A$AP Rocky will meet you now. Inside a nondescript brick building on Canal Street, the rapper and bona fide fashion star created an office scene: He sat at a glass desk adorned with a brass banker’s lamp, a tumbler filled with pens, a whiskey decanter and crystal goblet, an office phone (obviously wired), and behind him hung a framed motivational poster with a picture of a mountain lion and the words “Don’t be stupid.” It’s Sterling Cooper meets Dunder Mifflin.
Loki is an expert world builder. As we began talking about his latest collaboration with Puma, the room filled with the sounds of free jazz, which matched his mood that day. “Every great movie has a soundtrack,” he said. Does he think his life is like a movie? “It’s pretty funny,” he said. “When I get in the car, if I’ve finished a section, I can play the song back so that when I’m traveling, it feels like [a movie].”
If Loki is in a scene, his costume is also great. He wore a black pinstripe suit with sculpted shoulders, shiny black leather oxfords, Bottega Veneta’s much-coveted silver drop earrings and a large diamond ring on each little finger. However, despite the jewellery, Rocky is currently into low-key luxury. “Everybody wants to be loud. Everyone wants you to know how much they paid for something. It’s all exploitative consumerism,” he said. “My interests are satisfied by other things, and I’m happy to be really active in an environment of quiet luxury, as it comes and goes.”
A$AP Rocky released his latest collaboration with Puma this week, which includes the Mostro, a spiky 3D-printed black and red shoe shaped like a dragon (albeit Demna’s imagination). The collection is deeply inspired by the automotive world, with a strong sense of crisis and a nod to racing culture. “My rule is: if it doesn’t satisfy me personally or feed me, or if it doesn’t meet my personal standards, I won’t sell it,” he said. Still, he knows that this collaboration – which he considers aesthetically consistent with Maison Margiela, Rick Owens, Balenciaga and Golden Goose – isn’t for everyone. “I’ve learned taste, so I don’t expect everyone to understand. It’s a group of people who live this kind of life.”
Surely his sons – RZA and Riot Rose (whom he shares with Rihanna) – will be part of the demo? While Rocky himself is known for his fashion, he admits he can’t take credit for his eye-catching miniskirts. “I sort out the clothes and stuff, but usually it’s his mum who’s very adamant about dressing baby Rocky and things like that,” he said. “Both my boys have tiny versions of most of the items in my wardrobe. It’s kind of crazy.
Yet Rocky is making sure his sons have full-sized options too. When asked if he plans to keep any specific items for the kids, he quickly said: “Everything.” I’m not even kidding, like, almost everything – my old Sega Genesis, Nintendo, and my clothes. You name it, they get it.
