SNAKE 114.5: completed auctions / new snake shirts / ssense interview
Matheson... Leg Day Observer... it's all in here
Snake USA! Back in the mix! my new URL SNAKE.substack.com — I’m home 23.75-7 and have been wearing the same three dozen or so outfits every day (though I did get a nice Marduk shirt in the mail Monday) and don’t see more than a couple people and no one stylish lives in my neighborhood (the Rick Owens guy from the coffee shop is never around when I’m running my errands) and so clothing and vintage clothing have been very far from my mind….. but FOOD is not. SSENSE has a nice long interview I did with noted chef and fellow Canadian Matty Matheson. You can read it here:
https://www.ssense.com/en-us/editorial/fashion/vans-life-matty-mathesons-big-crunch
I like Matty a lot. We had a nice long convo and not everything made it.
Here’s a representative edit that was cut out for space:
MATTY: Yeah, when I transitioned out of true every day wearing a hardcore shirt, what I transitioned into… I only listened to like, Neil Young, I grew my hair long, I only would listen to Obituary and Neil Young. I was a longhair and wore a thrash vest with, like, plaid. I went from a core dude to the hesher, gnarly vibe. Like when everybody in NWC broke edge and turned into straight heshers.
SNAKE: That was a great summer.
Also, news from me:
making new shirts. Here are the designs:
they’ll be for sale next week. no preorders, no reprints. Making XXLs this time.
to buy, add snakeusa.bigcartel.com to your bookmarks. Or follow me on Instagram. Or email me. or fax me. Or email my assistant. (Email me for my assistant’s email.)
Some actual writing so that I don’t cannibalize your inbox. SNAKE 114.5. Completed auctions:
Someone finally bought this Columbia fishing jacket that is cut like a Margiela piece. And which looks like one. It took them a while. I started watching this one this time last year but didn’t pull the trigger for a few reasons:
tan colors don’t look good next to my light levantine complexion
I have jacket dysmorphia and cannot wear anything shorter than mid-thigh height. Any jacket that sits at my waist I feel is riding up to my bellybutton. I don’t leave parties in the middle because of my jacket dysmorphia, but I have in the very distant past
It’s never the right weather for these things.
But no one bought it until now. If you click through into the photo it’s a beautiful item of clothing. Lots of outdoor gear is less nice to look at than is novel or reminiscent. Many of us wore fleeces when we were children and now we are wearing them again. I guess that’s something. They’re expensive and oversized and repurposed. The lust for flashy outdoor clothing reminds me of the sneaker collaborations from 15 years ago. They won’t last. This jacket on the other hand is something a tortured man would wear in a Kiarostami film. Columbia has a great back catalog but they have made no clothing like this I’ve seen.
SOLD Furniture Item Of The Week:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/97656358_charles-and-ray-eames-fsw-6-half-height-screen
FINALLY an Eames half-height screen. I don’t like writing about the peloton (maybe a bad decision) but what I see as the move away from first-tier (aka Charles and Ray) mid-century furniture for like… what Henry Hill’s other girlfriend had in her apartment is disappointing but expected. We all grow out of even the most beautiful shapes if we look at them — are faced with them — long enough. This half-screen is great if you want to change into socks but don’t want anyone else noticing your foot tattoos or perhaps anklet. Furniture writing is odd since good furniture is harder to acquire than music, clothing, etc. because it is heavier. And good furniture needs to be in the home in the mix, can’t just be photos, if someone wants to like, actually develop and have strong taste. Staring at a sofa every day for years is the best way for a person to consider its strengths as an actual living design item that can be interacted with emotionally. As opposed to a referential photo. It’s also hard to get good furniture in New York because apartments are small and doorways are narrow. We take it on faith… who has what chair? How does taste exist? Where is this criticism coming from? All this is a way of saying caveat emptor, for thought and furniture too, sure, but also that Eames is weirder than it’s often given credit for, and that the visual depth of this thing jumps out at all times here… and is a deranged, sick in the head piece of furniture. It doesn’t mean you have to like it or even want it. I think they are just as undeniable as the air we breathe or the Coca Cola logo. But this goes without saying. A 6” high screen. For a pragmatic furniture design it’s absolutely idiotic… a mistake, excellent, beautiful, terrific.
Thanks for reading.
Snake
Other work: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-JLRt0Ec6gZBm50hATYCYmLctnF9GhVijoEbam50JSw/edit