Category Archives: insight

Scott Pommier for Moto Guzzi 2012

Scott Pommier just finished shooting the latest ad campaign for classic Italian motorcycle manufacturer Moto Guzzi. To accompany the shoot there was a short video edit released as well, with some interesting insight into how Pommier got into motorcycle riding, namely getting arrested … well done as usual with Pommier, he turns out a quality shoot and the nice looking new range from Moto Guzzi don’t hurt at all, my standout being the V7 Racer… read through for a few more.

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XLARGE Summer 2012 by Ricky Powell

Short run of flics by the one and only Ricky Powell showcasing XLARGE‘s summer 2012 collection. Timely, as the Powell is perhaps best known for his work with the Beastie Boys, and XLARGE has a long history with the label… peep this vid for more on that, and a few more photos after the jump.

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Trusst by Flavie Halais

Here’s an extremely well executed video featuring two of my good friends, Andrew Ly and Melissa Matos, the founders and directors of Trusst. The black and white treatment here really fits with their aesthetic, and I think the pari do a great job explaining their inspirations, motivation, and direction. A bit of an aside from the type of stuff we normally cover here but a great watch if you’ve any interest in the more conceptual ‘high fashion’ side of this biz.

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84/85 Year in Review 2011

Another year down and damn was it a crazy one for the 84/85 boys. Significant change went down, both making career moves and once again finding ourselves in different cities. Although we weren’t in the same area code we still maintained the same routines: spending plenty of time riding bikes, riding motorcycles, having them break down (Brendan mostly), fixing them, pursuing our artistic endeavors (drawing/painting/music/etc), drinking plenty of beers with the boys, and getting in to all sorts of trouble along the way.

Not only was it a solid year for both of us personally but it was also a great year for the blauge: we feel like we have really carved out our niche in the vastly overcrowded internet menswear market, caring less about what the ‘other guys’ were up to and more about what we liked, no matter who or what it was. We also watched our hits steadily increase, perhaps as a direct result of this. So on that note, a big thank-you to everyone who dropped by our online homestead here at 84/85, whether it was just a knock at the door, a surf on the cyber couch, or a daily return trip, we appreciate you all. We do this site for ourselves and for those of you out there who live and feel the same general life aesthetic. Cheers for making 2011 a great year for us here, and we hope you tune back in once our regular posting schedule resumes, post NYE hangovers.

Also, we wanted to send shouts out to Selectism for their numerous credited reposts this year, which always drove a lot of traffic for us. Cred is given where it is due and Selectism deserves all that they get.

For the year in review we’ve broken it down in to two sections, reader’s favourites (as determined by total post hit count) and a couple of our personal favourite collections. Click through for the lists, and thanks again for reading – here’s to a rad 2012!

- 84/85

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HBTV Presents FUCT – 20 Years of Erik Brunetti

HBTV recently put up this great short vid featuring interviews and footage of Erik Brunetti, as shot by David Gallardo during Bruntetti’s retrospective show at LA’s Union. From the writeup,

‘Concisely recapping 20 years of Erik Brunetti’s involvement with FUCT is difficult; the artist and graffiti writer founded the label in 1990 and has since attracted many people with re-interpreted cultural themes and iconography and above all else a strong opinion’

Nothing but respect and admiration for Brunetti and his many artistic outputs from the 84/85 camp, and this vid is definitely worth the watch.

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Garde+Eames ‘Bricks’ LP

Ever since I moved to Vancouver in the summer my main dude Rob Squire and I have had a rotating cast of synths and drum machines in the back of his Catalog Gallery, anchored by a few key pieces. We would jam out tracks, record them, and then we finally got it together to edit some down in to proper songs. Bricks is a techno record, and we decided to give it away for free, for a bunch of reasons that are a two hour conversation in and of themselves. There’s a nice review over at FACT that will tell you a lot more and you can download the LP there as well, 320 kbps files with a .pdf booklet, all fancy like. 2011 was a really great year for me and music, if you want to hear more about that check my recap over at sub|div. And of course, many thanks if you give a listen, plenty more to come in 2012.

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Action Bronson & Statik Selektah – Well Done


There has been a bit of a resurgence in rap over the last year or so, with lots of new cats coming out such as Aesop Rock ASAP Rocky, Danny Brown, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Maffew Rogazino, Casey Veggies and many more, but one that has really stood out for me is Action Bronson. The Queens bred, Albanian descent, Ghostface-esque rapper has taken it back to classic NY rap shit. One thing that has been lacking in rap and rappers for that matter is style, charisma and character, and Bronsolini has all that. He rolls with the Smart Crew, and the Woodsmen (Mayhem Lauren etc.) who are two NY crews that are really doing it right now. He recently released the mixtape Well Done, produced by Statik Selektah, the combination of the two makes for some great new NY rap that I highly recommend you give a listen to. Bronson also keeps it real in the style dept; Polo, Carhart, Knicks hats, Oakleys, and shorts year round. Keep reading for a few of his videos as well as his Action in the Kitchen video series which is hilarious…

Action Bronson & Statik Selektah – Well Done

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Uniforms For The Dedicated Brand Video

Really awesome brand identity vid featuring Swedish label Uniforms for the Dedicated, covering topics such as their inspirations, how the line came to be, the intersections of mediums in their ongoing creative process, and the current state of Stockholm. The most notable part for me was when when one of the brand founders was explaining how Sweden’s tangible desire to consume Swedish lines was responsible for their rapid expansion and market gain… if only we had the same sort of attitude in Canada regarding our home-grown lines…

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