Heritage Land
When this photo of Aaron Levine was published on my blog in 2009 people went crazy and ripped him a new one. It was interesting to see the way people responded to it because the photo and the post weren’t all that thought out. (Though the photo and my site did make it into Newsweek.) I had lunch with Aaron (which was one of the first times we met) and I asked if I could get a quick photo. I liked his outfit and thought he looked cool. After lunch I went back to my office, posted the photo and watched the ACL faithful go to town. It’s still a bit puzzling to me that everyone felt so strongly about all of it. Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but I would wear a version of this outfit now. It’s particularly interesting because it feels like a very specific moment in time and also timeless. It makes me wonder: Is it bad to be into heritage brands in 2022?
Thanks to blogs and the economic disaster of 2008, the heritage movement surprisingly managed to infiltrate mainstream fashion. I remember a lot of the endemic fashion press reluctantly go along with the Americana thing — almost visibly wishing for it to come to a conclusion as quickly as possible. In Brooklyn and on the coasts heritage blew-up and then migrated towards the middle of the country for a second life. Things have changed a bit, but a lot of the stuff from the heritage days are still around today. Look, even ACL won’t die.