The history of the brand Pigalle: basketball, sex shops and A $ AP Rocky
IN THE LIGHT, THERE IS A MUCH OF MEMBERS THAT WE LOVE FROM AND TO. We hunt for their stuff, ready to buy all the rail on the sale and look forward to showing new collections. It's time to figure out what the phenomenon of their attractiveness. Today we talk about the main street brand in France, Pigalle, which mixes streetwear with high fashion, collaborates with Nike and organizes the loudest parties in Paris. In addition, things brand can be bought in Moscow.
Basketball player Stefan Ashpool created the French brand Pigalle in 2008. He was a professional basketball player from the age of five, was a member of the Paris national team, but did not want to join the NBA. Ashpool grew up in the quarters of Pigalle, in the ninth district of Paris, where his mother settled, who had come to France from Yugoslavia, to build a career as a dancer. In tourist guides, Pigalle is listed as an area with a high concentration of prostitutes, sex shops and immigrants. In fact, the way it is, but over the past five years, the "ninth" has turned into a real Disneyland for fashionable youth. At the local club, "Le Carmen", the afterparty of Paris Fashion Week takes place, the bars at "Le Sans Souci" and "Le Mansart" do not overflow every evening, and the concentration of vintage shops is not less than in the artistic Marais. "Fashion has always been a part of my life and visual perception. As a child, I was surrounded by eccentric personalities who dressed in Paco Rabanne, Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana. In the 90s, together with friends on the basketball team, we absorbed street culture on the streets of Pigl. Excellent there was a time!" - recalls Stefan in an interview with the magazine Complex.
Initially, Stephen, together with his basketball friends, organized the Pain O ChoKolat promo group, which organized parties in the Parisian club "Le Pompon". "Try to find a basketball player who is listening to techno," he says ironically in an Vice interview. "Basketball is directly related to hip-hop and fashion." Following the parties, Ashpool opened his own streetwear store, Pigalle, where he began selling brands such as Rick Owens, Swagger & Phenomenon, Nike, Wood Wood, adidas, HUF, The North Face and Dr. Romanelli, and later created his own eponymous brand. T-shirts and hoodies with a sleek Pigalle logo immediately attracted rapper A $ AP Rocky, who starred in them in the video for the song "Goldie". "We were introduced by a mutual friend in Berlin. A $ AP and his guys were always interested in alternative trends. Understanding quickly arose between us. Harlem is the same Pigalle, only in New York. And there, and here, trends are born, and Rakim (real name A $ AP Rocky) tells the whole world about them. Besides, he is a fan of the New York Knicks basketball team, ”Ashpool explains.
In Pigalle stores, not only T-shirts and hoodies with a recognizable logo are presented, but also felt hats, corduroy pants, velvet jackets, knitted sweaters and colorful scarves. True, the guys are not going to seriously expand production and become a mass brand. "Our clothes are not for every second poser. We prefer little and good, and not much and bad. This is our mentality, and we are not going to retreat from it," says Ashpool.
A separate theme is the shows and presentations of Pigalle, which are something between a theatrical production and a Broadway musical with a stage instead of a podium. This year, Carol Lim and Umberto Leon decided to make a Opening Ceremony show in a performance format, ordering the production of Spike Jonza and John Hill. Stefan Ashpul has been working with this format for a long time. Thus, the presentation of the collection autumn-winter 2012 was held in one of the theaters of Paris and became one of the bygone era of jazz and the Great Gatsby. The autumn-winter collection 2013 also took place in a performance format. The Mikado Autumn-Winter 2014 show began with a short film about Pigala to tell the story of the brand again. The inspiration for the prints was the work of the American abstract artist Maurice Louis. Models, among which were mostly friends of Ashpool, resembled the old-school gangsters of the 20s, although partially dressed in modern sportswear. “Streetwear, sportswear, high fashion, prêt-à-porter, luxury are all names. I like to mix different concepts. It’s not so difficult - it’s hard to get people to understand the idea itself,” says the founder of Pigalle. The 2014 spring collection was shown right on the streets of Paris.
The brand earned respect and formed a dedicated community of fans who proudly wear things with the Pigalle logo. At parties that arrange Pain O ChoKolat and Sharaf Tazher, do not overflow. In the new institution of Sharaf, in the club "Faust" on the banks of the Seine, at the entrance there is an agiotage - inside Travi $ Scott, naked priests dance on the bar counters. Local success is obvious.
In April 2014, the Pigalle released a collaboration with Nike called the Nike x PPP Collection (the three Ps are the Pain O Chockolat promo group, the Pigalle brand and the nightclub "Le Pompon"). By the way, this is not Ashpool’s first collaboration with a sports giant: in 2009, with the support of Nike, they built an open basketball court in the Pigalle district, where the brand is now hosting shows and basketball games. The first joint collection of Nike and Pigalle includes two sets of shorts and sweaters, Air Force 1s sneakers, T-shirts, black and white basketballs and accessories. The AF1 High and AF1 Low sneakers are made of leather and waxed on the top, which over time contributes to the vintage wear. Each couple must grow old individually, so that the other such you will not meet. Among other differences: leather laces, gold metal eyes and transparent soles. T-shirts and shorts are designed to look faded and worn. On T-shirts, baseball caps and balls there is an inscription "Nikeair" in the corporate font Pigalle. The guys from the region and friends of Stephen, including the owner of the club "Le Pompon" Sharaf Tazher, took part in the lookbook.
Today, the brand is preparing for the opening, together with Nike, a line of basketball clothes and a basketball store, collaborates with iconic street labels, works on capsule collections with Amsterdam Patta and New York Stussy, which indicates a fast global rise of a fairly young brand. In September, the second collaboration with Nike was released. Pigalle x Nike Air Raid Vintage Basketball Sneakers are exclusively represented in the New York department store Dover Street Market. The model is made in two colors: white and light purple. The labels of Pigalle and Nike Air Raid are embroidered on the velcro, and the inscription "For Outdoor Use Only" is on the back. "I always liked things from the past. Around the same sneakers, I first went to the basketball court. I think both the man from the world of fashion and the teenager from Pigal will want to wear them," said Stefan in an interview with Dazed & Confused.
Photo: Purestill expert, Pigalle