A$AP Ferg Interview with Billboard

admin / 23 Jul, 2017

Above all else, A$AP Ferg is an artist. Though he splits his time between creating critically-acclaimed music and fashion design, Ferg’s creativity developed from an early age in drawing and painting. “I was a young artistic kid, but I didn’t know how to channel my powers,” Ferg tells Billboard. “The thing about fashion is that I got a chance to wear my art like a walking canvas.”

Growing up in Harlem, A$AP Ferg (born Darold Ferguson, Jr.) learned about style from one of the neighborhood’s most memorable tastemakers: his father. Known as D Ferg, he owned a popular boutique, created custom silk-printed t-shirts, and even designed a logo for Diddy’s label Bad Boy Entertainment. “He was basically a pioneer, an innovator,” Ferg explains. “Since he was the underdog and he was up against all these big companies, he had to create something to draw people to his work. He put magic into whatever he created.”

Following in his late father’s footsteps, A$AP Ferg already has a range of accomplishments well beyond his 28 years. As part of the A$AP Mob, he’s released two studio albums —2013’s Trap Lord and last year’s Always Strive and Prosper. In 2012, he launched his own fashion line, Trap Lord, and has collaborated with brands like Bape, Young & Reckless, Adidas, the sustainable, socially conscious label Uniform, and Citizens of Humanity’s denim offshoot AGOLDE. He’s even ventured into home goods with Fancy.

Because of the success from his first AGOLDE spring 2016 capsule collection, Ferg is back with another line for fall. The twelve-piece collection, which ranges from $58 to $350 in price and is available for pre-launch at TheWebster.com, includes outerwear, graphic tees, a tracksuits, five different jeans, and is entirely unisex. Billboard Style caught up with A$AP Ferg between his travels for Future’s Nobody Safe Tour and studio time for his forthcoming project Still Striving to discuss the process behind such a fruitful designing career.

You studied fashion design in art school. Did that prepare you for eventually launching your own brand, or was there a lot of learning-as-you-go in the industry?

It definitely prepared me. I took a sewing class and learned how hard it is to actually sew and how much time it takes. So, I knew that I didn’t want to produce the clothes myself. But it taught me the know-how. I actually love to draw the designs and come up with the concepts. It taught me what I love and taught me my passions. It sharpened my talent.

I took two internships as well. I interned at Rocawear and Artful Dodger, which are both owned by JAY-Z. I also took an internship with Sean John early on. I was a kid just figuring it out, making my own contacts and connecting the dots.

Who are some of your style influences?

David Bowie, Grace Jones, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes, Puff Daddy, Kanye West, Ralph Lauren, Pharrell, DMX. And my dad, of course.All of these guys, they definitely did a lot of self-evaluating and they searched real deep in themselves to find something original. Or, it just came naturally and they trust themselves to just be original. A lot of people don’t trust themselves to know that the world will like what they’re doing.

Continue reading on Billboard.