Opening Ceremony Announces Club Kids Collection
The line is set to be released on November 15th, just before Walt Cassidy’s book comes out.
It’s no secret that the Club Kids of 80s/90s NYC have had a great impact on the fashion world. Dubbed one of the last pre-Internet subcultures, no one did glitz and glam quite like the Club Kids. Although the subculture itself may have died out, their rebellious spirit and absurdist style live on.
Bringing back some of the Club Kids’ flair, Opening Ceremony recently collaborated with OG Club Kid Walt Cassidy, who is perhaps better known as Waltpaper, on a clothing line. Cassidy was introduced to the brand via mutual friend Chloë Sevigny who has also collaborated with the company in the past. An OG Club Kid, Cassidy brought a certain authenticity to the collection. As an artist and writer, Cassidy was not only one of the Club Kids, he also documented the movement/subculture, and his extensive knowledge of Club Kids makes the collection feel like an intimate and profound tribute, rather than a reuse of the aesthetics of Club Kids.
Cassidy’s highly anticipated new book New York Club Kids by Waltpaper is set to come out at the end of the month, so the collection makes a great tie in. New York Club Kids is a “visual diary,” but it also serves as a reexamination of the impact club kids have had on youth culture today– from the concept of distinctive branding to the gender revolution.
The collection, which will drop on the 15th, just before the book, shares this purpose in many ways. The theatrics and surrealism of the Club Kids are very much present, with plenty of extravagant tutu skirts featured, but, maybe because the Club Kids were so ahead of their time, it also feels somehow grounded in modernity, with hoodies emblazoned with Waltpaper’s face and lunchboxes that showcase a reimagined Opening Ceremony logo.
