IN CONVERSATION WITH SHAYNE OLIVER

“I think that when things are, let’s say, sensual, they are very one-on-one, like this idea of having a relationship with someone in front of other people and in a very exhibitionist context.”
“For me, I don’t really have that feeling anymore. I really want to begin to do things that are way more universal.” Shayne Oliver explains to me in the crowded, sweaty backstage room at Berlin’s event venue, Tempodrom. Surrounded by a circle of journalists next to Ye, who has spontaneously showed up as well, Oliver patiently answers questions.
The mastermind seems calm and focused, albeit a little tired. He is wearing a white tee with a diamond Telfar and cross necklace. His right shoulder has caught some stains that he sometimes tries to hide, but when I ask him if we could film, he stops caring. While I try to run through my questions as fast as possible, I can’t stop noticing how balanced Oliver appears despite all the hype and chaos that surrounds us.
Does he know what a win he is for Berlin? Probably.
The loss for New York, though, was almost predictable. It just happened at the right time. The “Mall of America” was yesterday; we now have arrived at the “Mall of Anonymous” and are more than ready for it. World upside down – just as his surreal silhouettes and new take on American sportswear icons suggest. His new SS25 collection ‘FREUDIAN GLITCH: FANTASIA 2024’ comments on distorted truths and dissonant ideals. Looking at some of his almost aggressively disturbing silhouettes, one can almost feel the pain that comes with facing uncomfortable truth.
This is what Oliver seems to want us to do, but he doesn’t care too much about excessively talking about any societal, political, or religious references he was drawing. Just like everyone sees the truth that one wants to see. Arriving at the show venue couldn’t feel more Berlin: As part of INTERVENTION II by Reference Studios, the show is happening at the Tempodrom this time. Infront, a huge crowd is either waiting to get in or hanging out to spot some familiar faces. I am not really ready for rave energy but more than ready to see Shayne’s second Berlin show – after I missed his outstanding first one already. In the vast, dim-lit hall, a bunch of people are already patiently sitting down – a little help for a nightmare-seating situation.
It isn’t easy to understand the energy, nor am I really sure what I am feeling, which perfectly speaks for Shayne’s success in creating an environment of contrasts: being so close together but at the same time being distant, a constellation that refers to Freud’s psychoanalytic theories, playing with daydreams and nightmares, uncovering submerged truths beneath our conscious experiences, as he explains backstage after the show. After Ye’s touchdown, the show finally starts with an amazing orchestral soundtrack that – against main expectations – doesn’t really suggest an arena culture vibe, instead filled the vast space with chirping birds.
“I brought in Total Freedom who was in my soundtracks in the past and Suutoo who resides in London to do live mixing and then worked with Billy Bultheel to create some live elements.”
“There was a lot that came into play ​ for me with the presentation about arena culture and the idea of being in  an arena and filling that space with things that felt familiar to those spaces but then also punting with new sounds”.
 He see sound and fashion as two separate entities for you? “Not really. I mean, usually I just have super casual conversations about it, and then we get into a vibe, that’s it.”
There truly is an aspiring effortlessness in how the multi-talented artist and culture maker works, and maybe, within the past years, it has become even a bit more mature and focused. Back then, when he co-founded Hood by Air with Raul Lopez in 2006, there was so much to be done to achieve a profound change in the industry. That era has not only birthed names such as Virgil Abloh, Matthew Williams, or Carlos Nazario next to him but has built a strong base for a powerful shift that needed so much time and strong voices to be where it is today.
Oliver was one of those strong voices, always years ahead with his ideas on how to shape culture and addressing issues in the industry such as race, gender, and queerness. Now it is time for the next steps: With his creative collective Anonymous Club, he creates (safe) space for fine art, music, fashion, and Blackness. By uniting emerging talents and close collaborators across music, nightlife, and art, Oliver has brought his vision to a different level, contributing to both the present and future in culture. But New York is not his place anymore to do so. “I don’t really have a problem with America, I actually love America but it really is like a mall, it’s just not something I am looking for as a person. But there are many talented people out there, and I love what it taught me as a person, growing up in the States.”
 Initially, Oliver came to Berlin to visit the city, but then Berlin’s art gallery Schinkel Pavillon offered him to do a show, Oliver stayed. Now living in Berlin, he has taken the city’s DNA of anonymity to not be anonymous but to build a space with more seats at the table, a space that rejects structures of hierarchy or titles, that smashes values placed upon arbitrary systems of classification and nomenclature.
His “gang” brings together creatives with diverse backgrounds, with a core formed by musicians Ian Isaiah, Tama Gucci, and Total Freedom. It is not just now, that Oliver has understood how to use the collective power in the creative industry and above all, in fashion. What he has created with the Shayne Oliver Group, a continuing chapter of Hood by Air, is a philosophy, a cultural lifestyle that he lives every day and motivates others to do so, too.
The new SS25 collection of Anonymous Club proves that Oliver has taken his time in Berlin to focus and improve on the craft, on finding new ways to manipulate silhouettes and working with brand-iconic fabrics and pieces such as the sweatsuit or the hoodie. The first three looks gave just another new take on hoodies by transforming them into inflated towel-wrapped overhead.
Other highlights were some floor-length quilted vests and shielding scarves, bomber jackets with necklines functioning as hoodies and then – last but not least- print designs, referring to Oliver’s background in streetwear, presenting among others cropped tees with American “I Voted” stamps or the “SALEM” denim with patchwork embellishments. Drapings and unique colorways draw inspiration from Walt Disney, twisted into darker fantasies. Backstage, he explains that Berlin really made him sense a domestic balance which was very enlightening for him:
Do you feel you had a conversation with Berlin, living and also showing here for the second time now?
No. I feel like being in Berlin now is way more about the team that I’m building here and the people that I work with opposed to trying to look outward and find some inspiration. I feel like everything is so universal these days that it doesn’t matter where you are. You always have to look within.
…and you bring your people here anyways.
Yeah, exactly. It’s been amazing that I can work with the people that I love a lot so I get to see the people that I’m very close with while being able to produce a fashion show, you know?!
Beautiful. So a lot of things changed for you, also as it seems the topics you focus on. Sex has been a big one for you when you started out, before and also during your HBA times. How do you feel that has evolved within the years? What is its role in your work today?
I mean for this collection, I wasn’t really thinking about it. I really wanted to bring back less of this instinctual feeling to anything and begin to work within larger ideas that affect people in a much broader way. I think that when things are, let’s say, sensual, they are very one on-one, like this idea of having a relationship with someone in front of other people and in a very exhibitionist context. So for me, I don’t really have that feeling anymore. I really want to begin to do things that are way more universal.
“I really wanted to bring back less of this instinctual feeling to anything and begin to work within larger ideas that affect people in a much broader way.”
Do you feel your language has become more subtle with time?
Not really. I think it’s pretty much just an extension of the shapes and things that I’ve been working on for Anonymous Club. And, it’s an evolution.

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