5 Things We Learned from The Basement’s Panel at the Converse One Star Hotel

We’re living in a time where people, brands, and businesses can link up and share ideas from across the world at the touch of a button. But are there limits to how accessible you should make a collaboration? And how exclusive does it have to be to be “cool?” Our panelists discussed how consumers interact with these factors.

Rob Myers: “Collaboration is made easy due to social media. It’s cool, I can just see some talented kid from Leeds post on Insta, like his imagery, and then think “he would work great with a certain artist” from somewhere completely. 

Music and fashion are now so frequently intertwined it’s near impossible to keep up with the sheer number of collabs between the two scenes. Most of the One Star Campaign was fronted by musicians such as Yung Lean, Mabel McVey or A$AP Nast, and both scenes inform each other today like never before. The panelists opened up on this increasing convergence between the two worlds.

Rob Myers: “Styling is a massive part of music now, and its all part of the craft. I love meeting a bedroom music geek – like a producer. Bedroom producers… they just kill their music as they have that passion at their core. All the rest of it, their image, their brand etc… their collaborators can work out.”

Alex Sossah: “Social media has allowed some musicians to remain relevant by effectively becoming models before they even need to put music out. They can generate interest in how they look rather than putting out music all the time.”

What was made clear throughout the chat was how integral a good team was to good collaboration, as Alex Sossah summarizes, “A great collaboration is a great idea and a great team to execute it and take it to the next level.” One of the lesser seen elements of how something like a shoe collab comes together is how both teams interact – and this was talked about at length by the panelists.

Jordan Vickors: “I feel like the most important think in design is collaboration. How you push boundaries, how you make the most beautiful building, or how you make the most fire record. Like if you have a problem, you overcome it by talking to someone about it, and that why having the right team is so important.” 

Alex Sossah: “Loads of people are thinking about design and image of any collaboration, which is why the smartest artists make sure to collaborate with the best creative teams. Like with the Nike and Skepta collab, he has a team that he trusts to translate his thinking and make it incredible. When you see that whole journey, with the Nike design team; it’s great."

The One Star Hotel brought in everyday people into designer’s creative processes on a tangible level. People were allowed to interact with the rooms on display, as well as create their own t-shirts by printing on knitting their own unique design ideas into being. The panelists were in firm belief that this will inform the way in which more and more collabs will work in future. 

Alex Sossah: “Everything is so accessible straight away. That’s why Paria’s converse are so exciting, because they’re not immediately accessible, despite everyone wanting them. You had to find out more by going to the workshop. She brought them into the process. Make it exclusive in a real way rather than just readily available.”

The amount of time collaboration takes to come to fruition in different industries was talked about extensively throughout the conversation. The worlds of music and style collaboration have timescales which differ massively, for a wide variety of reasons.

Minnie Harding: “15 year-olds now are not the same as 15-year-olds ten years ago, so brands have to keep up with that space.”

Rob Myers: “With brand work it can be six to eight months, maybe two years in advance. With music, it’s six to eight weeks then publishing it. So I really get the best of both worlds. I create with musicians at a super fast level, which makes it really exciting. Balls to the wall, as fast as you can; making something appropriate for the musician, the audience they have etc. Working at that speed and having to know people’s interests and what excites them, that’s what i enjoy most. Musicians actually run much more behind schedule, so when you’re producing your work when you’re under pressure.”

The Basement's panel took place at the Converse One Star Hotel. For more information, follow @converse on Instagram.