July 30th 2008
Age: 16
Nationality: Jamaican
Occupation: Artist, poet, musician, performer, father.
In Amsterdam: Too long
Why did you move to Amsterdam?
Rest and being able to be and become an artist.
What do you think of Amsterdam street culture,
how the people dress, express themselves?
Basically copying what they see in magazines. Real street
culture comes from a need to express one’s self and from
a place where one has no money, here it is different, folks
have enough money to do and become what they see in
magazines. Of course there are exceptions but by a large
there is simply the herd mentality… Following each other..
Did your style of clothing changed since you live here,
and because of what, these can be emotional, cultural
reasons or and practical reasons such as weather or
availability?
My style of clothing has changed and improved due partly
financial forces or sponsorship choices or simple that better
clothes can be found somewhere else. Growing up is also
part of it, as one shapes ones own self image then it becomes
apparent that yesterdays fashion does not apply with
today’s looks and vice versa, simple. Supply and demand and
the demand is always greater than supply thus, one shapes
ones own identity, based on self image and self projection
and inflection and reflection. Music is also and influence;
music videos tend to show the latest and trendiest.. Whether
we wear the clothes or not is up to us. As for the notion of
cultural reasons. not really, it is rather to shape culture to put
ones own individual edge or stamp on culture...
I have been fortunate to be sponsored early by a few companies
that scouted me for their brand and was able to shape
what kinds of clothes they put out for style conscious folks.
Writing about it now seems awkward and my whole intent
then and now is to look at all aspects of the city as a lifestyle
cycle, where ones routine and work and lounging influences
what one wears and where one goes, or even lives, and eats..
Ironically most cultures, at least the Dutch, haven’t a clue
as to what shape its fashion is in, simply because people are
so bizzy copying and imitating what they see in cheap magazines
as such the emphasis is on being the same..
Of course, the obvious persist, the seasons summer fall
winter spring, one wears wool cashmere and scarves in
bright hues, the seasons they change with the favourite
colours, and summer shorts or linen or cotton, to even silk.
For myself I have always dressed with the season simply
because of practical reasons, in winter its cold and wet,
and in summer its dry and hot, one has to wear clothes that
keeps one warm and cool. I have my favourite designers or
my favourite mode of expression, mixing the old with the new
and the contemporary, keeping the basics strong and the
frivolous things like scarves and gloves to a minimal, saving
money for the shoe/boots or a good coat..
Are you influenced by what you consider Dutch culture
or by any other culture represented in Amsterdam?
No, rather the question should be, is Dutch culture influenced
by other cultures in Amsterdam, that answer is yes,
enormously and with greater degrees of hilarity, by this
I mean that city culture as it were always, by and large tend
to absorb all the small eco cultures that exists in the city.
The dominant culture then functions as a sort of house and
the different rooms function as the types of culture in that
house where all is there and mixed up, by this I mean on any
given day one can find a Palestinian / Arabic head scarf
wrapped around the neck of some ‘nederhop’, ‘wigger’, they
come in black and white and red and white and black and
ochre. Somewhere somehow that scarf has made it across
lines of culture and on the street, and on the necks of the
many, that is but one example. By this I mean the house has
rooms not yet opened or explored. What started out as a
political statement has become fashion.
During the sixties and seventies these scarves were worn
by anarchists to protect their identities, while throwing stones
or Molotov cocktails, or by heads of state to show their
national identity..
The culture of the city as we know it is constantly turning
itself over and out influencing the dominant by setting the
trend of supply and demand. The European way of dressing
is a mish mash of all the cultures of the world. On any given
day one can find clothes from Tibet, mixed with clothes from
America, and Amsterdam, topped off with a Balkan hat...
so to speak. I guess what I am saying is that while one lives
and dwells in Amsterdam, its ecosystem of eating and dress
is always fast forwarding to be inclusive and exclusive, and
that is always independent of Dutch culture itself, rather
rooted in city culture..
Are you aware of the fact that 177 cultures are
represented?
Yes, I knew that simply from understanding the vast dynamics
of city life and the ecosystem of city life. Again it’s a
matter of measuring ones own space and how one navigates
it with the help of others. By this I mean I believe that
Amsterdam as a city is influenced by the many openness
of all that is dwelling in it. Rather than thinking of it as influencing
us, we influence it by our own self expression, and our
own dreaming to express it on the catwalk that is the streets,
that is cosmopolitanism.
It is important not to think of the culture of the city as an
influential fabric on its people, rather it is a fabric from which
many people create their own identities, through living working
eating dressing, it is the backdrop from which to spring,
projecting and invention, there is no set rule in the book,
no set ways to be and become. The streets itself see and
breathe and speak in languages not yet written down, not yet
photographed not yet seen, yet it’s there teaming amidst all
the traditional, and the practical, the holy and the ugly.
What is the day is tomorrows night and the night is always
influenced by what isn’t there in the day...dus.
