As a teenager, after being introduced by an older and cooler cousin, I became utterly obsessed with Robert Smith and his band, so much so, that my best friends from 3rd grade once took a trip to the big city (this was pre-mobile phone days and parents weren't so keen on their 14-year-olds taking trains to any metropolis) to visit an obscure little shop and buy me all kinds of The Cure-related gifts. I got a flag, a poster, a t-shirt, a lighter and a vinyl. It was seriously the best birthday ever.
Hot off his appointment as the new creative director of Billionaire Boys Club, the label once erected by Pharrell Williams and current UNIQLO UT director Nigo, Noah-founder Brendon Babenzien just launched a capsule collection entirely inspired by and dedicated to The Cure.
In an interview with Dazed, Babenzien, who actually collaborated with The Cure on this capsule collection, touches upon being a lifelong fan as well as not harbouring high hopes that Robert Smith would say yes to his request for collaborating.
“As soon as I was calling the shots in my own company, it was really the first music collaboration I could think of that would really make me happy, that I could be really proud of,” the designer says of the collaboration, which sees a host of Noah staples, such as graphic t-shirts, hoodies and Harringtons emblazoned with versions of The Cure’s iconic cover art. “What I knew of Robert Smith, historically, I would have guessed that he would say no to something like this. So I wrote this heartfelt email, kind of explaining who I was and why this would be important to me – assuring him that we would do our best to do the right thing with it and it wasn’t going to be this huge commercial project.” To Babenzien’s surprise, Smith quickly got on board. “We also wanted to expose a younger audience to the band – anyone who hasn’t listened to their music before, we’re hoping that this will bring them to it a little more.”
The Noah x The Cure capsule collection will be released in-store and online at Noah NYC and Tokyo as well as at London’s Dover Street Market on November 30, 2017.
