We needed a political stance amidst the sanitization of fashion, and A$AP Rocky answered the call. Some say he would have preferred making clothes over rapping at the start of his career. Today, he excels at both. While his next album, “Don’t be Dumb,” is set for release on August 30, the rapper showcased his AWGE label in Paris. Perfectly American and hip-hop in its aesthetic, almost too bold for an American figure, Rakim Mayers delighted his guests with a refreshingly political collection named “American Sabotage.”
AWGE is primarily a creative agency. Under this name, a ready-to-wear brand has developed, often dedicated to the rapper’s merch. But this time, the label walked the runway as part of Paris’s Spring/Summer 2025 Men's Fashion Week, aiming to embody American fashion at its highest level. Within the walls of the Hôtel de Maisons in Paris (formerly Karl Lagerfeld’s bastion), the novice designer made his voice heard as an American citizen, alongside a well-crafted aesthetic. He presented a series of 30 outfits, with pieces layered, repurposed, and sometimes arranged to constrain the model, in the colors of America. A mood.
His collection begins with two relatively simple outfits: two suit sets, one male, the other female. The classic representation of Western office workers. Aside from a few fake political pins and other accessories, nothing too extravagant; it sets the scene. Then, a flood of symbols and messages follows. Through slogans, flags, distinctive signs, and accessories, a storytelling filled with denunciations is established. The presence of the bandana, a symbolic accessory of American gangs that plague many neighborhoods in Uncle Sam’s cities, is notable. Some models wear plaid shirts, the quintessential piece of the American working class, while others sport fur hats; what separates them are the social strata. The Red Cross is placed here and there, an allusion to the country's privatized healthcare system. Rakim also criticizes American leaders' gun policies: on some t-shirts, he printed a bulletproof vest labeled “American Sabotage.” Still related to violence, a sweatshirt is adorned with the New York Police Department (NYPD) emblem, where Rocky was born, altered with the phrase “Now You’re Public Domain.”
Health, safety, trafficking proliferation, and worker exploitation are attributed to a disconnected political elite, represented in this American presidential campaign season by Joe Biden and Donald Trump. A$AP Rocky uses the slogan “Political Satire” to criticize them. Often mentioned by the rapper, the war on drugs led by the American government (see the DEA and Cannabis AWGE caps), particularly cannabis, is conducted at the expense of equally or more important battles: against gun ownership, for social justice, and against racial violence. Some canvas masks evoke a remnant of the Klan’s pointed hood. One look seems straight from the archives of the Capitol riot by Trump supporters in January 2021: gloves, mask, pro-USA cap, military baggy pants. On the citizens' fight against government manipulation, the phrase “Temporarily unable or unwilling to speak” is striking. Especially as whistleblower Julian Assange has just struck a deal with the American justice system to finally return home without fear of prosecution.
For those who have followed A$AP Rocky since his beginnings, the artist’s attachment to his country is well known. The presence of the American flag in several of his videos and on the cover of his project Long. Live. A$AP. (2013) dispels any doubts. His musical success is
also a great American success story. However, we must go beyond this simple observation. Loving one’s country but being able to point out its problems is essential for every citizen of the world. And it is Rakim himself who invites us to do so, this time, through fashion, as the voice of creatives is urgently needed on many national and international issues.
