California Apparel News

Steve Aoki makes a mint every time he deejays at a Las Vegas mega-club or at a giant concert, but the guy has demonstrated that he has a garmento’s heart, and he’s upping his ante for the fashion game.

On Nov. 16, he announced that his high-end streetwear line, Dim Mak Collection, would expand to North America after mostly being sold in Japan, where his design partners live and where the collection is produced.

He made the announcement at a party for the line’s Spring pre-launch for the 2017 collection at The Seventh Letter boutique and gallery on Los Angeles’ Fairfax Avenue. Like a typical Aoki production, there was a lot of music. He deejayed, and one of his favorite hard-core punk bands, Gorilla Biscuits, played a gig facing a giant, wall-sized art installation by Los Angeles artist Drew Merritt. Embedded in the installation were 75 Dim Mak Collection shirts. Post-party, the shirts were cut out of the installation and sold in a fund-raiser for the Aoki Foundation, which raises funds for medical research on brain disease.

Before the party, The Seventh Letter event also provided a viewing of Dim Mak Collection’s Fall/Winter ’16 collection, and the long-haired Aoki guided reporters through the line.

“The materials are unique, not used in menswear,” he said of the high-end streetwear styles.

For anyone versed in streetwear, the Dim Mak Collection offers looks popular in the style such as bomber jackets and hoodies, but it finds a lot of differences in the details by offering elongated hems and unique materials—think fabric used in judo uniforms and raised flocking that looks like scars, emblazoned on jackets and shirts.

Dim Mak Collection’s unique looks have similarities to Aoki’s musical aesthetic.

“I want to surprise people,” he said. “You want to challenge your own norm and your status quo. This line has allowed me to do that with fashion.”