After Going On Hiatus Back In 2017, Former LVMH Prize Special Winner Hood By Air Announces Return

NEW YORK — In 2017, DM Fashion Book reported that LVMH Prize Special Winner brand Hood By Air was going ‘on hiatus’ effective immediately (see it here).

The high-end streetwear brand was cofounded by Shayne Oliver and Leilah Weinraub.

When the brand went on hiatus, Oliver concentrated on his new role at Helmut Lang, where he created a special men’s and women’s collection (see it here). Weinraub, who was also the company’s chief executive officer, went on to focus on filmmaking and her directorial career with her project “Shakedown,” which is featured in the Whitney Biennial and debuted in May 2017.

After going on hiatus, Hood By Air announces a return. The brand which also earned a CFDA award in 2015 announced it is coming back in an interview with Ssense.

According to Ssense, the new HBA is “all about extracting the essential meaning of the brand, the personalization, impact, and storytelling that made HBA so refreshing in the past,” with concepts that reflect the designer’s “critical views on materialism and mass culture, offering potential solutions while proposing new models for consumerism.”

In the interview, Oliver explains that the rebooted label will ground itself in a strong brand image that honors HBA‘s core, creating its “own boxes in order to be understood.” Notably, the designer said that the traditional fashion calendar won’t be a priority for the new HBA.

“Fashion weeks, at this point, are no longer for the people that need them,” Oliver told Ssense. “Through runways, these younger kids essentially just become mood boards for bigger corporations who have the capability to push out [their] ideas at a faster, more commercial, more developed rate. I don’t feel the need to be in that conversation. I want to remove the brand from the conversation of just fashion in general, and allow it to exist outside of the fashion system, so people can really see I am not trying to prove anything or create a vocabulary for the fashion world.”

Oliver further said that while HBA will not have any retail locations right away, the label will “introduce new models inside our system that will offer contemporary retail experiences.”

Plans for the debut come-back collection for Hood by Air have yet to be announced.

Head over to Ssense to read the full interview.

Photos Credit: Paulo Sutch