Artists are artists, fashion designers are fashion designers, false, and Wackavelli is living proof of the fusion between the two.
Born in Queens, New York but raised in Tampa, Florida, Jeremiah Fuentes, better known under the brand name Wackavelli, creates art that is fashion.
His reasoning for it: “Even though painting on a canvas is amazing, I think nowadays people would rather wear art then hang it up on a wall. People are barely home nowadays anyway.”
And, so far his claim has proven correct. Inspired by bright colours and custom clothing, while wanting to “wear stuff that no one else had”, the designer has held two fashion shows and released multiple collections. Yet, with products in-store and more in the works, Wackavelli isn’t letting up.
“The vision is to inspire other people to just be themselves, to truly dress how they want, draw on there stuff and, if they still feel that they can’t, then wear Wackavelli and it’ll still make them feel the same without them going out of their comfort zone.”
The creativity behind each item produced by the brand, ran by Jeremiah alone, is extraordinarily unique and vibrant.
Without having a set vision of how a piece will end up, it’s clear that inspiration from Tyler, The Creator and Virgil Abloh, who both don loud colours, is present in Wackavelli’s work.
“I look up to Tyler, The Creator, Virgil Abloh, Tinker Hatfield, and honestly anyone doing what they love.
“There is so much that goes into the inspiration of my art but I usually don’t know what I’m making until the piece I’m painting is right in front of me. I love colours, that’s why every piece you see on my page pops out. Music also puts me in the place I need to be to be able to create.”
Moving back to New York to fulfil his creative dreams, Jeremiah has established a strong following for the brand, with over 3,000 people engaging on Instagram.
Creating jackets, hats and a jumper for consumers to write their own dreams on, while editing Louis Vuitton products, the consistency behind the products is immaculate and the ideas are far from generic. Even the stickers to the ‘People Collection’ stand-out from anything else out there. The hidden ‘people suck’ text a key component.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn2ExrRFhvV/?hl=en&taken-by=wackavelli
Combining with his friends at Productive Honey, it’s clear that Wackavelli’s surroundings also further the creative production behind the brand.
“Right now, I’m really focused on just putting out work consistently. I have some shows coming up, my friends have a group called ‘Productive Honey’ and we put on big events and I hold a big fashion show at it.”
The shows are at the forefront of Wackavelli’s focus, but that doesn’t stop the big dreams. When quizzed about a dream shoe collaboration he went straight to the top of the game.
“I would love to make a collaboration shoe with Nike. I’m a Nike head all the way and I feel like they would really give me the creative freedom to create what I have in my mind.”
Expect this creation to be vibrant if it ever comes to life, just like the Nike Air Force 1s, made by Wackavelli in the above photo,
And more creations are expected in the near future too, except Jeremiah wasn’t quite as open this time, “You guys are just going to have to wait until it releases to see what they will look like.”
If it’s anything like the past creations, the upcoming inventions will be individual and colourful, the exact reason why Wackavelli first came into existence.
Jeremiah Fuentes speaking for Wackavelli to Wear? Magazine.
Images courtesy of Wackavelli (@Wackavelli).
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