What Andy Warhol understood better than anyone is that fame that lasts 15 minutes or longer is both a top-down and a bottom-up construct. The foundation for his notoriety wasn’t his racy films, the shock came from his elevation of everyday, commonplace, even banal, consumer goods in the form of Brillo boxes and paintings of Campbell Soup cans. Without being readymades, these remained graphically close to the originals, and were provocative because they chipped at the barriers between high and low, fine and commercial art, in a world in which mingling of classes and nationalities was not so common.
Although luxury fashion was slow to embrace a similar dissolution of boundaries—we’ve come a long way from the days when high-end retailers abandoned Halston after he signed a deal with JCPenney, fearing that such an association would tarnish the luster of their brands. Now that we’re living in a peak-collaboration era, we’ve seen how great the high/low collaborations can be (Junya Watanabe and Carhartt, Vetements and Juicy Couture), and have also been introduced to the truly unexpected trend of marquee brands coming together (Balenciaga x Gucci, Fendi x Versace).
But why stop there? Despite the stereotype of industry people not eating, food seems to be trending in fashion. Designers are luring customers to brick-and-mortar experiences with snacks and drinks: Manolo Blahnik’s uptown boutique was designed with a bar, Kith’s cereal ice-cream are legendary. Way back in 2010, Karl Lagefeld cosigned with Coca-Cola Light; this season Balenciaga’s Lay’s potato chip bag broke the Internet. Now, Reese’s Puffs cereal have just released a collaboration with Ambush, their first in fashion (they have previously collaborated with musicians like Travis Scott, Lil Yachty, and Tinashe, as well as the artist Kaws). The key to its success, in my estimation, has to do with authenticity, commitment—and Pop Art.
The designer Yoon Ahn’s collaboration takes three forms. The most signature-Ambush piece is a limited edition “Chrome Puff,” a hybrid bag/cereal bowl. This shiny metal orb is a futuristic marvel, split in the middle, it’s fitted with a removable silicone bowl and travel spoon, and closes with an enameled brand logo latch. The logo is also cut into the handle. Ahn, who launched her career in fashion with accessories, said her aim was to “make the most beautiful cereal bowl you’ve ever seen,” and acknowledges that making it was also an exercise in industrial design. “Is it kitchenware? Is it fashion?” she mused.
She also applied her aesthetic to “The Breakfastverse,” an interactive game in which the aim is to get to the “Chrome Throne.” “It’s not about eating together on the same table, but you can connect virtually,” Ahn notes. There are also two Ambush-designed boxes, one in the traditional Reese’s orange colorway and another in metallic chrome. At home in Seattle recently, Ahn said she had a sense of pride when she went with her parents to see the cereal stacked at the supermarket. This too is fame, and a reminder that the red carpet isn’t where all the action is.
General Mills, meanwhile, benefits from being in it for the long haul; in a short amount of time they have created an understandable, hypebeast-friendly story arc with their curated list of partners. Reese’s Puffs Brand Experience Planner Foluso Famuyide, Jr. says that today, the brand’s focus is on Gen-Z, and it’s hitting sweet spots that have nothing to do with taste buds and everything to do with a curatorial and archival age where style and specialist knowledge come together in the form of memes and collectibles. Reese’s Puffs collectible boxes/objects are the equivalent of the retail drop, but are they also the Warhol soup can of cereal? He brought the American supermarket to the art gallery and they’re bringing the art (and fashion) world to the supermarket.
Ahn, speaking at the launch, said yes. “That’s how I look at it. How do you project your idea to serve the masses, but you can afford it—unlike the actual Campbell Soup [paintings], you know?” She adds, “Cereal is a commodity in the sense that everyone can afford it.” On Instagram she posted, “It’s my Andy Warhol moment that meets my immigrant childhood dream come true to see my work at a supermarket in a [suburb] where I was once a kid growing up eating cereal as breakfast dreaming about the future.”
Ahn adds, “A lot of times the fashion message is all about scarcity, and certain people obtaining something that’s hard to get a hold of, so to me, if I’m working with an industry that’s outside of fashion, I want to reach as many people as possible.” She continues, “I think that’s the power of design that you can reach and really inspire people; and that is our duty too.” By managing to break through the noise and capture our attention with a project that feels thought-out and authentic, Ahn becomes a household name.
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Originally posted from “VOGUE” by Laird Borrelli-Persson
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