BODEGA S/S 2012: Hidden in Plain View
(Words: William Yu, Images: Fiona Boyd)
The city of Boston is tinted grey. Cold and faded, the crimson bricks of 6 Clearway Street are caught in the struggle between a short winter and a premature spring. A quiet street, Clearway is home to several nondescript establishments – a brownstone apartment building, a Christian Science Reading Room, and an unassuming convenience store. In the windows of this store sit shelves of laundry detergent and toilet paper. No sign hangs outside, no welcome mat rests at the foot of the door. But every once in a while, someone walks out of the store, tightly gripping a purple plastic bag. Hanging low, the bag gently reflects the sunlight, warming the street with a soft purple glow. If you were to guess what is in the bag, you might assume Advil, Trident, maybe some Old Spice. Wrong. You would be closer guessing Nike, Barbour and Mark McNairy.
Bodega, stocked with all of your favorite rat poisons and rice cookers, is known for housing a sneaker utopia hidden behind its broken Snapple vending machine. While stocking an impressive array of limited edition feet ornaments, Bodega also carries exclusive selections from menswear brands around the world, including its own in-store line, also named Bodega. Though the line over the years has primarily consisted of small pieces, hats and t-shirt mostly, this spring presented an opportunity for the crew to share its identity with the rest of the fashion industry. Presenting the SS12 collection – a Bodega family production.
It would be foolish to think that the SS12 collection appeared overnight or even within the span of a few months. The idea of creating a complete and cohesive line has had its roots for almost as long as Bodega has been in business. “It’s been three years since we got away from just doing hats with New Era and T-shirts with local guys,” recollects co-owner Jay Gordon, who along with Dan Natola and Oliver Mak make up the triumvirate that launched Bodega in 2006. Though cut-and-sew pieces have been in their thoughts for a long time, the concept of a Spring/Summer line wasn’t fully put into motion until late last year. “There are so many people out there that want to do a line. Everybody talks about cut-and-sew and this and that, but it definitely is a process. It’s a long and difficult road. Because we didn’t come from that sort of background, the learning curve has been really sharp,” admits Dan. And for its first foray in creating a full collection, the process undoubtedly had its challenges. “We started, maybe… around last summer,” says Marvin Bynoe, one of the two Bodega designers, “We started late, [and] before you knew it we had this big responsibility to put this line out.”
Fortunately for Marvin, or Marv as he’s called around the shop, he doesn’t have to carry the responsibility of designing the upcoming line on his own. Randy Price, aka Pen Griffey Jr., posts up in the front of the store with Marv to collaborate on the creative direction of the collection. Friends since their high school days attending Boston Arts Academy, Marv and Randy share a clear rapport. For example, on one slow afternoon while a track from some wannabe Boston rapper blares from the speakers, Marv and Randy quietly vibe to the music as they work. And every once in a while, a simultaneous chuckle would escape from the two acknowledging the artist’s lyrical failures. No conversation was necessary; they were both thinking the same thing. In producing the Spring/Summer line, Marv and Randy built off of this rapport to produce something that would challenge their creative minds. “[For] the spring/summer line, we’re really trying to go for taking existing pieces that we like and mix them together with other things,” says Marv, scratching his shaved head as he thought of an example. “For instance, the bomber jacket – we wanted to mix it with a varsity jacket. Just trying to do something new.” (Continue reading 'Hidden in Plain View')
