"Weekend Reading" is a weekly rundown of our favorite stories from around the web.
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A$AP Rocky Talks New Album, Under Armour Deal, and His Deep Love of Flowers
"Our interview with A$AP Rocky was supposed to take place backstage after an A$AP Mob concert in Philly, in a quiet, empty room, but in the moment, Rocky had a better idea. 'We need to capture this chaos right here,' he said, gesturing around his dressing room, still packed with Mob members, girls, security guards, other unidentified loiterers, and even (according to A$AP Ferg, anyway) a loose mouse. 'Let's embrace the chaos,' Rocky suggested. 'Rolling Stones in 1967, feel me?'"

via: GQ Style

Diet Prada Is the Instagram Account Calling out Copycat Culture in Fashion
"Who owns an idea? Well, it depends on who you ask. As a visually-led industry that trickles down from the top, discussion about intellectual property theft and copying in fashion can tread us through some uncomfortable waters. On the other hand, a creative process that’s limited to insert-trend-copy-and-paste is a nail in the coffin for original design."

via: Highsnobiety

Adam Pritzker Might Have the Solution to Fashion’s Retail Problem
"Adam Pritzker is one of those bold entrepreneurs who isn’t afraid to compare his business to others in the market. “I think the best way to talk about a brand is to talk about the people we admire,” he explained to the Observer. Pritzker went on to liken Assembled Brands, the mini fashion empire he started in 2013, to Y Combinator, an innovative funding model for startups. Oh, and he mentioned Prada and LVMH, too. Needless to say, the latter is a particularly bold contrast."

via: Observer

The Team Who Put the ‘We’ Into ‘We Margiela’
"There is a famous image of the team at Maison Martin Margiela that was captured by Annie Leibovitz and published in 2001 in US Vogue. Including everyone from the sales and communication people to the design studio, no more than around 50 people feature, lined up wearing the signature blouses blanches (loosely translated as white coats) that were – and still are – the uniform of the house. The image is most remarkable for the fact that one little white chair in the front row is empty. Located between Jenny Meirens, Martin Margiela’s creative and business partner with whom he founded the business in 1988, and Patrick Scallon, the house’s communications director from 1993 to 2008, it was the place reserved for Margiela himself who failed to appear. Leibovitz has, let’s face it, photographed more wide-angled superstar line-ups than most and was, reportedly, none too pleased about this particular no-show. The end result of Martin Margiela’s absence, though, couldn’t have led to a more masterful encapsulation of the spirit of the place in question and the way in which it functioned."

via: AnOther

Calvin Klein’s First Coffee-Table Book Is R-Rated History
"It’s hard to talk about sex and fashion these days, or sex and modeling, or sex and ad campaigns, without a post-Weinstein lens on it all. Every discussion, every photo, looks different — potentially suspect. Yet sex has been a fundamental tool in the selling of fashion for years."

via: The New York Times

What Becomes a Rebel Most?
"I always detect a flinch in people whenever I respond to the age-old question, 'What was your favourite show this season?' 'Rick Owens,' I tell them. It’s the spontaneous answer I’ve given almost exclusively over the past few years, ever since Owens became illuminated by a different kind of light. They flinch not just because I’ve never worn his clothes (and would look like a large fetish troll in his sylph- like cuts), but because they expect a trendy answer: the newest streetwear collaboration, the pseudo-arty Instagram label du jour or whichever designer darling just debuted at a big house. Those are the things that fuel the spinning wheel of fashion and yet, season upon season – with every epic show he puts on – I find myself worshipping at the altar of Rick. This independent fashion outsider with his set aesthetic has become my seasonal Jesus: someone to hear my prayers – someone who cares. Backstage after his SS18 men’s show in June, he started quoting his Sexual Harassment soundtrack like scripture. 'In this time of hate and pain, we need a remedy. I need a freak,' he cited."

via: 10Magazine

Menswear designer Martine Rose: "Fashion used to be for outsiders’
"Martine Rose’s studio is so new you can still taste the paint in the air. We’re in a renovated, 19th-century industrial building in Crouch Hill, north London, and the spacious rooms are delightful. But Rose is worried. 'I look at this area, this studio, it’s all so smart. I do think: ‘Shit, am I going to start doing really polished things now?’”

via: The Guardian

Behind the scenes with Barry Blitt, the New Yorker’s master cover artist
"Back when I worked at PC World magazine, one of my favorite parts of the job was getting sneak peeks at the work of illustrators whose art accompanied our articles. They typically gave us rough sketches of multiple ideas. And among our artists was Barry Blitt, who was already doing covers for the New Yorker, but—in the era before people shared New Yorker covers on Twitter—was not yet as big a name as he would become.”

via: Fast Company

Inside the Anything-Goes World of Instagram Fast-Fashion
"After the #menswear boom of the mid-to-late aughts, guys began looking in the mirror at their chambray shirts, raw selvedge denim and moc toe boots and wondering what was next for their sartorial lives. It wasn't long before they were trading in Yuketen for Yeezy, Ralph Lauren for Raf Simons, and A.P.C. for SLP. But swapping heritage gear for high-fashion looks put pressure on their wallets. Fast-fashion retailers like Zara and H&M were there to give them the trends they craved at a fraction of the cost (and often testing the boundary between 'inspired by' and outright ripped off in the process). As menswear became more like womenswear—more driven by 'it' items from season to season—guys started looking for new ways to keep up with the revolving door of trends.”

via: GQ

Meet the Teens Making Thousands from Selling Online
"Entrepreneurial teens are selling hyped merchandise on resale platforms such as Depop – and earning mega-bucks. Every Thursday morning, a snake-like queue forms outside streetwear brand Supreme’s store in Soho as fans line up in the hope of walking away with bags filled with limited edition clothing 'dropped' that day.”

via: The Guardian

Tags: weekend-reading