Oh, you thought this was a game?

Yo, what’s good Indexers, today we’re asking why the hell do we take fashion seriously. For some people, They don’t.. but for others, it’s the chance to push boundaries and express themselves.

This week in database news:

• An exclusive interview with Jacob Green on his fashion journey and styling Yeezy clothes

• How meme-able footwear is healing the world

Styling Yeezy in America’s Heartland

In this exclusive interview, we’re talking to Jacob Green, an Instagram influencer breaking out of (or should we say creating from scratch) the fashion scene in Iowa. We talk about everything from why Yeezy, to being deluded about your goals.

A lot of people have trouble expressing themselves, feeling out of place sometimes in their high school or maybe even in their hometown. So imagine Jacob’s surprise when it felt like the whole state of Iowa was out of step with his style.

Whilst at times difficult to remain motivated, he stayed focused over five years, growing a moderate following on Instagram styling Yeezy items. It wasn’t until he made the leap during the “Donda” media frenzy to change his name to “yzyxjacobgreen” that Kanye and a few prominent members of his camp began liking Jacob’s posts. What was a trickle of followers grew into a more dedicated fanbase.

Jacob had been a fan of Yé since he was little, and remembers vividly the “ultimate confidence” the artist showed when wearing a skirt in Chicago during the Watch The Throne tour. Beyond the self-assuredness, Jacob’s personal love for proportions draws him to Yeezy as a brand to play with and style.

He tells us how in the corn state, the only real prospects for stylists were in retail and not even the cool Soho kind, so growing an online audience was the best way to make his mark. Studying photography in College taught him some of the necessary skills to begin his journey, but it was really teaching himself color theory and visualisation that propelled his styling education.

But it doesn’t of course live and die with Yeezy, like many creators, building a platform is an expansive mass of desirable outcomes, and for Jacob, this includes building out his styling career into a multi-media machine including fashion & film podcasts, photography, and more.

Through it all, there is an overarching determination to grow beyond all pre-conceived constraints, all it’ll take is Grailed and StockX not seeing the end of yzyxjacobgreen for a while.

🎶 Let’s talk about shoes baby, Let’s talk about shoes and feet 🎶 

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I tell you to think of shoes? Jordan 1’s? Wales Bonner x Adidas Sambas? CROCS? Well, those are all pretty normal, in fact, maybe too normal. The Crocs craze was really the closest we’ve gotten to a functional shoe being a lil bit different - and they’re basically just slippers.

So what do we mean by different? Well, there lies the issue. In a conversation with fellow Indexers, we determined that, unlike clothes, shoes have a very specific frame, and it works or does it? keep reading. You could even call it a framework, haha… and we don’t stray from it often. But when we do, oh boy.

So why show you these? Well, because we should ask why shoe silhouettes have basically remained the same for decades. There’s something to be learned from meme footwear. Whilst these are extreme versions and generally impractical, even shoes as embedded as their structure is, can and should be disrupted. If not for functional purposes, then at least for a good chuckle and a fire fit pic.

So someone told me that shoes aren’t even being properly designed for human feet so here’s an article to read and decide for yourself if we’re being lied to.

Well, that’s a wrap for this week!

We’re trying to get a temperature and how long to make these because we have soooo much content to give ya’ll - so if you feel like you could do with one or two more sections, hit this button and click send so we can see what our Indexers are sayiiin.

Cool? Cool

As Always, Index.

Chuka Okonjo | Editor-in-Chief, Always Indexina