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NY TIMES - THE MAN AND SPIRIT BEHIND GUCCIGHOST, GUCCI’S RENEGADE LINE

NY TIMES - THE MAN AND SPIRIT BEHIND GUCCIGHOST, GUCCI’S RENEGADE LINE

PAST PRESS: Sept. 2, 2016

 

NAME Trevor Andrew

AGE 37

HOMETOWN Falmouth, Nova Scotia

 

NOW LIVES 

In a brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with his wife, the musician Santigold; their young son, Radek; and a Great Dane named Beau.

 

CLAIM TO FAME 

A former Olympic snowboarder and professional rider for Burton, Mr. Andrew is an artist and unlikely fashion collaborator who goes by his alter ego, GucciGhost.

 

BIG BREAK 

GucciGhost started as a fluke. Mr. Andrew needed a last-minute Halloween costume in 2012, and after running out of other options, he cut two holes in a bedsheet adorned with Gucci’s iconic double-G logo. Friends and strangers loved it. After that, he became obsessed with covering every surface with his hand-painted rendition of the Gucci logo, including on old television sets, vintage jackets and street signs, and posting them on Instagram. “I’m going to push this idea until Gucci either sues me or hires me,” he said.

Thanks to an introduction by his friend Ari Marcopoulos (who photographs for the Italian luxury label), Gucci flew Mr. Andrew to Rome last January, and he was hired by Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s creative director, to collaborate on new Gucci designs. His crudely painted double-G logo appeared on the runway several times in Milan last February, including on a cream-colored pleated skirt, black leather shoulder bag and nylon bomber jacket. His street-art-inspired logo also appeared in Gucci’s cruise and men’s wear runway shows in June.


Custom boxing gloves in Mr. Andrew’­s studio.

Credit...Nathan Bajar for The New York Times

LATEST PROJECT 
The first GucciGhost collection hits the racks this fall. To mark the occasion, a fashion week party will be held at Gucci’s Fifth Avenue flagship store on Sept. 14.

 

NEXT THING 

GucciGhost remains just a part-time obsession. Mr. Andrew is also in an indie band called Trouble Andrew, and dabbles in filmmaking (he directed music videos for Zoë Kravitz’s band, Lolawolf). “I always have to keep creating because that’s how I survive to live this creative lifestyle,” he said.

 

MUSIC FAMILY 

While healing from a snowboarding injury, Mr. Andrew started making music on his own, experimenting with a SP-1200 sampler and four-track tape recorder that he had borrowed from his wife. Two of his tracks ended up on her 2008 album, Santogold. “I don’t even know how to do this,” he said of his lack of music training, “but I can do this.”