Pair of Kings: A Fashion and Culture Podcast · Pair of Kings

Paul Heavener on What a Creative Director Does at Hypebeast, Vintage Bape, Archive Fashion as a Trend & the Future of Streetwear | 13.16

·1 hr 25 min·5 clips

Paul's first Bape was fake after a 2005 New York college discovery.

1. Pair of Kings: A Fashion and Culture Podcast centers this season 13 conversation on Paul Heavener and Hypebeast, with fashion history, Bape, Chrome Hearts, and Rick Owens at the center. 2. Saul Thompson hosts with Michael Smith, and Paul Heavener joins as Hypebeast creative director and first-time podcast guest. 3. The episode asks what a creative director at Hypebeast actually does, while also using Paul’s wardrobe history to explain streetwear’s last two decades. 4. Paul says his job is not the same as a fashion-house creative director, because Hypebeast work is brand-partner advertising, not runway direction. 5. He says his team is about 20 to 30 people across New York and London, handling photo shoots, video shoots, events, product collaborations, and publishing. 6. He describes the role as a mix of pitching ideas, editing finished work, and getting projects live on Hypebeast’s website and social channels. 7. Paul says the title “creative director” is “meme-ified” and means different things at different companies. 8. He says his team also functions as a shared in-house creative studio for magazines and events in New York and London. 9. Paul’s Bape story starts in 2005, when he came to New York for college after growing up near Philadelphia with PacSun and the Diesel store as fashion reference points. 10. He recalls a tall kid from Los Angeles opening Bape sneakers in the dorm, then says his first Bape hoodie was fake because he bought it online without knowing better. 11. Paul says a friend pointed out the fake hoodie, and that mistake led him into Bape forums and then into moderation work on Bape Talk 2. 12. He remembers Bape meetups with 10 to 15 people lining up for one hoodie, and he says he still owns two snowboard jackets from a Bape snowboarding trip. 13. Paul names two Bape grails: a limited-run Bape x Daft Punk shirt and a 1998 Being John Malkovich promo shirt with Bape camo over John Malkovich’s face. 14. He says the pieces he collects now are old antique clothing, especially French workwear from the 1930s and 1940s, and he likes labels that help identify age and origin. 15. Paul says Chrome Hearts still makes good product, but he now struggles to find classic silver jewelry and says custom-made requests have largely disappeared. 16. He gives past Chrome Hearts pricing for Levi’s patch jeans around $1,500 to $1,700 in 2016–2017 and says current prices sit in the high-2,000s or low-3,000s. 17. On Rick Owens, Paul says his peak era is 2014 Moody, and he recalls discovering the brand while interning for Lanvin and walking into Union in all black. 18. He says later Rick moments that still interest him include 2018 cropped jackets and Stooge silhouettes, plus the 2019 Kiss Heels and Tyrone’s arrival. 19. The episode fits listeners who care about Hypebeast, Bape, Chrome Hearts, Rick Owens, and streetwear history. 20. Listeners who want a fast trend roundup without brand archaeology may skip it.

As heard by us

Streetwear, status, and the people deciding what still counts as taste.

Paul Hevener, Hypebeast's creative director, sits down with Saul Thompson and Michael Smith for a conversation that treats streetwear as a real culture, not a passing mood.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

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Want a streetwear interview that knows the difference between taste and cosplay?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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