Hood By Air Has Finally Returned (for Real This Time)
Naomi Campbell stars in the new campaign for Hood By Air's highly-anticipated return to fashion, following its hiatus announced in 2017 and a small Matrix-inspired capsule that dropped last year.
Speaking to Vogue, HBA's creative director Shayne Oliver explains why Campbell was the right model to inaugurate the brand's return “She [Campbell] is such a mother figure to [so many people in fashion] and has always been so outspoken about Black people in fashion, Black identity, and Black creativity."
Campbell is photographed by Luis Alberto Rodriguez and styled by Carlos Nazario in the new ready-to-wear pieces from Hood By Air's forthcoming "PROLOGUE" collection. The new pieces combine a focus on functionality with bold and impressive silhouettes to deliver leather motorcross pants, a cropped leather puffer, and a top infused with hardware, belt clips, zippers, and straps. "PROLOGUE" will consist of three themes, "Mother," "Veteran," and "Merch," which are expected to follow in the coming months as a three-part narrative arc.
During its hiatus, Hood by Air's influence on the industry has been extremely conspicuous. From the adoption of HBA's trademark "street-casting" (informed by casting directors Walter Pearce and Kevin Amato) to the highly-charged energy of its runway shows to its casual inclusion of "genderless" pieces, many brands have been clamoring to replicate what HBA was doing when it first launched nearly a decade ago.
In the brand's downtime, Oliver took on a role as guest designer for Helmut Lang, and reworking some Italian outerwear into some avant-garde, four-armed pieces in collaboration with Colmar A.G.E.
You can shop the new pieces on Hood By Air's official webstore.