Porter Robinson Made Streetwear With Designers He Met On Vine

Porter Robinson "met" the Tokyo-based designers of Galaxxxy on Vine. As something of a connoisseur of Japanese streetwear, though, he'd known of the anime-inspired brand long before that. After a video he took at a Galaxxxy store in Shibuya found its way to the designers, a collaboration was inevitable. Robinson's designed a unisex hat, T-shirt, and sweatshirt—all of which feature references to his debut album, Worlds, and his interactive live show, the latter of which he debuted in Japan earlier this month.

Robinson's signature kaomoji is interwoven in the pieces, which combine Harajuku's signature vibrant colors and "the more Western long, drapey streetwear cuts," Robinson told FADER over email. He also sounded off on the nuances and intentions of his designs, which you can read about below. Shop Porter Robinson x Galaxxxy at the Galaxxy Harajuku flagship and in a limited run online.

How did this collaboration come about?

Weirdly, we met through Vine, but I was already a fan of them. The way Galaxxxy combined net-culture and Akihabara-style inspiration mixed with streetwear and Harajuku maximalism—it was probably the first time I'd seen literal anime imagery mixed with fashion. It was two things I love that are fairly opposed, combined in a really amazing way. So in 2013 I was in Japan, and the clerk in the Shibuya 109 Galaxxxy location was wearing the same socks as me, so I made a short video which GALAXXXY saw and retweeted. My label in Japan, KSR, then reached out to them about a collaboration, and they sent designs right away.


How did you first get into Harajuku style?

I think pretty much anyone who is interested in fashion can find style they like there; Harajuku represents a whole breadth of styles (not only the more internationally famous stuff like decora and lolita, although of course that's there too); if you have an interest in fashion at all, you're pretty likely to see something you're into. I have a folder of street snaps that inspire me, and Japanese street snaps (many in Harajuku) comprise a pretty huge part of that. I routinely see stuff when I'm there that would make New York Fashion Week dudes jealous. J-Fashion is just incredibly inspiring.

What was your inspiration behind the designs?

The designs combine the more western long, drapey black streetwear cuts with the more maximalist color schemes that Harajuku (and Galaxxxy) are known for. The Kanji say "SEKAI", which means "world," like my album title; on the left sleeve, they spell out "Porter" using the Kanji for "many" and "enamored"—which could also mean "trance"—as they explained it. My favorite aspect is probably the blue-pink wireframe stuff—so nostalgic to me.

9/5/15 - Chicago, IL @ North Coast Music Festival (Live)
9/6/15 - Depew, OK @ Backwoods Music Festival (Live)
9/13/15 - Kansas City, MO @ Dancefestopia (Live)
9/25/15 - Las Vegas, CA @ Life is Beautiful (Live)
9/27/15 - Fairburn, GA @ TomorrowWorld (Live)