#i was so amazed he came back decked out and with a medusa head.. BEAUTIFUL

[sangre]

this is his "whatcha got there" "a smoothie" moment; sometimes your pawn comes back with something really cool. starring @muracasardis' kassandra. thank you for the lovely gift! i'll use it carefully!

[greenflamedwriter]

Percy AU

Percy Jackson AU

Keith as Nico di angelo and Lance as Percy Jackson.

But Lance was never claimed so he assumed he was Hermes kid he meshed well with them.

But once Keith got claimed so did lance and then shiro their dads had some sort of rivalry.

They didn’t account for the three to fall in love with each other. After an intense mission to save medusa. For lance.

Personophene for Keith and Ganymede for Shiro.

1 Lance is really nice and open with people until he realises that both Keith and Shiro are Roman descendants and not greek so they clash a little, Keith insults greeks and Lance is offended.

2 dinner and theres a party and lance is in the middle of it trying to get the daughter of Athena (Allura) To dance with him and that’s when it happens. Shiro is claimed by zues and everyone applauds then Keith by Hades and hears other say (it was so obvious he was an emo) But then lance is claimed by poseidan and everyone just stops and stares. What?

3 Lance is mad, he was a hermes kid wasn’t he? He looked like them, he had the same jaw line and nose and they all got along so well...this had to be a mistake and why now? He blames the new kids and this is when the party Lance becomes grouchy.

4 They get a quest (to save the victims by the abuse if the main three gods. Medusa, Personophene, Ganeymede)

5. Lance remembers his mother, and he always heard the tale of Medusa and thought it was sad. So when they go to the statues, and realise it’s people Lance keeps talking about how sorry he was and how being how she looks was to protect herself, Lance wanted to sacrifice himself and asked to let Keith and Shiro go to save kids. Medusa realising no trick lets him go.

6. Personophene and Keith, Keith apologises since Personophene hates Hades he thought and she blinks “I’m a god, I don’t eat.

Period. I knew underworld food would keep me trapped I hadn’t eaten in months and all of a sudden I’m peckish? Pul-ease.” Keith blinked confused.

“And I don’t hate you, you didn’t ask to be born. And I know Hades returns to me in the end.” Personophene brushes his cheek “You have his eyes, maybe thats why I can’t bring myself to hate you.”

7. Ganeymede. The boy who was stolen, raped and made into Zues personell wine waiter then demoted to a fate taxi cab telepromter. Boy he hates Shiro because who can actually hurt Zues?

Camp halfblood, was Lance’s home since before he could remember. He was here when he was seven years old and in all that time ten years later, he’d never been claimed.

He like any other child who wasn’t claimed stayed in the Hermes Cabin. They’re cabin was huge and the many children and teens there were very sociable. Sure at times they were a bit..much. But their pranks were legendary.

Lance always figured he was a hermes kid, he looked like them. Racheal was practically his twin, with long curly hair and Veronica was like his big sister, Luis and Marco were always taking care of him.

The hermes kids were amazing but Lance?

He just existed, everyone in the camp had gone on a quest, they’d been choosen. And some kids died young. Most die on they’re missions and Lance was the oldest person here.

The looks he got...it made him feel guilty and yet he was terrified of a prohecy that would choose to kill him.

He felt like on of the unlucky kids whose wisdom teeth hadn’t grown in yet.

And he was terrified.

But living his life in fear got boring after awhile and who had time to be afraid when an honest to god goddess lived in camp half blood whose name began with an A?

No not aphrodite, they weren’t that lucky.

Allura Altea- The most beautiful girl here also his age, but she has been on more quests and regained so any trophies. Lance could only gaze from afar and hope that one day he’ll have a quest and prove how much of a badass he was, maybe she’d give him the time of day.

Allura was at the pool, still in her white vest top and brown trousers sitting crosslegged and plaiting Romelles hair. They were best friends and girls always did stuff like that.

He sighed wistfully, maybe one day he’d sit over there playing with Allura’s hair and she’d kiss his cheek.

“Lance?”

“Fuck Zues!” Lance cried out almost punching himself in the face. Alfor the camp’s leader raised an eyebrow.

“Are you busy?”

Lance stood up hastily “No- No not at all.” He brushed grass of his legs, he would never admit his feelings for Allura with Alfor.

The guy was like her dad, well he was like everyones adoptive dad, along with Coran. So Lance would never tell him anything about that.

“What is it?” Alfor had his arms crossed and a knowing smile.

“Lance I would’ve asked but since you’ve been here longer, I hope you would do me a favour?”

Lance blinked “And what’s that?”

“Two kids from the roman camp got lost and found themselves here. They have no where to go and I thought someone like you would help them settle in, show them around.”

Was alfor...dumping these kids on him, why couldn’t he do it?

“I’m already introducing the first year campers, my hands are tied.” Lance raised an eyebrow then sighed “Fine.” It wasn’t like he wasn’t doing anything anyway.

Plus, being a tour guide to a bunch of snot nosed brats might not suck so much.

They were not brats.

Lance didn’t even think they were kids, he took a step out the cabin where they reside and made a show of looking around.

“Excuse me, have you seen any kids from a roman camp?” Because these guys had to be counselors, one was built like superman with beefy titties of doom, and a thin dorito shaped body and Lance had a good feeling he had a nice ass to go with the combo, he had a lock of white hair and beautiful almond eyes with a scar along his face. The guy could stop a room and the other one wasn’t bad looking either.

He looked like the type of guy Lance would ask to step on him, he was scowling with a cute pout and raven coloured hair that curled around his face and- god that was a mullet, well everything else made up for it.

These two were sculptures carved by pygmalion himself.

“Eyes up here,” The big one spoke and oh god even his voice sounded delightful. It was obvious, some higher power made these two to tempt him and Lance honestly didn’t mind.

He grimaced “Sorry,” He slid inside placing a hand in his pockets “Well I’ll take it you guys are the roman kids- and not some new counselors?” Who happen to model in their spare time, he kept to himself.

“Yeah, the roman camp just wasn’t for us.” The big man spoke again. Lance shrugged “Ever since the whole Roman and Greek exposure everyone feels as if their camp isn’t the right fit.” Lance shrugged “Who knows- am I the son of Hermes or the son of Mercury?” At this the scowling one looked surprised.

“You know the roman equivalents?” Lance winked “Not just a pretty face.”

He looked flabergasted and Lance almost laughed at him, he heard the other chuckle.

“I’m Shiro, and this is Keith. We were not selected yet which is why they sent us here. In case the greek gods want to claim us.” Lance grimaced “You might not get claimed some kids here have lived here years and still hadn’t been claimed. The greek camp is just a glorified holding place for the newbies and the unclaimables.” Lance beamed.

“So want a tour?”

Both glanced at one another then shrugged “Sure.”

Lance gaped at the white lighting bolt floating above Shiro’s head and then a purple scythe above Keiths. The other campers gasped as they drew away from the two except Lance as he beamed.

“Dude that’s amazing!” He clapped Keith on the shoulder “Claimed on day one, I’m jealous.” Then everyone was staring at him.

Keith looked up “I thought you said you were a kid of hermes?” Lance frowned “I am?” He glanced up and froze.

Above his head was a blue trident.

Poseidon's trident.

His eyes fell to the Hermes cabin and felt his heart shatter. They weren’t his family- they weren’t his brothers and sisters.

Alfor came and the rest was a blur, Lance was mostly in shock. It wasn’t until after when Alfor told him he’d have to move his stuff to his new cabin that he realised how severe it was.

His empty cabin, not much children of the big three stayed in the greek camp all of them were moving to rome. It was the only place that was big enough where they could live past eighteen. Allura the daughter of Athena mentioned moving there once, Lance never thought he could, he had his family here- or he thought he did.

His eyes slid over to Keith and Shiro, both looking excited and relieved that they were claimed.

Lance scowled he was never claimed before. Not once, then they show up and suddenly he is?

It was their fault.

Their new quarters are empty, there has never been children to the great three gods in a while, he’d been told. Shiro lay upon his bed glancing up at Zues. He looked ready to smite Shiro where he lay.

Where was the happy Zues from Disney? Shiro sat up, unable to sleep. Waking up somewhere different has always been scary and knowing Keith isn’t there? It’ll kill him.

He stood up from his bed and moved towards the back door opening it up with a slide onto the patio and took a step onto the wooden decking.

“Oh.” He flinched looking up then relaxed to find Keith there, looking awkward.

“Keith,” He asked relieved and the other relaxed too “Want to go for a swim?” Shiro glanced at the lake then smirked.

Lance couldn’t sleep.

He was in a new bed, with new sheets and a much larger, emptier room.

He rolled over and sighed, and that was loud. The silence was killing him, he sat up scowling into the darkness. He wasn’t sleeping no matter what.

Lance slowly makes his way towards the lake, he’s done this thousands of times and when he couldn’t sleep it usually helped in the past.

He heard a sound of splashing then laughter his head shot up and froze to see both Shiro and Keith in the lake.

Making out.

That...makes so much sense. But honestly Lance felt even more peeved.

“Oh come on! Really?” Both startled away to see Lance but he scowled shaking his head and tossing of his towel violently “No it’s too late,” Lance began to take of his shirt “I’m already out here, keep your cooties to yourself.” He dived into the lake and started swimming making lots of noise. He loved the glare the two had then dived into the water and kept swimming.

It felt fitting, sharing a lake with the kids that started this.

Sure it wasn’t their fault but if they didn't come to the camp Lance wouldn’t be choosen by poseidon in the first place.

He couldn’t see beyond the moonlight but he felt calm, he hated poseidon for doing this but it answered questions, made him lighter why he liked the water why sometimes the hermes kids were a bit...much.

And Lance just floated in the water and shut his eyes. There was a prophecy long ago about the greek children of the big three would cause the apocolpse. It ended and it turned out they didn’t do the apocalypse just the trigger for it, it was all dumb, but the fear remained. Roman kids were the exception...until now.

Lance opened his eyes still fuming, it happened four hours ago- he had a family, his friends in the Hermes Cabin now they looked at him weirdly he even had a chance with Allura (He didn’t) But now she couldn’t stand the sight of him.

It took him a few moments to remember that he wasn’t holding his breath, Lance brow furrowed huh?

He took a long inhale and he was breathing, like he was breathing air. This was- he was close to panicking now, had he ever tried this before? Well no what idiot breathed in water besides drinking it, of course he hadn’t tried this before. Until suddenly something grabbed his arm and he thrashed and felt something pull him up, the surface broke as he gulped in large bursts of air that burned his throat he was still being pulled he blinked water out of his eyes to see-shiro?

Shiro picked him up and practically tossed him on the back gasping, Lance gasped hand on his chest.

“Dude what the hell?” he asked outraged, what was Shiro’s deal?

Shiro glared at him then a voice spoke behind him “We thought you were drowning, idiot!” Lance turned and gasped to see not only Keith in a towel dripping wet and looking pissed, there was also

Alfor the Camp leader and Coran were standing just behind him.

Lance felt his throat close up “Uh h-how long was I…?”

Shiro looked up through his bangs grey eyes brewing up a storm that could rival Zues’s thunder “Almost twenty minutes.” Lance eyes bulged.

“I...I wasn’t drowning, I was always able to hold my breath under water.” Lance couldn’t say he wasn’t holding his breath period but admitting something like that would only solidify he was the son of Poseidon.

But shiro rolled his eyes “Son of posedion, typical.”

Alfor cleared his throat “What I have to ask boys, is what were you doing out in the lake past curfew.”

Now Lance almost stopped breathing. His first time in trouble, he glared at Shiro and Keith.

This was all of their fault.

Lance hides behind a pillar panting with a cut down his cheek. Oh god he was going to die!

“Hey!”

Lance turned to see Shiro lunge forward eyes closed “If you want a fight come and get me!”

Lance gaped what?

They were in the car silent, “Um, a-about medusa? I pretty much handled it.”

Keith snorted from the back even Shiro’s grip tightened on the wheel “Walking out into the open to face Medusa knowing full well what she was going to do to you?”

Lance felt himself flush “We had to save them shiro- she was my responsibility- you didn’t have to jump in there to help me,”

“She was going to kill you!” Shiro snapped almost swerving on the road, Lance and Keith gaped as Shiro continued his tangent “Like hell I was going to sit there and let her.”

“I’m trying to say ‘thank you’ you ass!”

The car became silent and Lance shuffled in his seat glancing away “You didn’t have to help me but you did, so, thanks by the way…”

He crissed his arms and Shiro was surprised even with Keiths bewildered look in the background “Your welcome.” Shiro said softly as they aimlessly continued west

“Cone on Keith wheres your sense of humour!”

“Lance, no.”

Lance grabbed his arm and dragged him backwards towards the carnival with Shiro following behind. Lance pulled Keith onto every ride forced him to eat cotton candy but what stopped Keith from snapping at the kid.

Was when Lance played a shooting range gane and gave Keith a hippo.

“Only the best for the prettiest boy.”

Lance grabbed his hand and pulled Keith fir more open stalls with merchendise.

Keithseyes were shinning theough the whole trip and Shiro was able to watch it all.

Carnival leads to persophene

After Aphrodite crisis to pair the three up.

Lance jumps at the teenage girl sitting at the pool beside him, “So why don’t you try them, I know you like them.” Lance flushed “What?”

“It’s obvious, except not obvious enough for those two. Love does make a person go blind.” Lance shook his head “What no? Come between Keith and Shiro?”

She looked amused as he babbled “I can’t do that to them, they’ve been through so much.” Lance looked over to the two his eyes softening “Shiro has been hurt so many times, gladiator fights? It was compeltely barbaric and his hair is white- and Keith he’s a demon with a sword and can raise skeletons from the dead! Both are so strong but only vunerable around each other...they’re perfect for each other. When I think of Soulmates I think of them two...I hope I can find someone like them one day.”

“Like them? Why not just court them, I doubt the two would mind.”

“Making them pick each other or me? That’s stepping down.” Lance said unknowing why this stranger tried to sabotage Keith and Shiro, was she a siren? If so it wasn’t working.

She shook her head “No, it is possible to be partners with three people. I should know, Hephaestus is very accepting of who I am and who I bed with.”

“Heph- wait.” Lance’s eyes widened in shock as he looks at the golden teen properly.

She was big, round belly and thick legs and arms with golden healthy hair curling at her shoulders her face plump lips tilted into a smile as sea green eyes seemed to swirl, unnatural. God like.

She looked exactly like the painting, Venus stepping out of her sea shell.

She stroked his face “We share waters, both are lovers of the sea.” She kissed his cheek “If Gods could adopt demi-children, all of Poseidon's folk would be mine. Artemis can do it, why can’t I?”

Lance gaped “I can’t turn my back on poseidon he’ll drown me.” She smiled “What’s wrong with co-parenting? Do him proud by defending his name and waters and do me proud,” She nudged his shoulder and glancing at Keith and Shiro “By falling in love.” Lance’s eyes widened “I give my blessing, and I wouldn’t do this for a lost cause I stoke the fires for love. Never extinguishing them.” Lance blinked and she was gone.

The beautiful teenager, Aphrodite.”

Ganeymede they use their powers keith summons dinasaurs lance dives underwater to save shiro (ganeymede drowns shiro as zues cant save him)

Ganeymede “Zues is gay!?”

Both Ganeymede Keith and shiro raised an eyebrow “Ih yeah, who wasn’t gay with the greek gods.” Lance felt as if his whole life was a lie.

“I feel like I should know this as a fellow gay,”

Keith oatted his head “Your a newbie gay it’ll take a while to figure out.”

[resbang-bookclub]

AMA Transcript: Spun by the Moon

This weekend, @silly-twin-stars​ and @aquabella888​ stopped in to chat about their 2016 Resbang, Spun by the Moon! Here’s some of what went down:

Q: What inspired this idea?

Silly: Well, I actually thought of this idea during my last summer working at a camp, about three years ago. I was literally out on the lake, in the speedboat, and was like "wait, I could write a thing!" So this had been cooking up in my brain for about three years before I actually signed up for Resbang. I wrote a couple of random scenes during Camp Nano (appropriate) back in 2014 before I was like "okay, I NEED to get this written!" and then Resbang [eventually] popped up. So yeah, everything just kind of came together at the right time.

Q: Did you write this to any music? Or have a playlist?

Silly: So I don't have an official playlist but there were a few songs I listened to a LOT that inspired particular scenes - The Academy Is...'s Fast Times album was on repeat for TON of this story (especially the scene where B* is a lil shit and backflips off the boat), and Imogen Heap's Tidal was my Canoedling Anthem. ;D Nourish me in early 2000s pop punk.

Q: Was the scene where they went across the lake to that outlook inspired by a real place?

Silly: Slightly, yes!! There's no place that you can actually get to by boat that overlooks my camp, but there's a mountain near camp we take the kids to that actually overlooks the lake, so I drew pretty heavily from that! There IS actually an island in real life that people can kayak to and I considered doing some kind of corny picnic scene with that idea for a long time but ultimately went with the overlook instead. 

Aquabella888: That scene really gave me so many feelings.

Q for Bella: What was your favorite piece to art?

Aquabella888: Ooohhhhh. I'd have to say the piece where they're under the dock. The background was a little rushed but Soul's shorts and the water underneath the dock just made me love it so much. I'm really proud of that piece, BUT I LOVE THEM ALL. 

Silly: THE SHORTS. 

Aquabella888: YES THE SHORTS. XD 

Silly: That was the last piece you finished, wasn't it? It made me SO HAPPY. 

Aquabella888: YES it was! I wasn't going to have access to my tablet around posting time so I was like, aw fudge I gotta get this done! BUT IT WAS WORTHHH IT. 

Silly: Bella was so full of little things like that. She was the one who inspired B*'s muscle shirt. 

Aquabella888: B*S MUSCLES WILL NOT BE CONTAINED BY A POLO. XD

Q: Does that say "Fetus B*"?

Silly: It SURE DOES.

Q: How do you feel, having completed your first Resbang?

Silly: Oh my gosh. I feel amazing. What an incredible experience?! I felt so spoiled. I had an amazing partner who was so open and supportive and communicative, and a group of betas that supported me and gave me honest feedback and now I'm a part of this amazing community, like what?! I am the luckiest. 

Aquabella888: Aww same... Silly being my partner made it such a wonderful experience. AND BETA SQUAD IS BEST SQUAD.

Q: Who was the hardest character to write?

Silly: That's really hard! My first thought was probably Medusa. Kind of like WhiteLightning mentioned earlier today, I was trying to toe the line between her being legitimately evil and the sheer ridiculousness of her trying to invade a summer camp with cell phone towers. Like, who let me get away with that ridiculous premise? But I think she turned out all right!

Q: What are you most proud of in your writing, after going through Resbang?

Silly: I'm quite proud of the pacing in this story! I struggle with it sometimes, and I think in this particular story I paid a lot of attention to making sure things were progressing at the right speed. I still have a lot to work on, but that felt like a stronger part of my Resbang this year.

Q: Where did inspo for canoe-dling come from and did that idea evolve at all?

Silly: I literally have no idea where the original inspo for canoedling came from. I know I thought of it before I actually signed up for Resbang, because when Madi offered to beta for me, my explanation of my story was like "there's gonna be lots of fun camp stuff oh and also canoe sex" and she was like EXCUSE ME YES and it all just kind of snowballed from there. It ABSOLUTELY evolved and I kind of made fun of it in the story - initially I wanted the funtimes to happen IN the canoe but with copious research I began to realise that that was gonna be pretty physically impossible. So I was like "hey they're gonna fall out, because fucking obviously." And then I was able to work the real word canoodling into the story and I was the happiest person alive.

Q: Was there a character you connected with most?

Silly: I definitely had a chance to identify with Maka lots in this story since I was writing from her perspective. My only other longfic is written from Soul's perspective, so it was really refreshing to be able to step into her shoes for kind of the first time? I hardcore channeled myself during the scene with Tsu and Liz's interrogation, I felt for Maka so hard there hahaha. Actually, anytime anyone is super embarrassed in this story, I tended to identify with them: Soul at the campfire, Maka under the dock etc. hahah. 

Aquabella888: Maka is precious and needs to be protected.

Q: WHERE DID THE SOLES COME FROM?!? Like, the inspiration for them?

Silly: So I intially thought of doing 99 soles when I was thinking about the three tasks. I pinned down Link in the Chain and Witch Hunter pretty early and was like "ugh I want to do something with 99 souls!" iI thought the pun would actually be too silly, so I went with them collecting 99 bowls (lmfao) and when Madi read my outline she was like "hmmmm, have you considered soles, like shoe soles?" And through SOLE RESONANCE we knew it had to happen!!! 

Aquabella888: IT WAS AMAZING.

Q: Has anyone asked Bella how she feels she's grown this Resbang yet?

Aquabella888: Ummm, so initially, I was planning on working with traditional mediums like markers and such so I started working with those... but at one point I took a break and did some digital work and really enjoyed that! So I think this project really allowed me to develop my skills as a digital artist. I'm way more confident in my abilities now! But having an amazing partner and such a supportive mod squad really encouraged me to seek out opinions and feedback which was always really helpful! It was a really positive experience overall. 

Silly: Your style gives me life. <3

Q: Your camp is in NH, right?

Silly: Maine! Just on the border of NH, though.

Q: So I could... find it... is what you're saying.

Silly: You... yes, you could. ;P Although there are tons of summer camps in Maine - way more than people realize! 

Aquabella888: Here we go with le extra concept art:

Q: I FORGOT ABOUT MAKA DECKING SOUL.

Silly: Maka decking Soul was not in the original plan and I'm SO GLAD it happened hahaha. I was writing that chapter and remember thinking to myself "man I'm so bored, what can i do to spice things up OH I KNOW." 

Aquabella888: Yes, Maka decking Soul was majestic. 

Aquabella888:

Silly: That sign ugh. It was literally exactly how I pictured it in my head.

Q: How did the fic change as you wrote it? Bc I know Resbangs tend to Evolve.

Silly: Totally! So the original plan with the three tasks stayed pretty similar throughout, but a lot of the stuff in between the tasks was super organic. The campfire scene got progressively more ridiculous, and I thought of Stein's pyromaniacy literally as I was writing the scene where he's first playing with the torches. But overall it just got sweeter and sweeter as it went. Sweeter than I originally intended and better than I could've hoped, to be honest. OH, AND THE CANOE JOKE. BLESS.

Q: Oh my gosh I forgot about Stein! Where on earth did you come up with that?

Silly: Hahahaha, I thought to myself... okay, they're not supposed to have fire at camp, who loves pushing the boundaries literally always? STEIN. Oh, and he gets to play with fire? Seems legit!

Q: Any ideas for what you're gonna work on next?

Silly: I do. I already have next Resbang outlined. I am very excited. I think you guys will enjoy it lol. And I'm doing Reverb! And working forever on my longfic. Also, I might write some more smut, sometime. I have nowhere to go but up in that department. ;D

Q for Bella: What was your favorite scene?

Aquabella888: I've gotta say... even though the end of this scene frustrated me to no end, I think the piano scene is my favourite. IT WAS JUST SO EMOTIONALLY INTENSE AND UGHHH IT KILLED ME SILLY. BUT THE CANOE SHENANIGANS IS A VERY v.e.r.y. close second. Maka getting angry at Soul after the canoe flip like 'lifejackets soul, this is why we wear them'... BEAUTIFUL. 

Silly: I loved that because like, Maka, this was your idea. Nerd. 

Aquabella888: Best nerd.

---

Stay tuned for more transcripts!! <3

[dippedanddripped]

Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day has seen it all.

At 75-years old, the New York couturier continues to take two morning buses followed by three blocks of walking to get to his multi-million dollar Gucci atelier in Harlem.

The workspace, opened in January 2018, pays homage to Dap’s early beginnings when he operated Dapper Dan’s Boutique on 125th Street in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There, he cut extravagant and logo-heavy designs from athletes, local hustlers and legends such as Mike Tyson, LL Cool J and Salt-N-Pepa. At the time, Dap attracted a predominantly black audience who were too often overlooked by luxury fashion houses as a worthy clientele.

Instead, Dap created his own ecosystem, re-defining the meaning of luxury by re-appropriating the its symbols — before getting shot, sued by Fendi, and enduring the closing of his original store. Most of all, he has refused to leave Harlem, the neighborhood he loves.

On the evening of his book launch for his memoir Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem at Gucci’s Milan store, hundreds came out to buy the book and meet the man behind the myth. Before the signing, Highsnobiety caught up with Dap at his hotel. Speaking at length, we got Dap’s perspective on a number of contemporary phenomena, including cultural appropriation, mumble rap and his love for The Beatles.

On A$AP Ferg

I mentored his father, and after he passed away, I’d never seen the son [A$AP Ferg] since he was very little. One day I’m going to the store across from my house, and I see these guys jump out of the car. One walks over and tells me his father had told him all about me and that he’s been looking for me for two years. This was like four years ago. We’ve been together virtually every chance we got since then.

[Ferg] is a great guy, a great spirit, and he’s part of a great legacy. So I try to impart on him all the history that his father would’ve told him had he been here. And he adapts to what I tell him. One day I said “I want you to put all your jewelry away and be a regular guy, we’re going to take a walk through Harlem. We go through Harlem and I introduce him to all the older guys in the hood who knew his father, so that he could hear stories about him. And that’s what I like to do, bridge the gap between the generations who didn’t get the feedback I got from the older guys. The departure from this kind of cultural tree came about because of the crack epidemic and it broke up the lineage of families. It just separated that generational respect that takes place on the street.

On Harlem

To really understand Harlem, you have to be from somewhere else. I didn’t understand the cultural power of Harlem before I started going to other cities. I think my 9th grade teacher, put it best when she said: “Who is it that knows London when only London they know.” And let me tell you the difference. Growing up, my best friends were poor Greeks and Italians. In no other city did I see that. I went to Chicago, I said: “Where the Italians at?”

“I believe that when you use symbolism, you increase the power of a garment.”

A lot of young people in Harlem today haven’t ever had friends like that, the diversity is what created the culture. So it changed. The first wave came for the culture. The second wave that’s coming now is coming for the real estate. IEverybody moving into Harlem now are middle and upper class. In certain ways it elevates Harlem but I think that you [should] have a balance of both.

On Symbolism

While I was teaching myself about symbolism, this guy — the godfather of black Harlem — came into my [original] store wearing a Louis Vuitton pouch with nothing but $100 bills in there. And everybody looked up to this guy and is excited about the pouch, right? But I’m into textiles and deal with the science behind what you put on. So I look at the pouch and say: “Why they all excited? That’s nothing but $5 worth of vinyl.”

Then I look closely and understand that it’s the symbols. Diamonds and gold had the same power as the fabrications I was dealing with. So I taught myself textile printing so I could make images of those symbols to create garments and by doing so give them the same [value] as diamonds, furs and pearls. I believe that when you use symbolism, you increase the power of a garment.

On Buttons

The most significant thing of a garment isn’t only its buttons, but the trimming. You can reach the heights and depths in fashion with that. Someone with sophisticated taste will look at your garment and see the fabrication, but what symbolizes the status is the button. That’s what I love so much about Gucci. I also have to give credit to Versace because the Greek key symbolizes eternal life, and then you also have the Medusa head.

On Spirituality

It came to me when I was turning my life around. When I was 23 years old, I went into a historical bookstore called Tree of Life on 25th Street where all the new age people went to learn about metaphysics. So I go in there and get a book called Back to Eden, it’s a book about natural healing. They didn’t have it so I walked up to this guy that looked so spiritual as if he had a halo. He said, “No brother, but look right here,” showing me a book called Man’s Higher Consciousness by Hilton Hotema. That book altered my whole life. It taught me about religion as an appendage of ancient science. So from that point on I studied the symbolism associated with religion that took me back to ancient science, which dealt with man as a microcosm of the macrocosm and that the source of who we are is within us and we can connect to that.

On Ralph Lauren

One of my heroes is Ralph Lauren, but what Ralph represents is aristocracy. And when you represent aristocracy, you’re not challenged like the Beatles challenged everybody. And sooner or later that’s going to collapse, because the foundations on which it was built are too exclusive. The world is changing and what happened with brands like Ralph Lauren is that social media and musical platforms extracted young white people away from aristocracy. Young people who follow Ralph Lauren are like: “So what?” That’s why I was able to sell young people — I didn’t give them one horse, I gave them the whole carriage.

On The Beatles

The Beatles are really big to me, and I talk about them a lot because they’re the height of rock and roll. Appropriation in a good sense is what the Beatles did. They took all musical platform sand challenged the social standard of European culture. And that’s the message. The Beatles went into India and brought back the Maharishi. Deepak Chopra, who is the extension of that, teaches that philosophy today, but the Beatles initiated that.

And they’re so important to black culture once you understand what they did. They took a medium of black culture and told the world we’re one. They brought us all together in a beautiful way during the 1960s when black people were struggling with their cultural identity. We were challenging the oppressive system, you know, but the Beatles were challenging the foundation from which the oppressive system developed, which was the spiritual foundation of western civilization.

“Young people who follow Ralph Lauren are like: ‘So what?’ That’s why I was able to sell young people — I didn’t give them one horse, I gave them the whole carriage.”

On Today’s Rap Music

I wanted to get into this last night with A$AP Rocky, I think probably even rappers today are engaged in things they don’t even understand like sampling LSD and psychedelic drugs without realizing where it comes from. When you go back to the 60s, you understand that it was something you used for spiritual elevation. That’s what music does, it takes you on an evolutionary path [but] somebody’s going to have to evolve it because the big problem today is that nobody challenges what they believe. Until someone comes along and lays out their foundation, we can’t come together in harmony.

On Fake News

My aspiration was to be a journalist back in the day. Fake news just didn’t start with these guys [today]. I’ll give an example. Let’s go back to Genesis. Adam and Eve, something took place, they blame Eve, right? And as a result of Genesis they said the woman shall leave thy mother and thy father and cling unto thy husband and he shall rule over thee. That’s fake news. In one part of Genesis you read of a talking snake, but you aren’t going to take that literally because you realize that’s symbolic. But the other part of it that says the women shall cling unto thy husband people do take literally. That’s led to misogyny today.

In the same way today, Trump wants to challenge every issue. He twists it and has to make a presentation and then tries to get the supreme court [on his side] so he can prove that he won, he can stack the deck. Fake news starts there. It starts with the people in power and influence.

On Pancakes

Pancakes are amazing. I always get upset about pancakes because they’re easy to mess up. But the pancakes I ate last night were really, really thin and perfect. It’s 4 a.m. in the morning and I can’t sleep because I’m reading, and these pancakes were so perfect that I had to text [my grand kids] and tell them how amazing these pancakes with syrup were. After I ate them, I felt like I could speak Italian. But this morning I was upset because I was looking forward to the pancakes again, so I had ordered them again but they were too thick. I said the chef must have taken the day off today.

On Inclusivity

Inclusivity is that which goes beyond tokenism. Inclusivity and cultural inclusion have to create an opportunity that levels the playing field. So when you come in there’s got to be room for you to expand and room for you to grow based on your ability. I don’t want nobody buying anything that I made because I’m black, I want it to be because of the idea. On the other side of the fence, I don’t want anyone taking my ideas without them allowing me to make something of it.

On Cultural Appropriation

The infusion of cultures has allowed us to have an appreciation for all cultures across the playing field. The biggest problem comes when you have people who don’t understand symbols. Something isn’t just [a button] it’s much bigger than that. I don’t see how [people] could miss it, they just don’t think about it. Whether it’s either a cross or the star of David, all these symbols have a powerful effect, so you have to understand that people take symbols very seriously.

“In fashion you have to define what’s real. A fake sweater is real to a certain segment of the culture.”

On Suits

It goes back through the aristocracy again. Listen to this carefully, right? Nothing disarms the ruling class quicker than a suit. You see me coming in a suit and tie, you’re pretty much welcoming me. If you see me coming in a hoodie, you’re alarmed by me. That’s the power of the suit.

On “Fake” Products

You can reverse the fake. Gucci took the fake and made it real. Let me tell you something about fake products. In fashion, you have to define what’s real. A fake sweater is real to a certain segment of the culture. I was born out of that, my induction into fashion came out of what people would consider “fake fashion.” It wasn’t fake, but simply another artistic view relating to fashion. [My designs] became real to a lot of people. I always say I created knock-ups. It’s a beautiful thing.

On Bringing Black Culture Into Luxury

It’s the most important thing I’m doing right now. I’m looking at fashion as a thing that brings us all together, that’s the biggest thing man. And when you look at [my work with] Alessandro Michele and [Gucci CEO] Marco Bizzari, this is amazing. Being on the fence between my community and the European [luxury] community put me in a very precarious situation. I never intended to feel good about this, but as it unfolded the more I embraced it as something that’s happening. It’s about saying: “Look at this culture, it’s valid.” And when you look at Alessandro and Marco, they spearheaded that. They made it possible for [the collaboration] to happen. Because it could’ve been different.