“Who is Ken de las Fujiwaras?”
What is an accountant Monday through Friday from 9 to 5 and a fashion killa at all other times Alex!
With the rise of Supreme, Stüssy, BAPE and other popular street wear brands came the term “hype beast” which is perfectly defined on Urban Dictionary as “slang for someone who is a beast (obsessed) about the hype (in fashion), and will do whatever it takes to obtain that desired hype. The term is meant to be derogatory by ridiculing of such with a lack of style. Hyped up brands sell their products for a price more than the average clothing company and can be seen re-sold along the internet for a price much greater than retail due to the fact that it is either exclusive, or somewhat limited. Yes, even when it was worn.”
In this new generation of hype beasts it’s often hard to distinguish the imitators from the originators because literally EVERYONE will be rockin’ the same thing just because it’s the “must cop” item of the moment and they want to be able to flex on the gram a little bit. Well Hype Beast is not a term I would use to describe Ken at all. I follow a lot of street wear influenced pages on IG but @kendelasfujiwaras is by far one of the most unique I’ve seen aesthetically from an individual.
Get to know where Ken’s IG handle came from and who some of his favorite brands to wear are below in this brief interview I had with him!
You’re fairly new to the IG wave, what finally made you want to hop on the
gram?!
“Talking to Alvaro Diaz he encouraged me to use the platform because he
used to talk about me to different people and couldn’t show them
anything of what I do and also I was contemplating it for a while but
wanted to have direction of what the page should look like from the
get go. Seeing the trend of Adrianne Ho and Gully Guy Leo I knew thats
where i wanted to go because streetwear was becoming a thing. I want
to take the advantage of this opportunity to explain what it’s about.
It was never the intent of it looking like I have any modeling
aspirations or anything of that sort, it’s more about showing people
what kind of aesthetics I can achieve using myself as the mediator and
doing it in a way where there’s a coordination between the clothes, the
props used and myself. It’s like a portfolio of what imagery and
content I can create. When given the opportunity I can do this for
different artists but still people are getting to know that side of
me.”
Where did the name “Ken De Las Fujiwaras” come from?
“I used to work at the prime Streetwear store in PR called Treats and
the girls from the store used to nickname me Ken. Then on Alvaro Diaz’s
song SuperXclusivo which is about the streetwear culture gave me a
shoutout saying “Ken con la Fujiwaras” which is me with the Giuliano
Fujiwara sneakers I rocked at that time (which was a little known
brand until the song and video came out) and it sticked. People
started calling Ken De Las Fujiwaras afterwards under LV CIUDVD. I
have other surnames depending on the project.”
What are your top 5 favorite IG accounts you follow?
Lil Jupiter, Pleasures, Fashion Fuckery, NCL Gallery and why not Funny Hood Vidz
Streetwear is obviously the main focus of your IG, what are some of your
favorite brands to rock?
“When deciding which brands to use for the page I try to combine little
known brands like Cottweiler, Juun J, Pleasures, Perks and Mini with
more hyped up brands like Supreme, Comme des Garcon and Gosha
Rubchinskyi. I would love to get to the point where i have enough
influence and can use only little known brands and so they can get the
recognition they deserve. For me it’s all about having great pieces
which are not hyped but are in the same level or even better than the
hyped up ones. If you’re gonna spend your hard earned money on clothes,
at least do it on something where it’s unique and you can stand out
for being really different.”
Do any artists inspire your style?
“I come from another generation where the dynamic of having style was
different from now as where uniqueness was the special quality but I
can say that Kanye, Asap Rocky, Gully Guy Leo, Ian Connor are good
influences on me. Not to brag but I think sometimes I have the vision
of what the future looks like before artists start rocking it but
they’re necessary to show that what I do is what’s coming up.”
After Hurricane Maria you started uploading “Post Maria Vibes” inspired
shots, how did you go about coordinating outfits with wreckage? Did the
outfit inspire location or vice versa?
“At the beginning of the project I created the whole outfit and started
to look for the places where they could fit best and also have greater
visual impact. Afterwards it was more conceptual so I started buying
the clothes based on the places I saw that had some shock factor to
it. There were a couple of pics that were left but being on it for
months I wanted to move on to something else. There were two which I
wanted to do that were me with a nike raincoat but standing in a knee
high flood and another which is the Andre Serrano Mother and Child
Supreme tee sitting in a wrecked cemetery. I have the shirt so i’ll
likely still do that one in the future.”
If you could collab with any fashion brand what would it be and why? What
piece of clothing would you be most hyped to create?
“It would be between Gosha Rubchinskyi or Raf Simons. They are both
using the aesthetic I’m going for this year which is 90s rave culture.
I would love to be able to create whole looks which go along that
line. Its always been a dream of mine to design sneakers so that would
be a huge part of the process.”
You make up half of the creative brand, FUBOT where you and your partner
A.Bot have recently started curating an event that happens every Friday
called GLITCH NIGHTS , tell me more about that.
“Glitch Fridays are events me and my partner A.BOT curate in Espacio
Minerva where we want to expose all the talent PR has to offer in a
space where it’s all about art. We try to congregate different
disciplines of the arts, music, photography, videography, modeling,
other brands all in one place where people can learn about others and
reunite and create either there or on their projects. One of the main
focus is to create an open space for collaboration and heighten all
artistic groups. For people that haven’t been there i highly suggest
you go. Most people say it’s something never seen before in PR and
we’re glad to be part of this cultural shift for the better.”
What is one brand you f#ck with that people might not have heard about yet?
“Cottweiler is a new brand little known but I really like the pieces
they create. Also their colab with Reebok is pretty dope. I have a
couple of pieces but would like to get way more. Also I have got like
3 new Pleasures tees and they also have some awesome items.”
What’s one fun fact about yourself that people might find surprising about
you?
“The are so many but one that shocks most people is when I show them my
drawings. I’ve been painting since I was a kid and did a graffiti on
my mom’s house once cause I was going to paint the wall afterwards.
The bad part about it was that the graffiti was so strong that i had
to paint the wall like 5 times so it didn’t keep on going through. I
also did a mural for my school based on Mad Lion’s Lion caricature
because that was my school’s mascot which was spray painted. I’ve
wanted to get into hyper realism painting for a while now but it takes
long hours to create a piece and I have a lot of projects and work on
my hands right now so I have to postpone it for another period in my
life.”
In your opinion, what is the most overrated street wear brand out right
now?
“More than a brand (which I think there’s a market for everything) what
bothers me most is this new trend on the gentrification of streetwear
culture. I mean Vetements, Off White and Heron Preston are good brands
with really good designs but the price points are outrageous for the
items they are putting out. Those price points are for high couture
items which are highly elaborated not tees or jackets that are simply
screen printed. People should see Dior and I (between others) to
understand the level of craftsmanship goes into producing high couture
items and know what is the difference between them and why they cost
what they cost. People should be wise when spending money on clothes.
If you are going to spend a lot do it on something that when you see
the details it shows why it’s of that price range.”
If you haven’t already clicked that follow button then do yourself a favor and start following @kendelasfujiwaras for your style inspo. #moodboardfordays
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