Marcelo Burlon County of Milan doesn’t feel like your typical streetwear brand. Its style deviates from the expected impressions of hiphop culture. Stitching together its trademark look is an anomalous mix of inspiration conjured by the designer—esoteric symbols of Argentinean aborigines from his region called Mapuches, ’90s club culture, and the intense nature of South America.
It is easy to refer to Marcelo Burlon as a designer, but he prefers the term art director. After all, today’s creatives use varied mediums to convey their art—making it hard to pinpoint what exactly it is that they do. Art director then becomes the safest professional label—but he would much rather call himself a hippie—an archetype rarely associated with streetwear.
Photography: Ed Enclona — Styling: Jana Silao — Model: Dominick Alcantara
Adapting the stance of a bohemian simply relieves himself of the unwanted pressure linked to that of a designer. Burlon dabbles in an array of media. Each of it is representative of the various hats he wears: DJ, model, party planner, and publicist. He’s an eclectic combination—an attribute aptly mirrored by the energy of the brand.
His Spring/Summer 2018 collection is a subtle ode to the ‘90s, reminiscent of fashion’s grunge-goth phase. Again, Burlon manages to juxtapose the contradictory—tropical prints, color blocks, and surf-inspired graphics imposed on shirts and tracksuits that hail from the darker side of athleisure. Steeped in his collage-like approach to design, the multi-talented creative seeks to produce interesting displays of fashion through collaborative efforts.
Burlon teams up with Kappa for a Pre-Fall/Winter 2018 drop. A major signifier of the joint capsule is the collection’s united logo that fuses both the labels’ trademarks, illustrated in rainbow colors. Burlon’s frocks drip with creative liberalism. Relevantly plastered and remixed on various clothing pieces is the label’s signature graphic: a pair of wings signifying possibility.
Marcelo Burlon County of Milan happens to expand the spectrum without veering away from the essence of streetwear; the brand undoubtedly combats the genre’s tired, clichéd slope.
In sync with AKIMBO’s rebellious stance, Marcelo Burlon County of Milan has found its way to their racks. With hands on the hips, elbows bent outward at sharp angles, the word “akimbo” heralds a posture that connotes belligerence—antagonistic and warrior-like. Both concepts intersect at a point of opposition, swerving alternative from the monotonous look of most streetwear shops.
