Clowns, mimes, freak-show spectacle posters with the classic image of Medusa, captured the theme of the Pool Fashion Trade Show for up-and-coming art- and music-inspired exhibitors in streetwear held February 13-15, in Las Vegas. The big white tent, set up across the street from MAGIC, was in a prime location for buyers, retailers, media, and others to check out the latest trends in streetwear fashion. The difference with Pool vs. Project, MAGIC, United, and FoShow FoShow, which all took place during that glorious 2^nd week of February, is that most of the exhibitors at Pool are art and music-inspired and their collections tend to be the personal reflections of the passion of their designer/owners. Similar to Agenda, yet closest in style to United, Pool is the first show that broke away from the hype of MAGIC as a forum for the little guys many years ago. Since ’06 however, Advanstar, owners of MAGIC, bought Pool, along with Project, and popped-up the bigtop across the street to accommodate their new fringe “fashion freedom” freak show.

Brand collections included T-shirts, hoodies, jackets, pants, denim, dresses, footwear, and unique accessories, all in small, comfortable booths under a massive domed tent. While the first day saw quite a bit of action, unfortunately by the 3^rd day, Pool slowed down. Part of this had to do with all of the other competing shows going on rather than MAGIC itself, across the street. The challenge for Pool will be if it can keep its hype as other shows take up shelf-space in Vegas during this timeframe. Similar to SlamDance at the Sundance Film Festival, now that it’s officially a part of the festival week in Park City, UT, other “dances” have become the new alternative to the Slamdance “alternative” and fragmenting audiences. That being said, Pool still had some incredible stand-out brands. Here’s the Label Networks’ review:

Elmer Ave launched their first production line at Pool after realizing the demand for their one-of-a-kind pieces, particularly after their exclusive runway show last month. As we reported in January in “Pool + Flaunt Present Elmer Ave Fashion Show Indicating New Directions in Outlaw Gambler Meets Adam Ant- Burlesque Styles,” Elmer has evolved from their skateboard roots to embrace a more upper-end streetwear, music-inspired styles of the 4 originators themselves.

Elmer Ave has an interesting background in that it started from the roots of spray-paint graphics from a skateboard company called Afroman Skateboards, mixed with a rock and roll style of the band Numchuck. The story goes that pro skateboard Collin Pulsipher started creating deconstructed suit jackets and vests for his band Numchuck with bandmates Johnny Day and Sean Murphy. Joined by Ward Robinson, the collective started working in what became known as The Compound, creating a brand called Elmer Ave inspired from the ghetto North Hollywood scene off of Elmer Ave.

The brand takes deconstructed “constructed” tailoring with a slimmer fit to new levels with crosses and skulls, foils on jackets, dies, reds, oranges with grey and black, safety pins as buttons, painted suit jackets featuring Wild West themes, stars, striped jackets, gangster accessories in the form of Wild West gambler themes, and a take on the freak houses, burlesque dens, and parlors of the old west: Wanted Dead or Alive posters. The reconstructed aspects that makes the line so modern however, is the mix of inspiration from ruffled collars and sleeves, military-inspired jackets with metal buttons (that can easily be worn by guys with dark eye make-up and Mohawks), and attention to color and details—which at their runway show included gun holster belts, painted on handlebar mustaches, long twin-tipped leather boots, and cowboy-inspired footwear. (The Japanese are going to have a field day with this brand’s style someday.)

Even though the launch at Pool was the mark of their 1^st production line, getting an Elmer Ave jacket will still be a limited-edition deal since only 250 pieces of each piece are made—and made in America. Each tag, like many other labels at Pool, tells a story of the garment and says Elmer Ave. An American Production. Trendsetters already wear the brand including Tommy Lee, the Black-Eyed Peas, Gilby Clarke, among others.

Love Brigade won the coveted title of “On the Deck” feature brand from the Pool competition. Owner and founder Alyssa J. Key entered the competition because as she put it, “We have a very good story. Love Brigade is about the ideals of love, music, and fashion co-existing. We come from a culture of love and our generation speaks to this with our music.” Specifically, their collection at the show was Bob Dylan revisted—and for girls. Their motorcycle nightmare jacket from the Dylan song features unique cuts that are form-fitting with luxurious liners. They also have borderline couture denim pants that fit most girls because of the time they’ve taken to figure out the pattern-making—including long, slim features that elongate the look of one’s legs. Side zip pockets in trousers with articulated knees, yellow sleeveless dresses with black feathers, and cut T-shirts with open features and buttons give Love Brigade a rock ‘n roll feel that’s edgy and high-end streetwear couture. It’s definitely one of those brands that feed the need from women looking for something that’s street savvy, chic, music-inspired in terms of rock, yet fits, and is feminine without being vintage-femme or Goth Lolita which tend to have their tentacles in many aspects of women’s streetwear today.

Even though the brand is only two years old, Love Brigade can be found in Brooklyn, SoHo, and boutiques in Florida, Chicago, and Puerto Rico

Andrew Hanson and his self-titled brand of T-shirts and hoodies considers himself a fashion artist which is apparent in his cut-sew styles, graphics, and descriptions with words over each graphic telling a story. He not only hand-dies each piece, including various shades of brown and orange, but then spray paints different graphics onto the fabrics.

Most notably, Andrew Hanson clothes the lead singer, Bert, from The Used and his work can clearly be seen on the musician during the Taste of Chaos tour. Andrew Hanson is currently out on tour again for the TOC tour, introducing his line to fans of the band. He’s one among the growing genre of designers that are making their own brand recognition and distribution through the sales of high-end merch on tours. As Andrew explained, it’s people and humanity that are his biggest inspirations. Having grown up in Las Vegas, he understands the concept of change, of casinos being blown up and rebuilt and the process of growth which is represented in his brand. The human spirit is very apparent particularly in some pieces of religious iconography with dripping words and stories over the graphics in blood-red and symbolic greens. While his roots are punk, Andrew’s a mash-up fashion artist, including inspiration from his home town, his music icons, humanity, travel, and life.

Custom Industries however is a line that’s purely inspired by travel. This is a trend we’ve been starting to see more of as a new generation committed to learning more about life and traveling are becoming more inspired from international destinations, iconography, and indigenous designs. Matt, the creator of Custom Industries, has traveled to more than 45 countries covering 6 of the 7 continents. His love of Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Australia are apparent in his graphics and stories within each T-shirt and label. For example, one graphic is of carvings from a Hindi temple wall in Cambodia, which he’s turned into wearable art forms. His site, too, tells the story of his love of travel with photo galleries of his trips that move seamlessly into his T-shirt creations.

“My shirts start a conversation,” explains Matt, “because people want to know the story of where the design came from, what it’s like, so my tags are always filled with stories and are irreverent sometimes like this one from Sri Lanka and the graphic I was inspired from devil dancing and the culture there.”

Idol Radec is where golfing and the streetwise hipster meets the greens. Nick and David, owners and designers, created their collection because they personally like to golf, but are young and were not into the total prep, golf clothing styles currently available to younger generation golfers, or as their inside tags state, “The Young and The Privileged.” Their booth included a putting green where visitors could “putt for Petron” tequila shots. As Nick and David explained, “Idol Radec is for the alter-ego and who you inspire to be such as Tom Ford or James Bond.” The collection includes preppy tapered looks, polo shirts, sweaters, jackets. So far orders come from specialty boutiques, specialty golf stores, and country clubs—but they are still in their first season. “Loungin’ Lake Commo style” is the theme with button-ups, khakis with plaid waist cuffs and button side pant legs. It’s streetwear couture for men on the green.

Lewsader has a pure artistic concept which founder Shaney Jo Darden sees as a much-needed platform of expression for artists who many never actually have an apparel line. Each season, Lewsader chooses 6 top artists that they find inspirational from a broad range of artwork styles from around the world, then gives the artists the chance to create a piece—either T-shirt graphics for guys and girls (on high-end, uniquely washed fabrics), or jackets, pants, dresses, and skirts. Lewsader is a word and concept that comes from the ancient times symbolizing the lifestyle of the crusader who fought battles for the love of arts—passionate fiery people who believed in love, honor, and respect.

Lewsader is one of those brands on the brink of making a major statement not only because of its artistic integrity and ever-evolving styles and therefore, stories, but also because of the person behind the collection. Shaney Jo Darden is the co-founder of Modart, the art collective that first gave voice to graffiti, street, and graphic artists with various exhibitions during unique trade shows, on the Warped Tour, and in several countries in stand-alone art shows. She is also the founder of Keep-a-Breast—the non-profit foundation to raise awareness among young people about breast cancer through the creation of Plaster-of-Paris breast molds that artists then paint and are later auctioned off for fundraising efforts and awareness to passionate people from around the world.

Lewsader, like Shaney Jo, is global, artistic, inspired, and extremely passionate, which can be seen in the various artists that are chosen. In this collection, featured artists include: Robert Mars, ARTWARS, Johnny Rodriguez, Mike Maxwell & Crystal Barnes, Eric Gigler, and Christian Rothehangen. The artwork and collection can be seen at www.lewsadercollective.com.

Beck(y) takes old beat-up skateboard decks and repurposes them into unique handbags, purses, wallets, and belt buckles. Launched 3 years ago by Becky, she explains the inspiration behind the concept came from a trip to the Prada store in New York City. “I noticed that there was this curved architectural aspect to the storefront and I wondered if anyone had ever tried to skate it. Then I went into the store and I was looking at these silk handbags from Prada and the idea just clicked.” As the story goes, Becky went home and sketched out her concepts and started from there.

Today, Becky is a wiz with hand-saws and tools, sawing, sanding, and repurposing used, donated decks into one-of-kind pieces. A percentage of all of her sales go to the Tony Hawk Foundation to help promote the building and infrastructure of public skate parks. The interesting thing is that each piece has such a long story to it: each board is used and loved and hated by the skater that used to own it. “Someone spent a lot of time with that board,” explains Becky. “It’s a collaboration without really knowing the person, but you can get a sense of who they were based on the graphics that they wrote on their board, the stickers, the scratches…there can be words like ‘I hate Susie’ or something and you know some guy had his heart broken and then went skating. Or I’ll get decks with girly stickers all over it so you know it’s a girl’s board. Sometimes I think a board is just ugly until I start cutting it up and it starts to look rather cool.” Beck(y) customers include young girls who skate or like the lifestyle, graphic-inspired fans, gallery stores, boutiques, and specialty department stores.

For more information on Pool, including their magazine/show guide featuring artwork by select brands and graphic designers, go to www.pooltradeshow.com or send an email to artwork@pooltradeshow.com