madeintheurl 2024

Novel Luxury Experience:

The exciting future of food, fashion, and music is going where we all belong, together.

How can bringing food, music, and clothing together as a means to grow communities, businesses, and taste levels create a fresh and accessible brand of luxury?

The Oxford Dictionary defines luxury as the state of great comfort and extravagant living.

As we move further into an era of post-consumeristic hysteria, the idea of luxury is changing. To some, luxury will always represent goods and experiences, separating the haves and have-nots.

This finite worldview ignores the wide spectrum of goods and experiences that define a state of great comfort and extravagant living.

New generations are defining luxury differently.

Great comfort and extravagant living can come in many forms. People collect experiences. People collect art. People collect tastes. People collect all these things at once.

Certain things in this world are inextricably linked. Peanut butter and jelly. Cigarettes and coffee. Cartoons and cereal. Future Hendrix and Cheesecake. sensational

It’s easy to overlook the simple things in our day-to-day lives on the internet - The building blocks of human connection that make up the accessible essential elements of luxury.

The intentional combination of

Food and Drinks + Music + Clothing

informs a more holistic form of luxury, The Novel Luxury Experience, or NLE.

NLE NO CHOPPA

The NLE is an experience where you can glide between the realms of clothing, food, drink, and music, spend as much or as little money as you please, and leave with a colorful memory.

Is it a pop-up? Is it a dinner party? Is it a concert? Is it a street fair with a live performance from a new artist and a local brand unveiling its newest collection?

“Combination” - Aubrey Graham, On the Radar July 2023

To paint a picture of the multitudes of the Novel Luxury Experience, I have enlisted some experts from people, businesses, brands, and collectives alike that represent infinite possibilities in this space.

This how I’m finna be when I’m on that NLE

Ghetto Gastro is one the dopest collectives out here doing it the right way for the right reasons

“Where food goes, so go its people, and where people go, their stories follow. We create experiences around the world, making delicious food and collaborating with the best-in-class partners to intersect fashion, art, activism, design, and music — showing how food truly connects us all. As Ghetto Gastro, we big-up the Bronx as a driver of global culture and use food as a weapon to make an impact in our community.” — Ghetto Gastro’s website

The people at Gastro have harnessed the powers of healthy, delicious foods and combined them with the luxuries of tasteful design, music, and fashion projects. They are telling real stories and taking the Bronx worldwide.

I want to highlight the GASTRO Sacai capsule collection specifically. Connecting the worlds of food and fashion in the spirit of celebration x elevation. This collection was dope on so many levels.

The capsule features Sacai’s signature monochrome bandana print on a pullover, pants, and an apron:

From the Bronx to Japan, from the kitchen to the streets, this collection connects cooking, fashion, hybrid finesse, and shared symbolism of the paisley patterns across cultures. They unveiled this juggernaut at Dover Street Market, New York, with a brilliant soirée of cocktails and their signature wavy waffles. This event was a celebration of different aesthetics connecting the dots over shared values, music, and food.

Aerthship is a creative collective out of Brooklyn connecting the dots between food, fashion, music, and arts through ecology. Their collaborations and events are pushing the boundaries of a NLE.

Aerthship team at Rhodora Brooklyn

Aerthship may be exploring the joys of bringing together community, fashion, and food, but at its essence, it offers a reminder of something more essential: that tending to the earth can be a genuinely creative endeavor. -Vogue

The collective's first major collaboration was with Gucci for their sustainably driven Off The Grid capsule collection. Aership member, model, and chef Peirce Abernathy brought the idea back to the team after Gucci expressed initial interest, and they pitched an ecological angle for a dinner party. The ecological angle was working with Steve Dennis, an indigenous Fisherman, and paying him to help them forage the food used in the party.

A Dinner Off the Grid W/ Peirce Abernathy & Aerthship

Aerthship seeds creative ideas in the ecological movements of life. The earth is the most luxurious thing we got. Aerthsip is trailblazing a space with the potential to transform how we create and consume. Wherever you live, check them out and support them if you live in NY!

Breakfast for Dinner Powered by Chuck Inglish and Ggiatta

If you live in LA, you must be familiar with the art of RSVP. Breakfast for Dinner was at the top of my list. Ggiata, a new-age take on the Italian Deli that’s taken the taste buds of LA by storm, teamed up with none other than the legendary Chuck Inglish of the Cool Kids to throw a great event. The cherry on top; they got Zack Fox on the decks to provide the sonic ambiance. This event was packed, the energy was electric, AND it was fully accessible to everyone who RSVP’d if you were willing to wait it out for a chicken biscuit.

While there wasn’t any clothing for sale at this event, the sheer idea of breakfast for dinner paired with local natural wine, mezcal, and music was extremely memorable. Take my money for a few glasses of wine and a chicken biscuit.

Fuck That’s Delicious Block Party

Action Bronson, creator of worlds, is the living representation of the Novel Luxury Experience. As a chef, rapper, food and travel show host, author, community builder, and workwear icon, Action’s persona is larger than life.

His career has connected the dots between all of the building blocks of a novel luxury experience. In 2023 alone, he released an artisan olive oil, a natural wine collab, and a New Balance collection.

With his 2nd annual Fuck That’s Delicious block party, Action created a smorgasbord of god-level culinary pairings.

Turkish Kebaab sandwiches? Fried Lasagna? L’Industire Za? More designer olive oil?

Although I could not attend this event, I had soldiers on the ground who tasted greatness. The fried lasagna was a 10/10.

Bronson started by investing his time in energy into all the things he loves: food, music, clothes, and people.

McDonald’s x CPFM Adult Happy Meal and Kerwin Frost Box

And just when I thought that was that, another NLE example Called me right back: The One and Only, McDonald's X Cactus Plant Flea Market AND the Kerwin Frost Box

McDonald’s has been on the run of a lifetime. At this point, I would put them up there with the most prolific brands in the world when it comes to cultural relevance. Of course, they have always been one of the most iconic QSR brands in the game. But, there was a point where everything changed. The Golden Arches teamed up with Wieden+Kennedy New York. They released the famous orders campaign that brought to life the Travis Scott, Cardi B, J. Balvin meals (and many more) and an explosion of crazy collaborations with the biggest stars in the world.

These campaigns laid the foundation to position their brand in culturally relevant scenarios at the perfect times across virtually every touchpoint. So... when they came out with an Adult Happy Meal in collaboration with Cynthia Lu’s effervescent Cactus Plant Flea Market, it felt completely natural.

A happy meal for adults? The kid in me is shedding a tear. This campaign proved that Cactus Plant Flea Market is really the ultimate collaborator.. Time in time again their brand ethos can shift shapes to elevate any brand from McDonald’s to Nike. The business results did not lie: within four days of launching the CPFM Box they had sold out over 50% of the supply of special toys that came with the meal.

The Kerwin Frost Box

The Kerwin FROST BOX at McDonalds is an unprecedented step in the right direction in the future of a Novel Luxury Experience in the mainstream conversation.

McDonald’s gave Kerwin the keys to release a signature meal that came with McNugget Buddies inspired by people he observed growing up in New York.

Kerwin and his McNugget Buddies for Paper Mag

AND design a whole collection in his image. Said coillection is fully sold out on Kerwin’s website.

Photos from Kerwin Frost McDonalds. Shot and styled by Yves Tumor.

If companies as big as McDonalds are stamping a creative like Kerwin to build his own world around the brand, the Novel Luxury Experience is in good hands.

And trust me, it’s just getting started...

NLE OUTRO

This is a simple concept. The Novel Luxury Experience can exist in a world where clout and gatekeepers don’t matter, where accessibility is a core value.

From the smallest towns to the biggest cities. With energy, creativity, and intention.

Calling all creatives, DJs, chefs, brands, and connectors. Let’s get together and build something with sound you can see, clothes you can taste, and food you can feel..

Find your people. Stack the bread. Then multiply. (MIC DROP)

We will continue to evolve the Novel Luxuury Experience right here.

Let us know where you’re seeing or creating Novel Luxury Experiences outside and in the URL.

madeintheurl 2024