No more than three months afterward, Hawaii stood side-by-side with him in the same exact Selfridges store: this time, not as a garbage bag-wielding criminal flanked by security, but as an invited guest at a sought-after fashion seminar hosted by the industry’s most prominent figure. And by midnight, the group stormed-if not hijacked, until security broke everything up-the installation that Virgil Abloh had set up there, illegally turning it into an impromptu brand presentation for Hawaii’s own project.Ī short time after the demonstration, Abloh followed Hawaii on Instagram. He drew a mob of raucous teenagers to the city’s Selfridges location. He filled a hefty bag with homemade streetwear. He had already garnered a niche presence in London’s afro-punk underground, fielding creative collaborations with the likes of Skepta while dabbling in sporadic artistic exploits of his own-but tonight, he was after something much more definitive.

One evening in February of 2015, Ryan Hawaii, an upstart UK-based artist, sought to make a statement.

Walk the moon album artwork