The Upsetter Presents: "Ode to All" for Grailed
- Words Cam Hicks
- Date May 22, 2018
To Whom It May Concern,
The Upsetter is a platform I created in fall of 2014, with the aim of finding out what I truly want to do with my life. Simultaneously, The Upsetter was also created to challenge the direction of the industries we love, mainly fashion and music. The Upsetter represents and celebrates those who cherish—and were raised on— this culture, triumphing over the entities that do things simply because it’s a trend. Combined together, those ideals are what The Upsetter represents.
Over the course of The Upsetter’s existence, I’ve experimented mainly with visual content. This includes editorials, videos and interviews accompanied by original photography. The jackets are my latest experiment, inspired by my own experiences wearing and customizing a chore coat; customizing the coat meant a lot to me. It began as something I wanted to make for myself—at the time, I didn’t really own a piece of clothing that spoke to me personally and I didn’t own anything that was personalized. I reached out to embroidery specialists The Griggs Brothers to have the quote “No more smoke and mirrors” embroidered onto the coat. Mentioned in conversation with a good friend and mentor, the phrase spoke to me during a time of uncertainty and frustration with how low the standards for quality and originality have become.
Wearing the coat around the city to different jobs sparked a lot of positive conversations. I thought it’d be a good idea to make a few others, incorporating more of the quotes and messages that resonate with my peers and I. I chose to work with vintage Carhartt jackets for two reasons. First, I wanted to emphasize the value and character of secondhand items. Second, I like Carhartt’s connection to the working man.
The messaging on the jackets—custom-embroidered with the invaluable support of The Griggs Brothers—stems from feelings of uncertainty. Like many creatives hustling here in the city, these items ask the thought provoking questions we all grapple with: Is what I’m doing with my life the right thing? Am I making the right moves? Will all this hard work that I’m putting in every single day eventually pay off?
Taken as a whole, the jackets are meant to be a representation of the journey of self-discovery, challenging the norm along the way. I wanted people to see the jackets and be moved to actually question their surroundings and themselves, to look at what I’m doing as an example of making things for yourself while avoiding the trend. I hope these jackets challenge the viewer to discover what they, themselves, are worth.
-Cam