A$AP Rocky unveils AWGE collection inside Karl Lagerfeld’s former mansion

A$AP Rocky unveiled his AWGE collection inside Karl Lagerfeld’s former home on Friday evening, guests entering the St. Germain mansion through a maelstrom of fans.

Security was uber tight to get past the main portico, into the cobble courtyard. Before, Karl would show off his latest acquisitions – from 18th-century furniture to coveted Weimar Republic movie posters. Now, A$AP Rocky displays high performance Alpine cars or wads of fake dollars on trays of fake lines of cocaine.
 
Hip-hop music pounding out in downstairs lounges; on each seat, baseball caps reading AWGE, the brand name of the musician’s creative agency. Though the show music turned out to be three great unreleased tracks from the New York-born rapper. 

Entitled ‘American Sabotage’, the collection featured multiple looks featuring the expression ‘Don’t Be Dumb’. Though seeing that admonishment on, for instance, a waxed and cut-out largely sheer T-shirt that covered the front of a blond model but not an inch of her back, did seem a tautology.
 
Ironically, the best looks were the most conventional: an almost pristine YSL-style pant suit worn by an Asian beauty, shod in slingbacks featuring, you guessed it, ‘Don’t Be Dumb’. Or some natty blazers for guys worn with triple-waistline pants.

See catwalk

Otherwise, there were far too many oddly styled mash-up ensembles – like droopy sweatpants paired with grunge plaid shirts. Or a padded parka worn by a model whose face was hidden by a handkerchief, whose right hand carried a sack full of grubby fake dollars. Yet, somehow, there was also a good deal of merch – like a Raf Simons-worthy flight jacket worn upside down and plastered with an image of a rotten-toothed Uncle Sam saying ‘F$CK YOU’.

The event attracted a slew of hip-hop stars; French influencers; designers like Jonathan Anderson and Kris Van Assche; and, bien sur, Rocky’s partner Rihanna, who made a dramatic entrance one hour late amid a paparazzi feeding frenzy.
 
And, of course, one could not help recalling that Rihanna had to shutter her own fashion label, whose clothes always seem out of the prince range of the people who were meant to wear them.
 
A$AP Rocky’s AWGE collection, however, one suspects will have a better life expectancy. Something about its marketability suggests we will be seeing many more of this designer’s shows. 
 
Quite what Karl would have thought, we can only surmise.