Hood By Air Releases A 13th Anniversary Archive Capsule

The big news from Hood by Air? This autumn, Shayne Oliver and his team will be releasing Genesis, a film project that will launch Oliver’s first collection in four years under the Hood by Air label. After disappearing from the scene in 2016, the brand now operates four distinct channels: HBA is direct-to-consumer, Museum is reinterpretations of past work, Anonymous Club is a young talent incubator, and Hood by Air is Oliver’s runway collection. Oliver and company aren’t talking much about the upcoming film at this point, but its message ties directly to the brand’s first Museum collection drop, H13A. “H13A, symbolic of Shayne Oliver’s past as a designer and the 13-year history of HBA, will manifest as a human character in Genesis, a new film,” says a release. “Weaving together Oliver’s past works as the DNA for the new Hood by Air collection, Genesis will premiere the new collection through Oliver’s innately unique lens.”

Debuting on the company’s new website HoodByAir.World, the history-minded H13A collection includes tops, outerwear, denim, and art, reviving the brand’s notebook-cover inspired spiral logo from 2013 and its circular cookie logo from 2007, the latter of which was worn by Rihanna. In mostly black with flashes of neon green, H13A has a decidedly technological look, fusing the brand’s signature cropped tops and hoodies with calf-length jackets that have a certain Matrix energy. The parallel with the Wachowski’s film might be incidental, but it’s certainly apt. Twenty-one years after its release, Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s film is widely read and accepted as a trans allegory, something Lilly recently confirmed to Netflix. In addition to supporting the Black community, Hood by Air has long advocated for the trans community as well, creating clothing independent from the boundaries of gender and casting models of all genders in runway shows and campaign imagery. 

The first thing the brand did when it reemerged in July was release a collection that benefitted Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, the Emergency Release Fund, and Gays & Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS). In total, the collection raised over $200,000 (£153,000) for the causes. The H13A release, priced from $55 (£42) to $295 (£227), will tie directly into this autumn’s film and Hood by Air collection debut, bringing one of New York’s most compelling talents back to fashion’s fore – and no doubt challenging the other brands considering a fashion film to rise to HBA’s level.