N.Hoolywood Takes '90s Rave Culture to the Arizona Dessert
Fashion

N.Hoolywood Takes '90s Rave Culture to the Arizona Dessert

Story by Shyam Patel / Photography by Andrew Boyle

Last year, Tokyo-based designer Daisuke Obana trekked to Arizona for inspiration. While there, the N.Hoolywood creative director visited Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and desert laboratory Taliesin West. The surrounding dusty, dry heat and the region's orange, red, and yellow centric color palette reminded Obana of 1990s rave culture.

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Pulling the strongest elements of that mishmash raver aesthetic to into his spring 2019 collection, the designer landed on oversized tunics and coats, wide-leg trousers, and flourishing capes with activewear touches that recall slouchy, side-zipped garments popular in the inspiring era. Stylized plaids, fringe trimmings, and Japanese-inspired florae and fauna prints were saturated with bright orange, rich violet, powder blue, and deep red.

Obana backstage at N.Hoolywood's spring 2019 show.

When asked where he sees this free-flowing assortment fitting in best Obana immediately mentions Burning Man – the mystical annual gathering in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. While he's never been to the ephemeral event focused on freedom and self-expression, his mind is already there.

Photography: Andrew Boyle