Man that was fast! 2014 just flew by in a flash and here we are reviewing the year, AGAIN! Yessir! It is THAT time of the year where we look back at the year, and highlight some of the top happenings. Whether it was the best, the worst, the stupidest or just plain genius, if we think it made an impact to our scene and community, we will highlight it. So check out our list that we have compiled, and if you like it, let us know in the comments section. And if you don’t like it, do let us know too, so that we can make a better list….. next year. LOL! With that, from all of us at MASSES, we would like to wish everyone reading this a Happy New Year!
Alexander Wang X H&M
Everything about the collection was on point. The whole collection was done mostly in a monochromatic theme, so it was easy to fall in love with, and the fusion between sportswear and high street fashion made it so relevant to today’s current trend. But the main reason why the collection made it to our list isn’t because of how good the collection looks. Many major fashion labels and brands release great looking collections every year, but why the AWxH&M collection trumps the rest is because of the insane amount of hype and marketing that went into promoting the collection. People in Malaysia queued up for 2 nights outside the H&M stores just to be able to get their hands on it which speaks a lot about how badly people wanted it. And let’s not even talk about the resell value of the collection. Cray.
Alamak Co. – “ALATAKDER WANG”
Is it safe to say that Alamak Co’s parody of Alexander Wang X H&M collection is the best parody of the year? We think so. A lookbook shot right in front of the H&M store itself, a large number of t-shirts were sold within a few days and most importantly, the t-shirt pissed off quite a number of A.Wang’s loyal fans. Alamak indeed! Regardless whether people were happy or disgusted about the parody, it got people talking, and that is why this t-shirt makes it to our list.
Crossover X Reebok Instapump Fury 20th Anniversary
This release is indeed a great milestone for the sneaker culture in Malaysia because this is the FIRST TIME a Malaysian store has ever done a collaboration with a major international footwear brand. Big ups to Jem and the rest of the Crossover team for pushing the boundaries of our sneaker scene and making this happen. Also congrats to them on their 2nd collab with Reebok; the “Reebok Pump 25th Anniversary” that dropped last weekend.
A pair of “Red October” sold for RM12,500 at The Collab by Sneakerboo X 18Inspiration
We know we’re talking about the Yeezy 2 here, but seriously? RM12,500? For those of you who don’t really know what went down, the shoe was sold at an auction event done by Sneakerboo, an online sneaker store. The event was held at Laundry bar and they auctioned off a few other pairs besides the Red October, like a pair of AJ11 Concord and an all-black Y-3 Qasa which sold for RM1,500 and RM1,800 respectively. But when it came to the Yeezy 2, the price sky rocketed to RM12,500 and the guy who bought commented about his purchase with “My mum is gonna kill me!” The price of the shoe got mixed feelings. Some said it was too high, some said it was the right price and some said that it should have been higher. But regardless of the price, people talked about it, and that was good enough for us to make the list.
Local Streetwear Brands Taking it to the Next Level
Devise opened up the “Depot By Devise” store somewhere in late 2013 / early 2014. Rare Distro opened up “RDKL” in Farenheit88 somewhere in June. Pestle and Mortar, although they already have their flagship store in Bangsar, opened up another store which is a multi-brand store called “Major Drop” in Sunway Pyramid also somewhere in the middle of the year. Abstrax Jingga opened up their concept store in Shah Alam somewhere in the 3rd quarter of the year. Last but not least, another brand to be joining the rest of the brands above is The Swagger Salon with the opening of their Georgetown Flagship Store earlier this month.
Out of all the topics that we cover here in MASSES, there are 3 topics that are very close to our hearts; Sneakers, Streetwear and Malaysian Streetwear Brands. And we would like to say that 2014 has been a very good year for our Malaysian streetwear scene. Why? Because we can see it growing, expanding and maturing. The recently concluded Tempatan Fest 10 saw a congregation of more than 150 local brands and about 40,000 visitors to the event, which is one of the indicators of a rapidly growing industry and scene. But one of the clearest indicators of a growing scene is when local brands venture beyond the comforts of online selling and bazaar-like events, and commit to a physical store. That is why we would like to highlight these brands and their efforts in pushing their brand and our Malaysian streetwear scene forward.
Depot By Devise
Wak Doyok X Dr. Martens Malaysia
A year-end wrap up would not be complete without the illustrious Wak Doyok. We posted up an article on this collaboration between Wak Doyok and Dr. Martens Malaysia somewhere in May this year, and it turns out to be one of our most popular posts of the year. Many people laughed at the collab and called it FUGLY, but in Wak’s defense, there are only 3 people in the world that has ever gotten their face printed on a Dr. Marten’s boots. One of which is the legendary artist, Andy Warhol. So after knowing that fact, do you guys think this collab is epic or still an epic fail? Let us know in the comments section.
It has been a wonderful 2014 for us, and it wouldn’t have been so if not for you guys. Thank you so much for supporting us and giving us an amazing year! Till next year then!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
