When her second single ‘Born to Die’ came out in 2012 the amazing voice of the more amazing singer Lana Del Rey melancholically weeped about a sick love that was tragically destined to die; however, by watching the video, the attention was rather focused on the cool tattooed guy that played Lana’s badass boyfriend on the screen.
Even if it was his first acting experience, Bradley Soileau is not afraid of trying new things. Born in 1986, with a fruitful career in modeling on his shoulder, he decided to fly off to another level and be the hand instead of the face. Blackfist Label is the name of his new project, that incorporates fashion, art and video under the DIY line of thought: Blackfist world encompasses much more than clothing, offering a lifestyle that climbs over the everyday things and offers a broader view of what is real and what is now.
The first line of work, “Blackfist vol. 1: Endless Bummer”, consists of a seven piece collection featuring very rare, handmade garments; in addition to this there are zines, limited edition cassette mixtapes, and even a short film. The hype for this project aroused thanks to a hand-crafted lookbook, shot by Cameron McCool and modeled by that time almost unknown Justin Gossman; the final products debuted in a gallery installation in Los Angeles, where, in order to explain with Bradley’s own words the name he has chosen, “the summer is essentially endless and it becomes suffocating and disgusting”.
Almost a year later, Soileau is back with the second collection called “Hurts So Good”, inspired by the 80s trash skate scene and the Troma cult classic film The Toxic Avanger, that he revealed at the Capsule tradeshow.
What’s up for the future? Bradley said that for each new volume – a term taken from punk-o-rama mixtapes – he will draw from a new subculture and genre of music, in order to give a different vibe to surf on and a different hero that inspired the design process to keep in mind. Who is the “Blackfist receiver”? “A cool kid who likes to dress tight, who wants to buy into something they can actually trust and believe in” stated Soileau himself, “It’s for the throwaways with style, the forgotten ones that look like shit but dress better than your last fashion icons”.
Bradley Soileau is not afraid of exposing himself as a designer, rather than a model, and actually doesn’t care what everybody could think about his clothes and his design process. Behind Blackfist there is rebellion, sex, violence, aggression; the aesthetic of the good and the bad without rules, the feeling of being true and real, without wasting-time fears. Soileau’s attempt is to show people that there’s still art in fashion and it all hasn’t just become a mere consumer-buyer business; doing everything he wants and how he wants, Bradley’s proposal is to teach how to be yourself no matter what. Hard to detach from the “follow the mass” regime? Blacklist Label teaches you how to clench your fists and fight harder.
Article by Marina Lepori
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