Spring / Summer 2017
In the summer of 1965, riots broke out in the Watts neighborhood of southern Los Angeles. Over a six-day period, 34 people were killed, 1,032 injured and over 3,438 arrests were made. In 1966, LIFE magazine revisited the site of the worst riots America had ever seen in its history. The photo essay depicting the region’s ‘fearsome street gangs’ however, turned out more like a fashion shoot for dapper style.
The transition from BOYHOOD to MANHOOD requires REBELLION.
This can only happen when the bonds of childhood are broken. Adolescence; a fervent phase of trial and error, exploration,
experimentation and self-creation is the FIRST CREATIVE REBELLION. The natural and sanctified REBELLION OF YOUTH.
As ever the gravitational pull of Britishness provides A.C.F.’s final filter. Archetypal styles from the British subcultural genres like parkas, bombers and sharp shirts are reinvented for SS17. Light shirting bottoms, nylon, dusty matte leather and grosgrain tape detailing help imbue the brand’s signature PUNK TAILORING aesthetic.
The Dapper Rebels of
Los Angeles, 1966.
Decked out in preppy cardigans, high-waisted rolled up trousers and Wayfarers to boot, these young men of South Central Los Angeles were an unmistakably dandy bunch in contrast to the considerably oppressive environment they were living in. The African-American community in Watts came to its boiling pointing in August 1965 after years of police discrimination, exclusion from high-paying jobs and residential segregation. Racially restrictive covenants had kept 95 percent of Los Angeles real estate off-limits to the black and Asian communities which severely restricted education and economic opportunities for them. Where the black community could buy homes in American suburbia and live out the middle-class dream, significant racial violence escalated. White gangs bombed homes and burnt crosses on the lawns. In response to the assaults, black mutual protection clubs formed and became the basis of the region’s fearsome
street gangs.
In the 1960s, the LAPD was especially known for its police brutality against the city’s Latino and black residents. The police chief, William Parker actually made it a policy for officers to ‘establish dominance’ over young black teens and pre-teens as a way of showing who was boss. Frequent beatings, wrongful arrests, assaults on women became the norm for the African American community. On the night of August 11th, the intimidation and racial injustices backfired and the Watts’ African American population reached breaking point. The riot started after a young African American was pulled over by police officers for suspicion of driving under the influence. When the driver’s family got involved, they were arrested too, including his mother. Local residents gathered and the situation intensified. What starting with yelling escalated to hurling rocks, bricks and whatever they could find at the police. Twenty-nine people were arrested but it did not end there. By the following night Watts was in flames.
Spring Summer 2017 LookBook
For the SS17 Avec Ces Frères has applied this ethos to styles featuring similar colors, tones, shades, optics, patterns and attitude. With this pallet they played with silhouette, print and detail. The collection harmonizes elements of softness; sharp cut and fluid drape in order to capture the spirit of membership and esprit de corps of youth. They have eschewed industry norms of beauty focusing instant on the crucial underlying notion of REBELLION to produce a new point of view and a fresh proposal for today’s man.
Avec Ces Frères is not about fashion. It is not about body-type, age, gender or race. And A.C.F. SS17 is gentle reminder that REBELLION is an ART-FORM. The ART OF BEING YOURSELF from
ART COMES FIRST.
