VIPER MEETS WALE ADEYEMI. WORDS BY VICTOR DAVIES PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN HARDS
Your designs became iconic very early in your career.
I remember buying Vogue in 2000 and your jeans were
What was it like going viral in the 2000s?
in there as art, which denim hadn’t really been before. Yeah definitely, it was weird ‘cause everyone was like,
It was kinda crazy because I was known for streetwear
“how did you manage to get your product to this stage?
and I worked a lot on the underground scene, so I was
Because you’re like the rest of us.” So it was like a ‘Them
working with a lot of unsigned acts that were up and
and Us’ kinda thing. So I think that’s why everyone
coming in the music industry. It was kinda cool so I
was supporting it ‘cause I was a regular guy doing
must’ve moved to the Brick Lane area in 1996 or 1997.
streetwear that happened to get a couple of good gigs
That area was really run down at the time, that was
and it worked for us.
where all the creatives were so there were musicians, artists, and so I was born out of that scene. Obviously
You’ve stayed in the Brick Lane area with B-Side, is the
at the time streetwear wasn’t really recognised as it is
area still inspiring for you?
now, as fashion. People would say, “he’s a designer, but he’s not a designer because he does streetwear.” It
Yeah definitely because for me I’ve seen it change so
wasn’t on the catwalks or anything like that, it was just
much. Originally I was living in west London before I
in the underground scene. So when it blew up, it was a
moved to Brick Lane and when I moved, everyone was
great thing. I think everyone felt part of it, who’d been
just like, “how can you go to east London, it’s dirty!”
part of the streetwear scene, or part of that music scene
Because it was the end of the end really in those days
in the 1990s. it was a collaboration of a lot of different
but that’s where a lot of the manufacturers were so I’d
celebrations really.
go there. I was living at my mum’s house and I’d come all the way back to West London and think I need some
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