In typically elusive Frank Ocean style, the quietly disruptive auteur has launched a fashion brand. Today. Music’s version of a unicorn dropped the news with little fanfare and a lot to love about his label. Naturally, a full social media meltdown ensued, as Frank Ocean fans engaged in hypebeast mode, after what seems like aeons waiting for fresh work from the artist.
Ocean is one of the best-dressed men in the music industry, frequently using his clothes for social commentary and to subvert gender norms. The Blonde artist celebrated his Paris Is Burning-themed 30th birthday in crystal mesh Gucci leggings and pineapple sunglasses; writhed around in his “Nikes” video in a spectacular pearl-laden Balmain jumpsuit; and wore a deliciously minimalist black Prada hoodie to the Camp: Notes On Fashion edition of the Met Gala. You’re never quite sure what Frank will do next but, like his eye-watering bleached buzz cuts that sparked thousands of home hair-dye jobs, he continues to be a major influencer. He even got away with wearing Vans to the White House, for god’s sake.
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The lowdown on Ocean’s fashion proposition: the brand name, Homer, is a nod to Ocean’s intentions of “carving history into stone”, while “childhood obsessions” and “heritage as fantasy” served as his biggest inspirations for the first collection, a range of fine jewellery and printed scarves captured by Tyrone Lebon in a digital catalogue. Designed in America and hand-made in Italy, the jewellery is created using 18K gold and hand-painted enamel, along with recycled silver and lab-grown diamonds from Homer’s own state-of-the-art lab in America. Those based in the States will need to make an appointment via the Homer website to drop into Ocean’s first bricks-and-mortar store, opening in downtown Manhattan on 9 August, while global orders will have to be placed via telephone – telephone! Maybe Ocean had a perfectly reasonable concern that he might be about to break the internet?
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Lead image: András Ladocsi