Akade Wear

“Vaped!” Collection

In 2016, the fashion arm of lifestyle-brand New Retro Wave, Akade Wear, asked me to contribute some of my collage pieces to their new vaporwave-themed collection they were calling “Vaped!” They asked for three existing pieces and one new one that included their logo.

Since New Retro Wave is a brand focused primarily on neon-soaked, 1980's nostalgia, I went in a retro direction for the design they wanted their logo in. I ended up with a black and white composition of a thoughtful man, with the NRW logo above his head, framed by an old shot of the moon. Though inside a monochrome world, the man has a lively streak of color across his eyes that speaks to a kind of energetic enlightenment I'm trying to associate with the NRW brand. The man represents the moment a first time listener hears the "retrowave" or "synthwave" music that NRW promotes and orbits around. A wry grin crosses his face as he understands his world is a lot more colorful than he thought it was. The piece was accepted by the Creative Director, and added to the collection.