The cold of the winter, our motorcycles being out of commission and not to mention it was in the low 30s. All those months leading up to Liberty Fairs, we had no idea what to expect. Don't get us wrong we are g's and ride in 10 below weather...heck Sadiki once road his hog in -25 degree weather just because. We embarked on the 6:30 a.m.
Megabus from Union Station to New York and slacker Asher Driggers of
Grifter Company USA made his way by 9:00 a.m. rail via
Amtrak Acela Express.
With rain and ice in tow; driving conditions were short of nothing nice. A four-five hour trip turned into an 8 hour trip. We touched down in New York safely. Never mind the rain was pouring down. We had no umbrellas, rain coats, galoshes no nothing. Grandeur visions of showing up to
Liberty Fairs looking like
Darryl in the rain would not be us. We hailed a cab and made our way over to Gramercy Park to our DC now NYC connect Kalu Ugwuomo and met his friend and founder of a start up
MyStream. Then we headed over to a speakeasyisque restaurant in east village that shall remain nameless. Rightfully so the lounge looked like something you would've seen out of the prohibition days. Smoke filled atmosphere, room after a room, and hidden curtains. After taking a grand tour of the restaurant we made our way through a curtain, which put us in the back where we finally sat down. The waiter brought us four waters after 30 fucking minutes. We were all so tired all we could do is sit there and just stare. Think Tony Montana
Cocaine Mountain, slumped in the seat minus the yayo. Kalu finally threw in the towel, "Ef this" We are going to my man's Zach's restaurant." And let me tell you
Lucien; a family owned French Bistro was nothing short of service, brunch was amazing, mimosas were flowing and we topped it off with La Gavulin 16 scotch whiskey. After here Zach knew another spot that he wanted all of us to check out. Next we met a group of swanky DJ's in town for an EDM related event, not my thing but like a real g i'm down for whatever. Sadiki not being as g on the other hand, even recognized Sasha; a DJ that he met performing at D.C's Flash night club. Off to another cliche after party we went to the after after party but ironically we were three hours late. Needless to say we did not get in until late. It wasn't until the next day that we were actually able to let our full SWAG take effect. Check our journey below.
ABOUT OUR CREW: Search and Rescue Squad is a trio of builders (L, Tawfeeq, and Kenya) involved in all aspects of design, furniture design, retail design, art, installation, curation, vintage, antiques and apparel. S&R is often known for being behind the scenes, but for the 2015 Liberty Fairs Show they stepped out front center. Along with a collective of: Butcher Shop Rehab (BSR-X), Grifter Company USA, Custom Lifestyle by Hamid Holloman, Peg and Awl, ya boys of Gentlemen's Brim along with a major assist from Modern 50. We made our Liberty Fairs - Freedom Hall debut branding together.
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The animated man Ignacio Quiles is a breath of fresh air , wealth of knowledge and has nice stories and anecdotes on his experiences in New York City. He is a street smart savvy designer, menswear retailer expert in vintage and wildly sought after restaurant consultant.
Instagram: Sartorial Pairings
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Like we said "Street Smarts"
(Kevin Grey of Men's Style Point, Ignacio Quieles, L from S&R) |
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| Grifter Company X Shop Taxidermy (bow tie) x Custom Lifestyle (CL upcycled flight jacket) |
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Coconut Rob is everything that you would expect him to be in real life, a larger than life personalty and he can make you feel like you've known him for years .
Instagram: Coconut Rob
NY Times: Medicine Man and Mayor, Blended
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| Coconut Rob |
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| Coconut Rob, Kenya Abdul-Hadi (S&R), Oluwaseye |
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| Tawfeeq of S&R and Hamid Holloman of Custom Lifestyle |
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The dynamic design duo Margaux and Walter of Peg and Awl. Peg and Awl based out of Philadelphia are makers of treasures crafted from recycled, reclaimed, recovered and abandoned materials.
Instagram: Peg and Awl
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CLUTCH Magazine Japan will be having a trade show in Japan 5/26-28/2015. CLUTCH Collection Yokohama.
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Tadayuki Miura, Shogo Koike CLUTCH Magazine Crew
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| John P Midgley the man behind the awesome portraits at Liberty Fairs. |
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| Andre Burgess of The BK Circus |
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| Tsuyoshi Yamanaka of The BK Circus is a talented artist and designer. |
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ca·ma·ra·de·rie
We met Gene Barnes who was visiting from San Francisco formally at the Lucky Strike Bowling madness party post Liberty Fairs day one. We immediately struck up a camaraderie. Gene saw a business card that made its way to the floor. It had initials on there that was memorable plus he liked the card. We told him that we were visiting from D.C. and mentioned Gentlemen's Brim. It turns out the card he picked up off the ground was Tonys! |
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This is a glance of their Natural Trench Boot after being worn and broken in. Beautiful.
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We spent quite a bit of time at Hightide where we met Madoka Adachi who was a wealth of information about the brand. At first glance, sight, and touch of the packaging you can fill like you are a kid. Personally a product of the 80's I thought about being in elementry school scribling with a mead pencil, or stealing my brothers GI Joes with the in the plastic packaging with the kung fu grip.
Truth be told. Allot of time was spent jotting down notes and remembering all of the wonderful people that we met. This pen came in handy. Also came in handy as a hat accessory. |
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| Madoka Adachi of Hightide Co and Makoto Ikeda of Flyers Promotion |
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| Makoto Ikeda of Flyers Promotion |
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| Aaron Jones and Jason Bass of Treason Toting Co |
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Courtenay Nearburg of Krammer & Stoudt is usually the one behind the camera. When the tables were turned around all she could do was flash that million dollar smile.
Instagram: Krammer & Stoudt
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| Kela for Bobby from Boston |
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| Bobby From Boston Garnett and Parry Grimm of PF Flyers
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Dan Trepanier of Articles of Style (formerly The Style Blogger) and crowned by Esquire's 2009 Magazine “America’s Best Dressed Real Man” was on hand along with Articles of Style Gentleman’s Lounge.
Articles of Style and photographer Alex Crawford put together a nice feature on the The People of Liberty Fairs.
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| We had the opportunity to meet Mr. Benjamin Belton of Benjamin's and Liba's based out of North Carolina for 34+ years. |
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Max Poglia of Poglia & Co is a lifestyle brand with roots in craftsmanship. Handcrafted knive, leather bags, and woven blankets.
Instagram: Max Poglia
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Joseph-I (Holy Swag) aka Swagtoven in the flesh. |
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| Kendo Hanus of Misanthrope and designer Dynasty and 1/2 of the dynamic duo design powerhouse L'Enchanteur
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Andrew Livingston of Knickerbocker Mfg. I first stopped AJ of Kinckerbocker Mfg (KMFG) he had a the poise of a visionary. Maybe he didn't see the epic photobomb coming along lol. AJ along with the team of KMFG is truly doing amazing things. "The aim now, is to bring back small, high quality manufacturing to the New York City Area." Check out their backstory. |
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| Jennifer Goldszer and Charlie from Schott NYC. Jennifer rarely poses in pics but we brought out her bad assery. Charlie is rocking Schott NYC's Perfecto line of menswear. I will not confirm nor deny making that a certain somebody made an offer on the spot for his indigo sports jacket. |
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| Caleb Clark of Enemy to Fashion had one of the meanest hat games along with the army green bag that he personally made. M*E*A*N |
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| Daniela Jacobs ARC Objects creative directer and designer |
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Tony Triumph the international lifestyle and fashion journalist extraordinaire. |
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| Stephanie Madrinah and Gene Barnes |
