Capsule 1.0 - Pink Punk

To write about the C1 Pink Punk Capsule.

The Pink Punk collection is the very first capsule released in 2021 by Foutu World. Designed by @bennyphantom and conceptualised by @foutusadboy. The collections inspiration leans heavily on what modern day punk and alternative style is perceived as. With the debut of Machine Gun Kelly’s fifth studio album, ‘Tickets to My Downfall’, MGK is perceived to be the muse for this body of work. 

What is Pink Punk?

Punk rock is a music subgenre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Its defined by its loud, fast-moving characteristics. Being a more aggressive form of rock music. A punk could be someone described ‘as a worthless person’. This gritty blasé attitude saw Vivienne Westwood’s slogan ‘live fast, die young’ emerge within the hay day of the movement.

Pink is a colour that is often associated with femininity. For example, cult classic films like Grease showcase this stereotype. The ‘Pink Ladies’ racing jackets are used in heavy contrast against the ‘T Birds’ black leather jackets. Used to distinguish between female and male characters. Pink is often a colour that’s is often synonymous with femininity.

Opposites is exactly what we were aiming to do with Pink Punk. The idea was to combine the stereotypes associated with both words. Dirty with clean, masculine with feminine, black with pink and ultimately pink with punk. Pioneers of this type of style, in modern day pop culture, are artists like Lil B, Lil Peep and any pop punk band you listen to growing up in the early 90s-2000’s. These individuals started the basis for the inspiration to this collection.

Bomber Jacket

True to punk style the bomber jacket started off in our design process as a leather jacket. A leather jacket that would carry a mural, similar to that of DIY punk jackets of the past. There were a lot of factors that influenced the change. Primarily being that, compared to the 70’s, the bomber jacket it’s the modern day equivalent.

The design of the back mural comes from the tattoo work that can be seen on Machine Gun Kelly’s back. Swapping the letter ‘MGK’ with Foutu World’s infamous ‘FU2’ synonym in the same typeface. This also links back to the Greece jackets; being that the bomber jacket was designed to imitate team like racing/skating jacket.

The arrow like decals that radiate from the centre back of the bomber jacket we nicknamed ‘Spines’. This came from the distorted limbs of the horse’s in Salvador Dali’s ‘The Temptation of ST Andrew’. This piece of art can also be seen tattooed on MGK’s back.

Heartbreaker Hoodie

The Heartbreaker Hoodie came from the Capsules theme to contrast masculine and feminine elements. The idea was to take something synonymously sweet and combine it with something sour, so to speak. This is where the combination of its metal typeface and love heart graphic came from. Early iteration of this design saw cult classic characters being used in place of the heart. We decided, for the final version, that the graphic needed to resemble that of sweet/candy packaging.

The slogan ‘Heartbreaker’ comes as an adaption to the titled track ‘Jawbreaker’ from MGK’s ‘Tickets to My Down Fall’. We tried a few of these; ‘Bloody Valentine’ and ‘Forget Me Too’ being examples that weren’t used.

Bones Joggers

The ‘Bones’ Joggers started off life in the design process as skinny jeans. Though with the pandemic in full swing and skating being active activity, we went for a jogging bottom. This being said, the original idea was to imitate patch work jeans, as can be seen in some of the early sketches.

We ended up looking at bone structure as the basis of these ‘patches’. Taking heavy inspiration from Undercover’s use of the skeleton and also Supreme’s collaboration with Vanson leathers, being another notable influence.

JAWBREAKER HOODIE

Similar to the Heartbreaker Hoodie, the Jawbreaker Hoodie was names after the titled track ‘Jawbreaker’ from MGK’s ‘Tickets to My Down Fall’.

The front graphic took heavy inspiration from the Mohawk, a hair style that was incredibly synonymous to the rise of the punk movement. It also comes from the logo of Scottish punk band ‘The Exploited’ formed in 1978. We combined these elements with the ‘spine’ from the bomber jacket, inspired from the Dali tattoo on the back of MGK. Using the ‘spines’ in placement to where spikes of a mohawk would be.

TOO FAST TEE

True to the ‘Live fast, die young’ attitude, the Too Fast tee champions this slogan in its design. This design took heavy inspiration from Vivienne Westwood’s use of the slogan in her early designs. The front skull graphic comes from the skull and crossbones commonly seen with the slogan. The bones being swapped out with the ‘Spine’ graphic earlier mentioned.

The Tee’s back graphic comes from the longer, full slogan ‘Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die’. This in combination with the sinuous ‘FU2’ saw the number 2 used within the graphic. Its typeface is a @bennyphantom classic and has been used throughout the years within his work.

5 Panel Metal Cap

The 5 panel ‘Metal’ cap was designed with the elements of the other graphics. The reasoning behind this was that a hat is interchangeable with most outfits. We decided to with parts of the designs of other pieces so that the cap could be worn with every item.

Written By Benjamin Davis.

Benjamin James Davis, or more commonly known as @bennyphantom, is a multi-disciplinary artist that situates himself in the field of Fashion Design.

He operates within graphic design, pattern cutting & construction, illustration, fine art, product design, and textiles. Not to mention marketing and brand direction. @bennyphantom uses Fashion design as a vehicle to incorporate all the elements that encompass these practices.

He has been with the brand since September as a resident designer and aiding many other things Foutu World

You can check his work out at benjaminjamesdavis.com

His retail store @RE.Distribution, at benjaminjamesdavis.com/store

or @bennyphantom on Instagram