A Danish designer based in London referencing kung fu movies for a label that's finding love at the highest echelons of U.S. hip-hop: Astrid Andersen has gone global in the best possible way. Today, she developed last season's Assassin's Creed-meets-Ghost Dog aesthetic, inspired by a trip to Shanghai and a think about VHS-era martial arts signifiers. Chucked into that mix, said her notes, was a little bit of Big Trouble in Little China. (Surely Kurt Russell's masterpiece, the movie is currently subject to disturbing rumors of a Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson remake.) This correspondent must confess to being no pro when it comes to traditional Chinese dress, but Andersen's blossom-brocade mash-ups of changshan with parkas plus baseball, basketball, and hockey shirts seemed why-has-nobody-done-this-before obvious and strong. Supplemental patches of silk brocade on the front of basketball shorts ingeniously communicated ostentatious kung fu master élan. Beneath the martial art top notes—and those hats—ran the core Andersen codes; urbanized sportswear refreshed by recourse to lush color, decoration, and fabrication: urban sports luxe. A$AP Ferg, in London to launch a collaboration with Andersen tonight, didn't stop filming until the very last model disappeared back down the runway.
