EXCLUSIVE Q&A WITH JADEN SMITH OF MSFTSREP

Co-founded by multi-hyphenated fashion designer, actor, musician, entrepreneur, and activist Jaden Smith, alongside his sister Willow, Moises Arias, and his brother Mateo, aka ¿Téo?, MsftsRep is a fashion brand and collective with a progressive lifestyle appeal and a strong sense of community that has turned into a global phenomenon. Based in Los Angeles, it was tapped as the guest brand by Pitti Uomo, the premier international men’s wear showcase in March, where MsftsRep unveiled three distinctive looks: a tailored suit, hoodie dress, and snow pant set. Fusing workwear and streetwear silhouettes, the garments referenced snow, surf, and skate cultures, setting off bold new takes on classic shapes. The current Trippy Summer collection celebrates the magic of this season, inspired by the late Sixties counter-cultures and aspiring to evoke messages of enlightenment, elation, and awareness of mystical states. Translated into fashion, it means unisex fashion, tailoring, swimwear, tops, bottoms, and bags splashed in a myriad of psychedelic prints and inspirations. In view of the brand’s 10^th anniversary, we asked Jaden Smith’s opinion and views on the brand. Antonia: Is it true that you launched your brand because the market lacked what you wanted and how did this forge its DNA? Jaden Smith: It happened because the things that we were trying to make were things that weren’t available anywhere else. There were also a lot of things in the world that people weren’t talking about, like dangerous chemicals in the water, or in our food— and we wanted to see that on clothes. So, we started to make our own clothes that had different conscious imagery on them, that was about the future of humanity and the world, and that’s how we created the DNA of the clothes. Antonia: This year marks the label's 10^th anniversary. How have the brand’s codes, relevance, and aesthetic evolved? J.S: I feel like, really, we’re trying to do the same thing that we’ve been doing for the past ten years, which is to evolve the consciousness of humanity through art and science. I feel like it has fully evolved, but really, we’re almost trying to go in reverse, we’re trying to be younger, not older. We’re trying to actually evolve backward into what we were before. Antonia: How has the global pandemic and current turmoil in Europe impacted your outlook in any way? J.S: We’re going through really dark times in the world right now, and I feel like that’s why it’s so important for us to spread conscious messages. If you’re going to take the time and resources to make a shirt or a hoodie, it needs to have something on it that really changes the world and opens up people’s minds. Antonia: What would you say MsftsRep’s contribution to fashion is? J.S: I think that we contribute a lot of different things to fashion. I feel like there are no places for people that believe in alternative history, or people that believe in extraterrestrials, or study different things. I don’t know that there’s a place for us inside of the world of fashion and I feel like MSFTS is creating a safe place for those individuals in fashion. For the LGBTQ community as well, I feel like MSFTS is creating a safe place in fashion for all different types of people. The new Trippy Collection references mystical states of consciousness. Could you please explain what this means? J.S: I think that magic mushrooms are going to change the world, and I think that psychedelic therapy is going to change the world and that’s the basis for the collection. Governments across the world have already known this and stopped studies on these specific plants on purpose because they know that these plants will evolve human brains collectively en masse.