Tyler, The Creator remains a very busy man. Always ultra active on the music scene, as evidenced by the critical and public success of his latest album “Call Me If You Get Lost”, he remains no less busy with his brands Golf Wang and GOLF le FLEUR. The latter has been famous for its collaboration with Converse for a few years now.
Today, however, it is Golf Wang who collaborates with the Malden-based label with the release of two new models, the Python Pink Dogwood and the Python Blue Topaz. For the occasion we come back in detail on the collaboration between Tyler, The Creator and Converse.
The Origins of Golf Le Fleur, Tyler, The Creator.
Without copy-pasting Wikipedia, let’s try to give a brief portrait of Tyler Gregory Okonma aka Tyler, The Creator. Figurehead of the late collective Odd Future (or Odd Future Wolf Gang), with his companions Hodgy, Casez Veggies, Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis or Frank Ocean, Tyler will escape very quickly from this mold where he dreamed in RZA for the Wu.
Left to his own devices, the producer-rapper will continue for some time in this rap wrongly qualified as horrorcore, and little by little, with the passing of the albums, his influences will become more refined. The rough and punk aspect of his music will find a place beside bossa nova, r’n’b and jazzy excursions. A great mishmash, made of collages and abrupt transitions. Neptunes (one of his biggest influences), but passed by his aesthetic, his anger, his curiosity.
Because the artist is a character. Always on the verge of a controversy, always in excess, never in a smooth and wise communication. And like other “total” artists, whose lifestyle directly influences their work, music is not enough.
Golf Wang, the Beginnings in Fashion
Very quickly, the success of Odd Future going well, the collective releases merch for all their fans. Relatively basic, prints on cheap Gildan tee-shirt, we find however the energy and the fluo colors of the crew, and a depth of catalog uncommon for merch. But for Tyler it’s not enough, he wants to go further and let his creativity speak. He’s been passionate about fashion for a long time and his influences are mainly Vans, Supreme, Jeremy Scott, skate culture, but also streetwear and hip-hop.
This is how Golf Wang was born in 2011. Counterptery of Odd Future Wolf Gang, the brand is the first step of the young rapper producer (barely 20 years at the time) in professional fashion. A total control, only master on board from the design to the communication, the creator puts his guts in this new line of clothing. Completely separate from the Odd Future merchandise, the new brand takes off.
True to his image as an ebullient and impetuous artist, the controversy was not long in coming about the first collections of the young label of the Creator. Blackfaces, Nazi symbols with LGBTQIA+ colors, or even Trump made up as Hitler. Obviously, these stylistic exuberances will make people talk about them, and a nice free publicity will follow for the brand. Nevertheless, these facetiousnesses will become rarer as Tyler, The Creator will get older and will mature its purpose.
The Beginnings of GOLF le FLEUR.
Let’s go back briefly to Golf Wang to mention the 3 years collaboration with Vans, from 2013 to 2016. Several sneakers will come out of this collab, on silhouettes like the Old Skool Pro, the Vans Authentic, the sk8-hi… Although nowadays these releases sell at quite high prices (like Nike or Jordan), Tyler, The Creator will not continue the adventure. He was able to have fun on some colors, but, by his own admission, was limited in his artistic momentum.
Finally, a new collaborator will allow Tyler to level-up, a collaboration in which he has total control over the product. Thus were born, in 2017, the first GOLF le FLEUR Converse sneakers. Because yes it’s Converse, through Pharrell Williams, who comes looking for the rapper/producer to design a new pair of sneakers around the One Star. The name of GOLF le FLEUR is quite found since Tyler is about to release his new album Flower Boy.
As we will see, the collaboration with Converse (owned, like Jordan, by Nike) will be fruitful and each new sneaker will be a small event. GOLF le FLEUR will become a brand in its own right, more luxurious with each collection. Today this new label has its own store in the heights of Malibu, and the current line keeps only a few of the youthful antics of Tyler, The Creator. We find the fluorescent and pastel colors, the energy of the artist, on high-end handmade products.
The GOLF le FLEUR x Converse Collaboration.
Tyler, The Creator now has two distinct brands, GOLF the FLOWER and GOLF WANG. The first one being the name of the collab with Converse via Golf Wang (you follow!?). The Golf Wang store is located on Fairfax Avenue, the mecca of streetwear in California. From Supreme to Alife to The Hundreds, the biggest names in streetwear are there, and fans of Odd Future and the Creator will give the neighborhood an extra boost in the 2010s.
Over the course of the GOLF le FLEUR and Converse collections, several pairs of very popular sneakers were released. Pell-mell we could find the “Burlap Pack” composed of a Chuck Taylor high with burlap on the upper, and one in off white, as well as a Converse One Star Ox low also in burlap. But also, a Chuck Taylor 70 with pink flaming patterns, named Yellow Flame. The famous “chenille” model also revisits the Chuck with the colors of Tyler. Candy pink, sky blue, pastel and the classic little flower as a logo. We could also mention the famous Polka Dot released in fall 2020.
The designer has worked so much on Converse shoes, especially the classic Chuck Taylor and One Star, that the brand proposed him to create a new silhouette. Thus was born the Converse Gianno OX, with a decidedly different style from the One Star and Chuck. We are halfway between sneakers and trail shoes, in a mixture of leather and mesh. A more technical sneaker, very typical 90’s, which combines the sportswear of Converse and the influences of Tyler.
All this work for Converse, on low or high pairs, from the Chuck 70 to the One Star, through the Gianno, have allowed Tyler, The Creator to go beyond the borders of his fan base. From his beginnings in music, to the creation of Golf le Fleur, a lot of ground has been covered. And it is with pleasure that we present you the latest release, namely the Converse x golf 70 x Egret/ Corydalis Blue! A mix of forest camouflage, snow owl details and blue piping to spice it all up, a resolutely Golf Wang signature!
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