JJohn City Jeans Shoot

Seeing Justin’s design work on these jeans immediately made me think of the word “patchwork.” They’re a statement piece that deserves to be seen, with something about them that feels made for the streets of New York.

There’s a relationship here between looking fly and getting through your day. New York demands both. You want to look good, but you also need to move. These jeans felt built for that everyday movement, so we took them on the go. 

We shot around Manhattan’s Chinatown for its colors, vibrant streets, and textures that gave the jeans room to stand out while feeling at home. 

I was inspired by recent Nigel Sylvester editorial shoots and how well their colors and tone captured the streets of New York.

We shot on Photodom’s Super Nova 400 35mm film. The warmth and crispness of the color had me excited to make something dope, and felt right for the energy we wanted to capture.

“Patchwork” also speaks to the many stories that make up New York. People collect different pieces of themselves wherever they go, carrying those experiences into the next place. Every piece of these jeans feels like it has its own story to tell, while belonging to something larger. Different parts come together to create a whole, bringing comfort and style into the same garment.

There’s a subtle metaphor there for the power of a city like New York: so many different people, histories, and influences coming together to make the city what it is. We focused on one neighborhood, but this story could live in any borough, on any block where hardworking people want to look good and feel good as they go about their day.