TEA PAPER n 0 2 - Fashion & Art magazine -
Asher Levine, a 22 year old native Floridian, is one of the most intriguing and inspiring young avant-garde designers on the scene. At an early age, his mother noticed a creative passion in him, and helped foster it. Today his conceptual and forward thinking designs have been seen on the likes of Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas. He launched his eponymous line in Fall/Winter 2010, and in October 2010 showed his Spring/Summer 2011 show at New York Fashion Week.
When did you first realize that you had a passion for design and creation? Asher Levine: When I was very young, I always sketched in the dirt or on anything I could get my hands on. In Florida, if you dig down a few feet, you hit clay, so I would go to my backyard and dig up clay, then use that clay to sculpt. I remember the pungent clay odor like it was yesterday. Creating new forms with the most basic of elements has always fascinated me. You are so young and have accomplished so much already! How does that feel? I began my first fashion journal when I was 11 years old - I knew for a long time I wanted to create clothing, so really it seems like it has been a long time! The accomplishment to me is not about what I have already done, but what I need to create for tomorrow. Take me through the design process. It seems to me that you have a very organic and natural way of going through the steps. Can you elaborate? I have always felt like Dr. Frankenstein, mixing unrelated elements into a new form of life. For instance, I stumbled upon this new shrimp species that was recently discovered. At the same time, I was working with a musician inspired by Tom of Finland. When I sketched that day, I fused classic leather jackets with a new textural form that we haven’t seen before, yielding a new, fun, sexy style.
Looking through your designs, it is easy to see the natural progression from your Fall 2010 collection to your most recent Spring 2011 collection. I also read about your deep fascination with the biological, scientific, and organic. Would you say that your collections are natural evolutions, as in life; or do you think your collections are more separate, and distinct? Each collection embodies a new way of making the male form sexy. Some styles are a progression from previous designs and others manifest whole new silhouettes. I also read that as a child you were interested in sculpture and the creative process. You have described your method of working as ‘sculpting’; sculpting a shoulder, or a hip. How do you think this sculptural artistic method aids in the creation of your line? Sculpture is everything - what differs sculpture is the medium you use. I chose fashion because there is something in the human psyche that responds so drastically to the manipulation of the human form. It is that response that I am obsessed with. A lot of your work is about silhouettes and proportions. I heard you mention the notion of the “New Masculine”. What does this mean and how do you think this will translate to the average man?
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A women tweeted me a few days ago, thanking me for getting her fiancé into fashion. It is sparking this interest in men, who otherwise would have cared less about style, that drives me to get up every day. I think every person, regardless of gender, should have access to new and fresh styles and not be tied down to silhouettes that haven’t changed in generations. A lot of your work is deeply rooted in the conceptual, the artistic and the visceral. Whether it is the videos you put out that go seamlessly with your collections; or the ways in which you present your clothes. What are you trying to convey through all of this? Does it go beyond ‘just fashion’? Conquer your fears, evolve into your new being. We are so excited to see what will be next from you. Do you have any ideas as to where you see yourself in the next 5 years? Thank you! I honestly have no idea - I really want to take the brand into many areas within the fashion and art industry, all for the purpose of understanding ourselves
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