Image via Supreme
Today was one of those Mondays. Supreme made the worst day of the week a bit more bearable with the release of its latest season’s lookbook and preview. The Fall/Winter 2021 range brings us more of what we have come to expect from the legendary streetwear imprint. There’s must-have Gore-Tex outerwear, wacky accessories you could only dream of having any real use for, collaborations with recognizable brands, homages to New York City, and the always-celebrated Box Logo goodies.
After taking a look at Supreme’s latest offerings, there are certainly a handful of things that stick out. Are you going after one of the coveted BOGO hoodies? Do you love the movie Shrek? Do you want your car to look like it was sourced from a 2004 rap music video? Here are some of our initial takeaways from Supreme’s Fall/Winter 2021 collection.
The 'Shrek' Reference Doesn't Hit the Mark.
Logo flips are a part of streetwear. Pretty much every brand has done it before. Supreme has too before with varying degrees of success. Its most recent attempt definitely missed the mark though. One of the brand’s new graphics for Fall/Winter 2021 is a nod to the classic animated film Shrek. “Supreme” is written out in ogre green lettering with Shrek’s ears pointing out of the “S” to mimic the typeface used for the movie. The logo, which appears on T-shirts and skate decks, feels like it may be an attempt to cater to Gen-Z humor as much as it is a nostalgia play for anyone who grew up in the 2000s running back the Shrek VHS everyday. Shrek has become a weird meme of sorts on social media in recent years. Some of the character’s portrayals are certainly odd, so we’ll let you do some research to see what we’re talking about. To make matters worse, the idea isn’t terribly original either. Montreal’s Dime dropped a similar Shrek-inspired logo T-shirt as part of its Fall/Winter 2019 collection. Maybe using an image of the ogre himself on a T-shirt would have fared a bit better if they wanted to reference the movie, but as things stands this just seems like an odd choice for Supreme. —Mike DeStefano
There's More Food.
It looks like officially-licensed food collabs are going to be a mainstay from season-to-season moving forward. After providing us with things like red packs of Oreos and camouflage-covered boxes of Wheaties cereal in recent seasons, Supreme’s latest food collaboration is with Skittles. Original and Wild Berry packs of the chewy fruit candies will both be up for grabs that replace the usual “Skittles” text with “Supreme.” Unlike past food projects, this one doesn’t stop there though. The official Skittles branding has also been used on Castelli cycling jerseys, balaclavas, and cycling gloves. The final (and best) piece of Skittles apparel is a twill jacket made in collaboration with Mitchell & Ness covered in various embroidery including the candy’s signature slogan, “Taste the Rainbow,” on the right sleeve. The design appears to clearly be a nod to the popular Nascar jackets created by Jeff Hamilton in the ‘90s and 2000s that were covered in brand logos to mimic the sponsorships found on each racer’s car, but Hamilton was not officially involved with this particular project. Supreme also made some spaghetti-inspired T-shirts and skate decks this season too. Sadly, it doesn’t appear there will be any Supreme x Barilla linguine dropping though, at least not yet anyway. —Mike DeStefano
The Opportunities for the Box Logo Remain Limitless.
Once again, Supreme proves there are no boundaries when it comes to items that it will slap its logo on. Crow bars, bricks, subway cars, baseball gloves, it’s all been BOGO-fied before. For Fall/Winter 2021, Supreme’s signature mark has been placed on even more unsuspecting items. There are the more practical things: a stainless steel food jar ideal for a camping trip, multi-tool pocket knife, or swing top glass bottle if you want a fancy way to store some water in your fridge. There’s also the much more exciting “what the fuck” items like a plastic Gundam figure, Storm bowling ball, or the pièce de résistance: a set of four chrome Dub spinning rims for anyone trying to do have their Honda Civic look like it got customized on Pimp My Ride. The amount of people who can honestly say they need Supreme spinners is almost nonexistent. But those are the Supreme items that really hit the mark. The less practical for everyday living, the better. —Mike DeStefano
Supreme Still Knows How to Cater to Its OG Fans.
For years, one of the most sought after vintage pieces of original Supreme gear has been the “Afro Skater” T-shirt. Originally released when Supreme opened on Lafayette Street in 1994, it’s one of the three Supreme T-shirts from the store’s opening day—alongside the famous Taxi Driver photo T-shirt and the store’s iconic red box logo. Unlike the other two T-shirts released on day one, what makes the “Afro Skater” T-shirt exceptionally rare was that only 60 of these T-shirts were made in 1994 and have not been re-released since. It’s nearly impossible to find an original “Afro Skater” T-shirt on the secondhand market today and only a handful of collectors own them. According to one Instagram account that put the T-shirt for sale, the highest offer for it was supposedly $2,750. Although Supreme archivists might be disappointed that one of the brand’s rarest T-shirts will now be widely available, it’s certainly a treat for those who have cherished the brand’s history and want to own a piece that captures Supreme’s genesis. —Lei Takanashi
New York Still Reigns Supreme.
Once again, we can expect plenty of Supreme pieces this season that hit cultural touchstones within New York City street culture. Whether it’s dropping Jeff Hamilton-esque jackets that Dipset would have worn or releasing a pair of wheat-colored Air Force 1s, Supreme stays committed to repping New York to the fullest. That became exceptionally clear when the brand paid major dollars so that the MTA could run an entire fleet of L Train subway cars covered in Supreme’s iconic red logo. Although it would have been cooler to see the trains run with Supreme graffiti, the brand still managed to highlight the art of New York City graffiti pioneers like Lady Pink this season, whose art is featured on a number of garments. And let’s not overlook the pieces that Stash also designed, which were clearly informed by the ‘90s New York City streetwear brands Subware and Recon—two pioneering ‘90s streetwear brands that Stash designed alongside Futura. Of course, when it comes to outerwear you should already know how serious New Yorkers get about their jackets. So Supreme came correct this winter with a Gore-Tex, 700-fill down jacket bombarded with so many New York Yankees patches you would have thought it was a custom fitted straight from Cap USA. This is Supreme’s latest iteration of its famous “Uptown Parka,” a jacket heavily inspired by the silhouette of the Marmot Mammoth Parka or Biggie coat. Aside from that jacket, the brand has a larger collaboration with the Yankees that includes an airbrushed hoodie, denim jeans covered with Yankees logos, and a New Era fitted. —Lei Takanashi
At Last, a Proper Hype Williams Collaboration.
It looks like Supreme has been teasing a collaboration with the legendary music video director Hype Williams ever since they worked on an advertisement together to promote a Vitra Panton Chair that dropped last season. At last, Supreme delivered a proper collaboration previewing two pieces that are directly pulled from Williams’ famous 1998 film Belly. A denim chore coat and double knee painter pants features a collage of memorable stills from the cult classic ‘90s film. But the real standout piece is a Gore-Tex jacket that features a detailed print of Nas on the front and the late DMX on the back. The images printed on the jacket immortalizes the movie’s famous opening, which was filmed in the famous Chelsea hip-hop club the Tunnel and supposedly cost millions to shoot. Whether it was intentional or not, the timing of this collaboration with Hype Williams also feels like the perfect way to memorialize DMX, who tragically passed away this April. Starring in Belly was a seminal moment for the New York rapper, who filmed his parts in Belly before he even released his debut album. “When we shot Belly, I got to spend a lot more time at the Tunnel. It felt like a second home,” DMX told Complex in an oral history about the famed nightclub. “Up until that point, I hadn’t spent that many days in one place, besides jail.” Hopefully, these two amazing pieces aren’t the only ones from Supreme’s collaboration with Williams. We would love to at least get a run of T-shirts that features some iconic stills from his most memorable music videos. Please bless us with a “Gimme Some More” T-shirt with Busta Rhymes on it. —Lei Takanashi
The BOGO Will Never Die.
Yes, the only item that you resellers and hypebeasts care about is coming back this season. And this time, they didn’t add another box logo to make a weird ass cross—thank god. For Fall/Winter 2021, Supreme will release regular box logo hoodies in black, pink, brown, navy, white, burgundy, digi-camo, wheat gold, and dark gray colorways. That means you now have a whopping total of nine L’s you should be prepared to take when these drop at the end of the season. —Lei Takanashi
Sometimes Less Is More.
Supreme is known for its wild, colorful graphics and excessive use of Box Logos. In large, those are the items that people still flock towards. Supreme has become a status symbol. A lot of people who buy it want to make sure others know they are wearing it. That’s fine. We appreciate a good graphic and we would be lying if we said we weren’t probably going to be rapidly clicking through the checkout process on the Thursday morning the Box Logo hoodies drop. But with all of the eye-catching T-shirts and big name collabs that release each season, sometimes there’s a lot of good cut and sew pieces that fly under the radar. The best part (for some at least), the branding isn’t in your face either. This season’s preview is no different with standouts like twill button-up shirts, pastel yellow corduroy zip jackets, Polartec shirts, and various flannels in an array of fall-appropriate colors. Some people swear by the brand’s slim fit denim and work pants. Of course, they’re going to be up for grabs too. The best part, most of these pieces don’t require lightning quick clicking to acquire them. If you still love Supreme but your wardrobe doesn’t really call for that wild graphic T-shirt anymore, these pieces are the ones for you. Plus, these are the types of pieces that will likely stay in your wardrobe a bit longer since they are more versatile, which will help warrant the slightly higher price tags they command. —Mike DeStefano
Supreme Loves Showcasing Up-and-Coming Artists.
Perhaps the one feel-good story to come out of the unveiling of Supreme’s latest collection is this very odd T-shirt dubbed “The Richest” tee. It showcases what looks like a sea monster rocking a full set of grills and holding fat wads of cash inside a room that looks like he’s trapping inside a bando in Atlantis. Although the dude on this bizarre shirt right here probably got 20,000 bundles under the sea, any observant hip-hop fan would recognize that the artist who made this T-shirt also designed the album art for Pooh Shiesty’s debut mixtape Shiesty Season. The artist behind the Supreme T-shirt and Shiesty’s album artwork is Waheed Zai.
On Instagram, the artist shared a heartfelt caption about what making a T-shirt for Supreme personally meant for him. “Went from not being able to afford even a single Supreme product in high school because it was way out of my budget to having my design now officially be on a Supreme shirt coming out August 19 for their Fall collection. It’s surreal to even say that out loud. What a year and I’m just starting.” The T-shirt shows how Supreme is still well tapped into current hip-hop culture while continuing to shine a light on rising artists from all spectrums. Whether that’s a Downtown artist making his way into galleries or a digital artist making mixtape covers for the next big rapper. —Lei Takanashi
A Rick Rubin Photo T-shirt Is Releasing After All.
Legendary music producer Rick Rubin is being immortalized with his own Supreme photo T-shirt after all. Rubin was initially rumored to be the individual featured on the ongoing series of graphic T-shirts back in 2018 before the design was ultimately scrapped. The decision reportedly was made following allegations of sexual harassment that had been made against photographer Terry Richardson. Richardson had shot the photo that was going to be used.
The Rubin T-shirt being released this season follows the usual formula that has been used for pop culture icons from Kermit the Frog to Kate Moss in the past. The photograph depicts Rubin in a Zen-like pose probably identical to how you may see him sitting if you paid a visit to Shangri-La, sitting pretzel-legged and barefoot. The main difference, this time he is rocking that signature white T-shirt bearing the red Box Logo. While many collectors will still probably stay on the hunt for 2018’s unreleased version for its rarity, it is cool that Supreme was able to to still honor Rubin, one of the most important figures in music history, with his own T-shirt after the unfortunate circumstances that led to the original’s cancelation. —Mike DeStefano