“WHAT WE BELIEVE” LOOKBOOK for Pitti Uomo

For the 93rd edition of the Florentine fashion fair Pitti Uomo, we were invited to present our debut menswear collection in the gilded halls of the Renaissance Palazzo Medici Riccardi. The presentation was created as a built manifestation of “What We Believe,” a series of declarations of life in the convergence age. Instead of a show in the traditional sense, it was a production of atmospheres, inspired by the 1950s artist refuge Black Mountain College. The collection’s embroidered sweaters, hunting attire, fleece pullovers, leather pyjamas, and reconstructions of French outdoors brand Chevignon were worn by 032c team members, family, friends, and dancers from our Kreuzberg neighborhood in Berlin. Statements reflecting keywords like “Sex,” “Fantasy,” and “Freedom” were read aloud over Olga Scheps’s piano rendition of Eurodance band Scooter’s hit “One (Always Hardcore).” As the 15-minute composition came to an end, a video of a group of hooligans singing “Truly Madly Deeply” by Savage Garden was projected onto a screen behind the cast, after which the audience was led to the Goldy Gin Bar hosted by Justin O’Shea. “We wanted to create something that would make people feel energized,” Joerg Koch explained in an interview with Complex after the show. As the velocity and size of our data swells to inhuman proportions, it has become increasingly unrealistic to know and increasingly essential to believe.

See the collection’s lookbook here:

Press Coverage on 032c “WHAT WE BELIEVE,” Pitti Uomo, January 2018

“During a break between presentations of tough, uniformlike streetwear in the slipcover proportions that have come to dominate men’s wear, Mr. Koch was asked how a serious publisher came to turn his hand to fashion. ‘I think of 032c as more like a platform than a piece of printed matter,’ he said. ‘Plus, I’ve gotten all the analytics you’d imagine working with SSENSE,’ he added, referring to the Canadian e-tailer where he also has served as editor in chief since 2015. ‘What is pretty obvious is that while you can’t make money from digital media people, especially millennials, are crazy for clothes.’”
THE NEW YORK TIMES, “At Mens Wear Fair, Slogan Wear and Goofball Places”

“Inspired by the Black Mountain College established in North Carolina in 1933 that promoted an educational approach based on a holistic method and focused on art studies, Maria Koch imagined a diverse wardrobe for independent personalities.”
WWD, “032c Men’s Fall 2018”

“032c, as both a magazine and a brand, are a great example of how to navigate the post-print social media era. They follow their instincts, take risks and gleefully trample down the boundaries of what a media company — or fashion house — should do.”
FINANCIAL TIMES, “Should Brands Hold Fashion Shows?”

“The future of fashion received another injection at the launch of 032c’s clothing line at Palazzo Medici Riccardi. (…) These are the type of garments the cool kids of the world are buying into at the moment, and if the brand is right so is the price. In putting their brand values to the test, magazines like 032c are making new kind of waves in the industry, which only add to a fashion system in rapid evolution.”
VOGUE UK, “The Vogue Verdict On Pitti Immagine”

“This was not really a show in the traditional sense, but what Joerg described as a production of atmospheres. (…) As an experience it was fun, an Anne Imhof–informed performative blurring of the boundaries of the conventional notion of a fashion show.”
VOGUE RUNWAY, “Polemics and Pole Dancing: 032c Throws Its Debut Fashion ‘Show’ at Pitti”

“It’s been co-signed by everyone from Kanye West to millennials who may have never even picked up an issue of the 15-year-old magazine. (…) But perhaps what’s most surprising is just how quickly the clothing line has become one of the buzziest names in fashion and streetwear—or how they were able to pack out four back-to-back shows at Pitti Uomo late last week. (…) ’The magazine has been at the forefront of culture for over 15 years,’ Ryan Williams, menswear buyer at SSENSE, explains. ‘Their past issues range from publishing retrospectives on Raf Simons and Helmut Lang, editorials featuring the Kardashians, followed by their most recent Frank Ocean profile. Their perspective and taste translates to their clothing line very well and allows for a wide audience to appreciate and support it.’”
COMPLEX, “Inside 032c, the Cult Streetwear Brand That Did 4 Back-To-Back Shows Due To Popular Demand”

“In true 032c fashion, the show warped nearly every convention typically found at a runway presentation, resulting in a unique blend of scholarly commentary (a manifesto recited over classical renditions of songs by German Eurodance group Scooter) and grandeur pageantry (mercurial choreography performed by a pan-aged cast) that left guests equal parts bewildered and enlightened. (…) ’I think we are less interested in the big ‘fashion’ detail idea but more so what apparel means to a community and what it signifies to them. It is not for them, it is rather about them. Thus we wanted to show the community or family of 032c with this show in Florence,’ Joerg Koch said.”
HYPEBEAST, “032c’s Debut Show Annihilated Convention at Pitti Uomo”

“Yesterday, on the final night of Pitti Uomo 93, Florence proved once again that it’s not to be slept on. First, 032c took over a Medici palace to debut its first fashion line. A magazine-turned-creative agency-turned-merch line entering the high fashion space? Crazier things have happened.”
GQ STYLE, “Why Pitti Uomo Is Still One of the Best Places to See What’s Next in Men’s Fashion”

“After years of pioneering art and fashion journalism, 032c‘s influence recently hit the big time thanks to its highly successful line of merch, designed by Koch’s wife, Maria, when the mag-cum-brand was invited to show at Pitti Uomo FW18. (…) Rugged and unimposing, it’s exactly the sort of thing you’d imagine luring those who are into both Proust and YEEZYs, while genuine leather pajamas and a smattering of eveningwear hinted at the sort of escapades Koch described going down after dark at the College. (…) 032c epitomizes that 21st-century idea of cultural remixing. The Berlin publication will regularly clash pop culture icons (Frank Ocean is on their latest cover) with high-brow intellectualism (say, an essay on brutalist architecture) and then, without breaking a sweat, drop a line of trend-savvy merch while simultaneously acting as the production arm for Justin O’Shea’s SSS World Corp label. 032c has done whatever the hell it wants, barging over walls and boundaries, just like Koch’s crew of Berliners barged their way through their audience as part of their performance-based presentation at Pitti Uomo.”
HIGHSNOBIETY, “032c Goes Way Beyond Merch With First-Ever Runway Show at Pitti Uomo”