Skepta Calls In Slawn For Collaboration With Denim Tears

Hot off the heels of his appointment as the Creative Director at Supreme, Tremaine Emory continues to make waves in the industry, this time working alongside one of the most influential artists in UK history - Skepta. 

Creating a full capsule collection aptly named ‘Skepta Tears’, a play on words of Tremaine Emory’s brand ‘Denim Tears’, the range featured tee’s, jeans and jackets all of which feature intricate designs setting them apart from the more minimal logo pieces he features in his store. 

The theme of the collection focuses on the "abstract concept of home, featuring both traditional and surrealist elements such as the graffiti and printed textiles” from handpainted indigo Levis 501 jeans, continuing Emory's ongoing love for the style, to painted t-shirts featuring an evil eye design throughout. 

Denim Tears x Skepta 'Mama Goes To Market' Tee

However, the jewel in the crown is arguably the ‘Mama Goes to Market’ tee which places Skepta’s first ever painting, which shares the same name as the t-shirt it appears on. The painting marks the UK music artist's first released piece of art which depicts African Women going to a street market. Created in 2020, the painting was created during the peak of Covid which resulted in the artist needing an alternative outlet:

“I did it because I was just super-frustrated in my house...I guess I was just so used to expressing myself all the time” he told the Financial Times in an interview discussing his work in September, referencing how his shows has been cancelled in Spring.

'Mama Goes To Market' by Skepta, 2020

As with the 10-minute production of his famous hook on A$AP Rocky’s ‘Praise The Lord’, Skep didn’t take long in creating his first piece of artwork which supposedly took around a week to create. 

After its creation, the painting simply sat there for a year before it was taken to a Givenchy Spring 2022 Pre-Collection event earlier in 2022 in which the fashion house had collaborated with Mexican artist Chito, best known for his graffiti-style painting. At the event, the painting was tagged by Chito whose design can be seen on the left-hand side, as well as a signature on the back.

In addition to Chito, Skepta ensured to have homegrown talent involved within his work by getting UK Producer and DJ Goldie to tag his work as well as fellow graffiti style artist Slawn, who recently visited Kick Game, Covent Garden for an episode of Shopping For Sneakers, whose work can be seen on the right-hand side of the painting. 

2008 Grammy Award Worn Nike Air YEEZY 1 being sold at Sotherby's, 2021

While at the event, it’s said that the Grime MC was recommended that he bring the work to Sotherby’s, a world-renowned auction house that has sold some of the biggest art pieces, including sneakers, in history including Grammy Award Show worn Nike Air YEEZY 1’s, artwork from the legendary Banksy and more recently a pair of Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1s designed by the late Virgil Abloh.

After being estimated to sell for between £40,000 - £60,000, the artwork went on to be sold for £81,900 with the artist hoping that it went to Jay Z or Dave Chapelle, despite the buyer remaining anonymous. 

It was from this painting that the capsule collection was born, with Emory emulating the garments seen on the canvas as well as adapting the designs into additional pieces which can be seen modelled by Slawn in the images uploaded to Instagram ahead of the collection's release. 

Skepta (Right) with PUMA CEO (Left)

Björn GuldenHowever, for Skepta, the success doesn’t just end there after his collective ‘Big Smoke Corporation’ signed a deal with German sportswear brand PUMA to work on a project titled ‘Futro’. After the artists work with Nike, in which they created a range of sneakers under their brand SkAir, it’ll be interesting to see what’s in store between the new partnership. Nevertheless, the relationship seems to be kicking off with a positive start with Skep posting “Cheers to creative control” on a recent Instagram post; a matter that Ye (YEEZY) has been finding trouble with his rocky partnerships with adidas and GAP. 

It’s easy to argue that as Skepta has grown, his artistic expression and output have evolved and matured with him, only getting better and better with each project and medium, What the future holds is shaping up to be special. 

For the latest on Skepta x PUMA, keep it Kick Game.