaks volumes in the sense of what creativity actually [00:06:00] is and what purpose actually brings us. Because today there is such an overload of media, of people copying one another, and you've managed to create an extension of your identity through.

Trusting your intuition and you're essentially pouring all of your creativity into something that helps you express your identity in a different form. And I think that being able to do that is the most important thing because you know, you are actually able to see your identity translated into a physical and also like visible form.

Um, and I feel like people that don't have that. Would typically have a problem with actually understanding themselves. So correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like when you make your own samples, when you create your own stuff, you look at it and you see yourself in it, you see that this is, this is who you are.

Yeah, precisely. I mean, with that [00:07:00] quote, what I meant is that I'm into, I like to watch, look at a lot of different things, like I'm into gaming, I love movies. I love art, fashion, just a lot of random stuff. So with this brand, I feel like I'm able to put that all together. So for example, one of my drops is, was um, everybody Eats.

Mm-hmm. And it was heavily inspired by the movie Paid in Full. It's actually what they say, one of the characters says that in the movie. So I was like, cool, let me draw that. So I drew money making Mitch, which is a character from the movie, and then I was like, Hmm, how can I, how can I replicate the movie?

But on the budget, I guess. So I kind of, I kind of came up with an idea where I'll have three people, right? I'll have three people and I'll have them pass around like a plastic bag, but instead of like, you know, instead of drugs, it would be like a sticker livestock [00:08:00] sticker. So I filmed it in a way where they were passing that around like.

You know, pass it distributing the, the food type thing. Mm-hmm. But, um, yeah, so I feel like with lives I can, it gives me the ability, it gives me the chance to kind of combine whatever I like and kind of put my own spin on it and just, just having a go at it, to be honest. That is really interesting that you said that because I mean, recently I feel like I really relate with it because I feel like I've been trying to juggle.

Just so many different things at once. And literally this week I realized that why don't I just merge all of it together? Because at the end of the day, they're all creative ideas that all creative forms. So for example, with, um, music producing the whole time I, I'll treat music production and podcasting as.

Two complete different things and there was always just that one thing that I felt like was missing [00:09:00] in my podcast. I felt like I was, you know, explaining a lot of different ideas and a lot of different concepts, but I was never actually showing any, I don't know, like practical examples of it. And music is the best example for that kind of stuff, because I'm actually going through trial and error.

I'm actually going through a creative process. Mm-hmm. And now I've realized I actually need to combine those two things together. I need to document my music on this platform. I need to show what it actually looks like. Yeah. To repeatedly go through different failures. And obviously that's a bit different from what you've said, but I instantly just thought that that like creativity shouldn't be a separate thing and whatever.

Inspirations and ideas you get. You can relate it into whatever else you are doing, and you can also adjust it to fit what you're doing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So what made you choose the name Lifestar? Because when I saw your brand, I instantly just loved that you chose such fussy, a [00:10:00] true phrase, a true statement, that life's literally art.

And I feel like when people wear it, it's just such a short, catchy, cool reminder that like life's art. So, but how, how did you think of it? Um, so again, it all goes back to that kitchen and McDonald's. Originally it was supposed to be history art. I was going to put like Malcolm X and MLK and whatnot, draw them and put them on t-shirts.

But then I was like, that was just gonna put me in a box that I won't really be able to do anything else with. Mm-hmm. So I was like, uh, let me, let me sleep on it. And then again, I was flipping burgers like a week later. And then lives Art just came to my head. Uh, I really liked the name of it. I dunno why it came to, it just did.

Yeah. I was like, yeah, live art makes sense. I'm gonna be drawing stuff. So I guess expressing myself and yeah, the name just stuck. And after that I came up with the motto Created Out of Your Lifetime. Yeah. I, I love [00:11:00] that. Thank you. Um, but yeah, that also just came naturally. I wasn't sitting there like writing drafts, like, yeah.

Duh. Really? Because I was, honestly, it just came to my head with this book. I was, I was thinking of every single name out there, and then I just look at my middle name and I'm like. Fuck it. Healer. Yeah. Honestly, honestly, that's the best way to go about it. Sometimes it's, I think it's so sick how you've managed to create such a mixed media form of clothing.

Yeah, because I really think that that is the root forward today. I feel like if you are good at one thing today, and if you focus on only one certain field today and fail to bring in any other forms of media, you won't really. Succeed as well as you can, Farsi, because I feel like access to so many things today is so easy.

So I really feel like you took advantage of that. Yeah. I mean, the way I see is as well. It's like, I mean, [00:12:00] at the end of the day, creativity or being creative is really not that deep. Just do whatever you want. Like, I mean, look at ace up, Rocky. Yeah. That went from rapping to fashion. So now he's in the movie with Denzel.

Like, it's like I, that is, you can do whatever. That is the dream. You shouldn't really put yourself in a box. No. Like whatever. No, you shouldn't. Yeah. I wanna talk about that idea later, actually, about the whole box. So this is another quote that I've picked up from you. I'm gonna be quoting you a lot today.

You said that creativity is an extension of our humanity slash individuality. Develop on that, I mean. It's, it's with anything, you know, the decisions that we make about how we want certain things to look. Mm-hmm. Like, we might not think about them very deeply, but those thought process are still happening there.

For example, get on a train, like you can get on a train today, and you'll see one guy that decided [00:13:00] to zip up his suit all the way up, and then there's a girl that decided to like leave her halfway down. Like there's. There was it on, like, it looks like it's not deep, but like at the end of the day, they chose it because they liked it some way that's, that speaks to them.

Yeah. So I feel like that's what creativity is. It can be as minor as to today I'm gonna tie my shoe laces, but tomorrow I'm not, I'm just gonna kind of like loosen my shoe. Like it's really, yeah, I always think about that by the way. But I always think about it in, um, in the sense of routine. So. The way we get out of bed.

Mm-hmm. What side we get out of bed, what we do fast, do we change? Do we brush our teeth? How do we brush our teeth? All of those minor things that we may think are nothing are really just us back in the day. Creating that routine in the fast place. Mm-hmm. And I almost feel like forgetting about that and not being aware that [00:14:00] everything in our life is a creative idea.

We almost forget. How present and how dominating creativity is. I also think creativity is just the reason why, um, you know, that's why the human race is like. So successful. Yeah. Compared to every other animal. You know, before we make anything, before we make this couch, before we make this notepad, we have a vision of what we want it to look like.

We think with this notepad. Okay. We want some lines on it. We think with this couch. Okay. It's gonna be green, they're gonna be two big pillows. And you know, I always, I always say this, that without the vision you don't know how to do anything. Exactly. If you think, for example, with you, if you, if you turned around one day and said.

I want to, if you wanted to make a clothing brand before actually knowing what you wanted to make, you would struggle on how to make it, you would say, I wanna, I wanna do fashion, I wanna make a clothing brand, but [00:15:00] I don't. I don't know, like what I wanna do. So you'd be basically trying to go through endless roots of what you wanna do, um, without really understanding it.

So I really think that creativity is such a subconscious thing and it comes to us. And I also, that also kind of makes me think that we don't choose what we like in a way. I mean, that's like, I don't know, a philosophical debate. It is actually is, yeah. I feel like they will to some extent. To some extent.

Maybe not, but at the end of the day, I dunno, you still choose what you like or like what you choose to do in your free time, I guess. Yeah. But in the sense of, like for example, when I came up with the idea of having a podcast, I couldn't tell you why I wanted to do it. Fair enough. I was thinking enough, fair enough.

Why do I wanna do it? And it was almost like someone was just speaking to me in my ear saying like, you have to do this. Someone asked me why. I don't know. Mm-hmm. And, you [00:16:00] know, I feel like it's up to us. It's, we owe it to ourselves to follow that. To follow that. Yeah. I, I don't think you always need a reason as to why you're choosing to do something.

No. Like if you have to justify everything you do in your life, then that's a bit, and that's the whole idea as well, I think. Being realistic, and I talked about this in one of my episodes, and, um, I think being real realistic is such a joke because what does that even mean? Mm. Like imagine some, imagine you told someone, yeah, I wanna make a clothing brand.

And they're like, be realistic. You have no time for it. I mean, there were some people that said that, to be honest, but Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't, yeah, I mean, there's certain things you should be realistic about, I guess, but No, I hear it. I hear it. I hear just because it makes, it doesn't make sense to someone to you, that doesn't mean it doesn't make sense to them type thing.

Yeah. So, um, definitely. Yeah. So in terms of where you are at right now [00:17:00] with your creativity, where, where do you want it to take you? Uh, where do I want it to take me? I mean, I look up to, in terms of this fashion thing, I look up to guys like Clint. With Cortez and Yeah. Asap. Rocky's the ultimate guy. Yeah.

But, um, so I guess that's why I want to take it with lives art. But in terms of just like, I guess day to day, year on year type thing, um, I just wanna continue to express myself, you know, like, I was supposed, I was supposed to drop a tracksuit in April. Oh, what? This one? Yeah. What happened? S don't homework.

Oh my gosh. Uh, it's, it is on the way. I promise you it's on the way, but eh, I mean, the, the, basically what happened was the initial stock got stolen the day before it's supposed to be shipped. And then did you wait, did you have to pay for another? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Me and my guy like this, so I [00:18:00] didn't have to.

Because it was like he said, it's not even your fault. It's not my fault. So yeah. So that just delayed it. And then 'cause of the political state of the world, there's some delays and ah, just long, but there's, the tracks are on the way. Oh. But um, what, say sorry. That sucks. Yeah, it does. And I had the whole plan for this year and, uh, got thrown out the window, but.

It is also a blessing in disguise because is it allow me to kind of take a step back, kind of reevaluate certain stuff and look into different stuff. So yeah, there's always a blessing in every, every, every, every problem, I guess. But in terms of where I want to take this is soon to continue to express myself.

So, for example, I have a video idea that once the tracksuit stock actually arrives, I want to film like a preview type trailer in like a horror style. So, yeah, there's, there's things like that I just want, I got so many [00:19:00] ideas. Um, you should write them. Do you write them down? Yeah. I always write them down.

Yeah. I feel like every idea that I don't write down, it's a lost idea. Yeah. I, I lose it. Yeah. Because there was one time I had this sick idea and to this, I can't remember what it was, but I remember waking up. It was a sick idea. Same. Didn't write it down and nah, can, can, no, but I feel like you have to learn your lesson.

Yeah, exactly. Way or another. Yeah. I feel like we've definitely both learned our lessons with that. Yeah. So. Do you, this is getting a bit philosophical, but I also feel like this is a very relevant question to ask. Do you feel like, in terms of who you are and your identity, do you believe that your creativity leads you or do you feel like you lead your creativity?

Uh, I think it's, the creativity leads me, to be honest with you. Uh, just because, yeah. I. I'm trying to think how to answer it. It definitely does lead me. [00:20:00] I, I can give you an example, like yes, yes. With me, for example, I really feel like creativity leads me, which almost makes me think that, you know, every idea that we have, everything that we follow, we're not really in control of because I don't really know, but.

I definitely feel like creativity leads me because when I started this, when I started to open up in terms of like my opinions, my ideas, I instantly started to find, I guess the art industry so much more interesting. And in the past I would always think, oh, I'd have a chance in this. I'm not gonna try it.

I don't have a chance in that. I'm not gonna try it. But a year into me podcasting, I realized that. Like this was a stepping stone for me to actually experiment with something else and for me to actually like try something in that field and to also just drop out of my degree, I think, and like to go into fashion because when I was recording one of my [00:21:00] episodes on what is creativity, I argued that we all need to be creating something.

We all need to be doing something in order to actually feel fulfilled in ourselves. I believe that a lot of people that carry. Unhappiness and envy towards others. It's not real unhappiness. It's just a lack of self love. It's a lack of self trust in terms of expressing yourself. Mm-hmm. And then I realized that my degree wasn't bringing me anything that I was preaching, and I was really, really into fashion at that point.

So I realized that I need to get into the fashion world. So I basically, what I would argue if I hadn't started this, I don't think I would've had the stepping stones to actually pursue music and pursue fashion. Mm-hmm. Because it really highlighted like my values. So I feel like we all kind of need to start somewhere and that's why I think that creativity definitely leads us and we don't lead creativity.[00:22:00]

Yeah, I do agree. I do agree. I mean, the whole reason why lies is about is because. I just wanted to wear something different to everyone else. So, um, yeah, I do think creativity does lead us. Yeah. Do you feel like your personal growth is determined? Oh, that's kind of the same thing by how, yeah. I mean, do you feel like your growth is determined by how you execute your creative work?

Uh, do you feel like if you are not creating something every week, every day. Do you feel like kind of loss or Yes and no. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a hate, love relationship. I'll be real. There's been times where I've been on like a streak, like I'll be drawing every single day, coming up with stuff every single day, and then I'll hit a wall.

Yeah. And like, everything I was making was just rubbish. Yeah. So it is a love [00:23:00] hate relationship. I don't think there's a recipe to it. Uh, I don't think. You know, it just depends, to be honest. I'll be honest with you, it is very good to stay consistent. I must say that like I do try to do something at least once a day, whether it is, I know putting on a fit and snapping a picture or drawing something or you know, designing a video shoot that may or may not even happen.

Mm-hmm. But, um, in terms of how intense it is, it does vary from day to day. So, um. Yeah. But yeah, that's the way I see it. I wanna move on, and I wanna go back to your idea of how we're all limited in our own box, because I believe we all grow up building this box. We all grow up believing that we need to, I mean, obviously we need to follow rules and the law and stuff, but obviously when we're growing up, we have such a different idea of what life is.

So it's so easy to [00:24:00] basically create. A box, and I feel like everyone creates different sizes, size boxes. And I also believe that most of our creativity and our vulnerability actually lives outside of that box because a lot of the time being creative is going against what other people were doing. And I think being vulnerable comes with the fact that we could so easily be rejected.

And any sort of uncomfort comes with stepping outside of our box. And I was in a workshop yesterday round by this, um, networking group, and this woman was incredible. She, she led the workshop and she talked about this box, which is why I kind of wanted to talk about it today. I do think everyone's, I would even call it a box.

I would say definitely a bubble. Mm. Everyone does have their own bubble. Uh. Yeah. And I do agree the best [00:25:00] way to grow is to pop that bubble and create a bigger one or step outside the box because, um, I mean, for the majority of my life I was convinced that I was gonna become a professional footballer. Oh, really?

Yeah. Yeah. I was, I, I used to take football so seriously. I feel like a lot of guys say that. Uh, I'm talking, there'll be, it'll be school, get home quickly, do my homework. Football trainer, I would train. Five times a week I'll have matches twice a week. Like it was serious, like right. Like I was genuinely convinced that I would be, I would be a pro football.

So like that was my own bubble. And then once I finally accepted the fact that that might not, that's not gonna happen, that burst my bubble, which kind of, actually that's, that was around the time. The same time that lives that came about. So this is what I mean about, it's good to burst your bubble or step outside that box.

'cause you never know what you might find. And like. What are the things are out there. That's why [00:26:00] it's also good to speak to a lot of new people because they also show you different perspectives on stuff. So that's actually quite different from what I imagined stepping out of the box to mean. Um, but nevertheless, like that is so true at the same time that just accepting that like something isn't gonna work out and just allowing us to like, feel uncomfortable with that.

Is so important. Mm-hmm. I think feeling uncomfortable is really important. Like not to sound, I mean everyone talks about it, but we all somehow try to avoid being uncomfortable. Gonna turn this into one of them, David Goggin podcasts, literally, but no, a hundred percent. Yeah, no, it is. It is very true. Yeah.

Yeah. As I say, pressure makes diamonds, I guess. But yeah, I mean, I try, I try do something uncomfortable every day. Mm-hmm. Whether that's just having like a cold shower, even though it's not, you know, a cold shower's, not really something like huge. But you are [00:27:00] uncomfortable, but yeah, exactly what? Having cold shower like.

I hate it. I hate them. Yeah. I do them every day because I feel like that's just, you owe it to yourself. No, no. I hear, I hear, I hear it. I feel like a lot of people are defined by their fear of failure. And also their pride. And I think, you know, even us too, like we carry some pride, whether it's low or high.

And I think that is just such, I don't wanna say human flaw because that's so harsh, but it's definitely something that really gets in the way of just human potential. And. It's so ironic because you know, social media has made that so much worse. Mm-hmm. Yet we have managed to get access to so many people that we wouldn't typically have access to if we didn't have social media, if we didn't have our phones.

It's just so ironic that as [00:28:00] much as we are creating a lot of us also. Not creating and are struggling with creating. Mm-hmm. And I don't know if that's maybe because of population size, 'cause we have a bigger population, so obviously there'll be more creatives and more people that are, you know, not so much.

But I do think that we all generally go through a struggle of just understanding how to express ourselves. Because, you know, as a beginner, if you're a, if you're a beginner in anything. You're gonna be shit like, you're gonna be bad at what you do. And it's such a humbling experience and almost like a demotivating experience.

It's almost like a slap in the face. I mean, for me at least, like with music, there was a whole month where I actually couldn't make anything because Farsi, I was so demotivated and I don't know, like it was, I. The word beginner. I really resonated with that and just feeling like a complete failure in [00:29:00] that field.

But obviously that is a creative process and you know, we, we need to kind of just accept that we are beginners right now and I feel like a lot of us avoid that feeling. Also with the podcast, I mean, when I first started recording, I felt it was the first thing that I actually really tried to put an effort in and.

I felt like such a beginner and I felt so humbled. I felt like my pride went all the way down. Mm-hmm. Like someone just like popped my ego. It deflated. And especially with like being vulnerable, I feel like that takes away so much pride because I feel like pride's all about, you know, showing that, just showing an image of you being.

You know, this invincible human, so feeling like a beginner and also having to express vulnerability. Vulnerability while also [00:30:00] failing at pretty much every step of the process just feels like the bigger staff in the face, and I feel like a lot of us avoid that. Yeah, I would say I didn't struggle. I didn't really struggle with the beginner part.

It was after part, it was kind of, it's a case of cool, how long can you be a beginner for? That's what I kind of struggled with because when I, I was like very open-minded lives at the start, I was like, I'm just throwing myself into this. Uh, at the time I was convinced that my graphics were sick. Looking back, those drugs were questionable, but, uh, that I was never, I was like, oh, I'm a beginner.

I'm a bit nervous. It was a case, it was more of a case that weren't lives outside to pick up some traction. Once people start being a bit more interested in the brand, then I began to kind of like. Look over my shoulder and look like what other people are doing. Yeah. And then I was saying, cool, I've been doing this for like a year, two years now, and I'm only at this many followers, or I've only done this, but this guy [00:31:00] started at the same time and now he's on this and that.

So that was more of like a, uh, like a, like a, like a slap to an ego rather than being a beginner, I guess. Comparison, isn't it? Yeah. Is a thief of joy as they say. But, um, I mean, I feel like we all. I feel like comparison is just such an instinct is, sorry, it's such an instinctual thing, and you know, you can't really escape that.

Yeah, exactly. I think the only thing that, you know, all of us can do with comparison is to understand where it's coming from. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. But yeah, to answer your question, I didn't really, I didn't struggle with the beginner part. I struggled with that after part with, you know, I was questioning like, cool.

Am I really a beginner now? I've been doing this for this long. Should I even be calling myself a beginner? So I was struggling with that, but I realized that, you know what? I'm still at the start of my process. Like just because I've been [00:32:00] doing this for two years doesn't mean I'm not. Do you still consider yourself a beginner?

Oh yeah. Yeah. Most definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Like I've not, I dunno, I just. What are you like, what are you still trying to understand? I don't know, honestly. Honestly, I don't know. I just, I just feel like once, I think it's just consistency in terms of like drops and stuff once, 'cause at the minute I've only had one.

Yeah. When I was consistent I was dropping every other month. Mm-hmm. So I feel like once I get that, you know, sorted out. That's when I'll probably switch from, I'm not a beginner, I'm in the intermediate partner, but at the minute I still class myself a beginner. Yeah, and to be fair is I think that has so many benefits because it's always good to kind of also people that say like, I always wanna be a student.

They're basically saying that. They always wanna be open to learning new [00:33:00] things. And I feel like the word beginner also brings that mm-hmm. To, and I feel like also calling yourself an expert in any field, there's you's no quiet such thing to be quiet. Yeah. Because there's always so much that like we can do to learn.

Yeah. I don't think anyone can ever be like a master in any field. I mean they can, but No, I do, I think. I do think people can So open to improving. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Like it can become, you can reach a certain level. Like your cool, no one around me is at my level at this current moment of time where like that doesn't mean in two years some guy pops up and you know, he's got crazy stuff.

Yeah. But she's got crazy stuff and like you are too prideful to be like, cool. They, they know something else. Let me learn. So I guess. I, I don't think there's like a ceiling or like a roof. Exactly. Precisely. Yeah. That's what I'm trying to say. Like the ending. Yeah. Of, okay, you've mastered everything.

There's nothing else you can learn. Yeah. There's [00:34:00] still, you can be like, cool, I've mastered everything, but that there's nothing to learn for like a year, but then the second year someone does something like, who? I need to learn that now. Do you know? That's actually where I think we, as we as society are now, because I feel like we have as society, as like humanity, we've all.

You know, learn so much and achieved so much in terms of technology, um, architecture, art, and I feel like now we're almost at that ceiling that there's no such thing. And that's why now I really feel like mixing different forms of work and actually going into different things, like for example, mixing graphics with fashion, that is the new way forward because that opens a whole new world to.

Exploring a whole new thing. I mean, I was, do you know Robert Green? He, um, he writes a lot of books about human behavior and [00:35:00] like, don't ask me why, but when I was 16, I was obsessed with those books. So there was one book that I literally read twice because I thought was incredible and it's called Mastery.

And he actually came up, well, he didn't come up with the idea, but he brought the idea to me and I've been thinking about it since that basically what I'm saying now, in order to actually have a chance in society to actually bring something different, you actually need to offer something different. And there is so much knowledge out there that right now, like we can't really afford to.

Study one field. He's talking in terms of like academia. Yeah. But I consider, I would relate this to anything, you know, in order to be unique and to be different, you need to have, you need to have an understanding of different works, of different, you know, if we're talking about academia, if you are just studying straight physics your whole life, well, everyone's done that in the [00:36:00] past.

There's been physicians in the past that have literally just done that. Yeah. And now, for example, let's look at physics and art. I think, you know, do you know what I mean? I feel like that is the way forward in terms of where we're all going. Yeah. Interchanging, um, different, different, um, subjects and stuff like that.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. There's just so much you can do in one specific field. So once you start merging them, I guess, yeah, like opens up new, new ideas, new fields within that. Um, if you never developed your clothing ideas, and if you never actually started a brand, what do you think your life would look like right now?

I don't, I don't even know. I really don't know. I mean, I would still be into fashion, but honestly, I don't know, honestly, I dunno. Um Hm. As in, do you think that it's changed you in any way? Do you think that you've [00:37:00] grown with it? Do you feel like you'd be, do you feel like you'd be a different person?

Potentially? Yeah. I'd never really think about that. But now that you bring that up, yeah, most definitely. I feel like I wouldn't, I mean, I would still be into fashion. I would still be throwing fits together, whatnot. But, um. I wouldn't be as creative. I guess maybe, maybe I would draw here and there, but I don't know.

I've always been into art, so it, it wouldn't, like I would still be interested in the same things that I'm interested now. Yeah. But I guess honestly, I honestly, I'm, I, I'm, I'm not sure. I'm really not sure Fair enough to be honest. I, it is good that you don't really think about that. I wanted to talk about trends, specifically fashion trends.

Fussy. What do you think about them? Uh, I feel, I mean, trends are cool. Uh, every trend is a good, I guess, a door for any beginner to, I guess, you know, get their foot into [00:38:00] the door or whatever the saying is. Mm. So I don't necessarily disagree or look down on trends. Um, I just feel like sometimes there, there comes a point where I.

You need to kind of step back, be like, cool, I've engaged with that. Let me move on. Also, you have to stay true to yourself. Like just because something is trendy at the minute doesn't, and you don't like it, doesn't mean you have to engage with it. So like for example, when I first started my brand, it was very trendy to put like logos and stuff across your crutch.

Mm-hmm. And I never, I never liked it. I was like, ah, it looks weird. Like, I don't like it. I feel like Cortier made that. Exactly. No, he did. He did. And I even for him, like I never really. Like, I respect it, but I was like, yeah, I don't, it's not, it's not something I would want to do. Mm-hmm. But everyone else was doing it.

So it would be easy. It would've been so easy for me to just slap lives out across the crotch and be like, yeah, there you go. Yeah. But I would, I chose not to do it, but I would think of Clint and I would think of him precise. Yes. [00:39:00] So, I mean. I think trends are, firstly, I think they're an opportunity to discover new ideas.

Exactly. That why I was trying to say, yeah, you can discover stuff. So I think trends are good and bad and I think that is like the one really good thing. You can discover new ideas, you can discover new tastes, you can, you can experiment with essentially not being. Afraid of what you might look like.

'cause in that moment it's trendy in that moment. Like you are gonna be validated for wearing that because you're cool. Right. In that specific second though. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, and that's, that is what is also really bad about it because if you are always dependent on trans, then I don't think, I don't think we or anyone that would follow trans and are so heavily dependent on it would actually have.

Any form of strong identity with trends. I think if we are all way too dependent on it, we, [00:40:00] we almost just fail to actually understand our own tastes. And businesses that are dependent on trends are trying to firstly capture a specific market so they don't have their own. Creative freedom. They don't have their own personal brand.

And not to say that that's a bad thing or anything, but if we are looking at creativity, obviously, you know, it's not that great if you are someone that is dependent on that kind of stuff. So I think that it's really good that you are not, and that you have your own personal brand and you have your own personal freedom.

I also think that it's so good to have people that. You look up to for inspiration because I think inspiration is everything. It's so important and it's also so important not to imitate them. And I think like you've really created that boundary of, I'm looking at you as a form of [00:41:00] inspiration and I respect your work, but I'm not gonna, I'm gonna take it in my own mind.

I mean, I mean, I was close to imitation at one point. You know, when my first, like when I first started live are, um. The first like major, major photo shoot, which was like the hourglass. Mm-hmm. Uh, I really like, I was really influenced by like Cortez's style. Yeah. Actually gonna go on to talk about, yeah. I was really influenced by that.

Not in terms of like how the pictures would look, but in terms of like what he had the models do in the picture. So, you know, his staff are usually, you know, very like street, like this is London type thing. Uh, so I kind of, yeah, I was like, cool, I'm gonna try to replicate it. But I was like, uh, I don't know.

It didn't really let me, one, it was quite obvious that I was trying to replicate something that's already been established and someone already does so well. And two, it was just not really fun to do, like. Yeah, but are you talking about that shoot? Yeah. The, the first shoot. [00:42:00] Yeah. Yeah. So you were what, the whole shoot you fully just tried to imitate?

No, I, not, not, I was not imitate, but like, I was heavily influenced. I was like, at the back of my head, I was just constantly thinking of like, what would I see on like Cortez's page, right? And then tried to be like, cool, let me, maybe I can do that, I can do that. But after that photo shoot, I was just like, uh, I don't know.

It's not, it's not fun. Like. It wasn't fun for me. Mm-hmm. And I liked having an idea like, 'cause I don't, I like knowing what I'm doing or like kind of, I guess knowing what something should look like. So like when I pulled up to the Forester, I kind of just said to the mothers like, yo, meet me at this sport.

And then I just start taking pictures from that spot. Mm. And like the pictures were just so random. I mean, it was a successful photo shoot, but they were just so random. And after that I was just like, uh, I could. Lean into this, I could be a bit different. And I was like, Hmm. Since I'm drawing stuff, [00:43:00] maybe I could do, so that photo shoots reflect what I'm drawing.

And um, yeah. And then I decided that from now on, any, any campaign that I'm gonna shoot is gonna be reflective of either the garment that I'm wearing or the graphic that's on the garment. So, for example, with the track suit that. I promise you I coming. Um, the theme will, do you promise though? No, I promise.

I promise. I promise. Pinky, yes. Pinky out right now. I would definitely promise, but, um, the whole premise behind it was, you know, people wear associate tracksuits with like comfortable wear. So I was like, cool, you'll be doing the same stuff every day, but you want to stay comfy. The idea behind distract is same share every day.

Mm-hmm. So like. All the videos I made was like what I was cooking. I went to throw in my rubbish, like daily mundane stuff. But like, yeah, I saw that and I really liked that message that you were bringing through, I think. Exactly. It's also really unique. I don't see, so that was, that was [00:44:00] the idea behind, before.

Everything went to shit. But um, prior to that, prior, prior to that, you know what, you should actually take it as a compliment that someone took, at least someone took your stuff. I, I get like there is something that Yeah, yeah. True, true. Someone did say that. Uh, I'm getting free, free marketing right now.

Yeah. Well, I prefer to have that. You know, in my house. But All right. Imagine the guy just dms you or, or girl. Yeah. So someone sends me a picture, you're wearing your stuff. Ah. But yeah. But yeah, after that photo shoot, I decided that every photo shoot, every future campaign has to have a thing behind it. Um, but that is so telling that, um, it shows that you actually need to like, take a leap forward to actually understand what your next leap is.

You like, not that that was necessarily a failure, but. You know, it was something that really shifted your path and, you know, shifted your identity as a brand. And [00:45:00] that I think is just the most important thing in terms of the creative process. And not seeing that as a failure and seeing that as, okay, this is part of my journey.

Now I'm gonna change. Mm, now I'm gonna do this. And it's so interesting how different things in different environments and. I guess people can bring, you know, different perspectives and different ideas to what we are doing and can also help us change our perspective on things. Yeah, I always think of the creative process as well.

I have this image in my head of this flower just blooming, and I think part of that process is just detaching from people in the sense of like. Stop hiding behind the work of others because there's so much work out there. Like, this is a piece of work, this is a piece, the mic is a piece of work, so it's so easy to, you know, hide behind that.

Not obviously not mic, but like, like as an example. Yeah, I get what you mean. [00:46:00] So I think. I think we've covered everything. Cool. That's a wrap. That is a wrap. Thank you for having me. It was so nice having you. It was so nice speaking to you about everything. Thank you. Having, thank you very much. This is is a very cool opportunity.

Yeah. I never did a podcast, so this was very, very cool. My first guest episodes was Fast Time on. Yeah. Thank you. That well. No. Yeah. Honestly, you're a great host. Oh no, this felt like a, like a nice tree. I, I'm telling all my friends that I.