Spring Summer 2011 Collection

Over here, we have a thing for great design that’s grounded and real. That’s why we love SGC N-Y-C. The New York-based street wear line  is constantly in a state of flux, matching their creative ebb and flow with the continuous evolution of style, and they don’t have to go far to find it.

The teeming metropolis has proved a valuable asset to the brand that considers themselves “a bit of a throw back” – you won’t find some corporate middle man here. Just good people behind good fashion. Firm believers of the “social gathering” (SGC stands for Social Gathering Clothing), they couldn’t do it without the hard work and dedication of their friends – which also means that it’s possible for conception, construction and production to all occur in the city.

We posted the video look book for their SS 2011 collection a little while back, but they were awesome enough to send us over some stills from the shoot. They also took the time to answer a few questions about the brand and what’s behind it. I think we love them even more now…

What is SGC NYC?

SGC N-Y-C is a New York street wear and design company. Our ideas are based on the influences of fashion, art and music. Youthfulness, individuality and New York are the driving forces behind our aesthetic.

Who’s behind the brand?

At the base the brand is a couple friends. But in reality what is behind our brand is what the consumer thinks or feels when they see or wear our product. The combination of everything we produce is to create that image and maintain it. With the all the new blogs, video features and a constant evolution of our brand and forums that is always changing.

What does the brand stand for?

SGC N-Y-C stands for Social Gathering Clothing. The actual name comes from a bootleg of a radio broadcast in 1982 of “A Social Gathering for the Celebration of the Anniversary of Someone’s Birth”, with The Birthday Party and Lydia Lunch. But the actual idea behind the name is that this is a hard industry and there are a lot of late nights and a lot of up and downs. You need to be working with friends, you need to make thing light-hearted and you want that part of the process to be what the public gathers around.

What makes you different from everyone else?

Nowadays with so much out there, this is getting harder for everyone to answer. But for us we really are a bit of a throw back brand. We are not owned by some big company, we don’t have a million public relations people. We try to give people high quality at more reasonable prices and that idea seems to be slowly slipping from the market.

Where do you get your inspiration?

We are not like most brands that try to sell you some vacation or some far off ideal. Most of our inspiration for the S/S11 collection just came from walking around New York in the summer. You’re sitting around in the park, you’re going to concerts, and you’re eating outside with friends. You really want things to fit perfectly and have an effortless cool. In the winter you can layer and add a million accessories to hide behind but in summer the fabric and the fit are key. We did take a little inspiration from the film “Bottle Rocket” – the pleated baggy pants and the over-sized white maids uniform where translated into a more modern interpretation.

How do you choose collaborators?

Lucky we have a bunch of talented friends and people that we have met over the years. Sometimes it starts from just sending an email or sometimes it is a friend I have known my whole life. Last year we did a couple skateboard designs. One was from an artist Sara Blake out of NYC  and one was from Michelle over at Kingdom Of Style and both girls where great and produced stuff we were all proud of. We have a lot more coming on that front so stay tuned.

What’s your approach to design?

Our approach to design is more about developing a great fit and that comes with trial and error. Patterns are always being fine tuned, ideas are always evolving. You have to be able to do more then visualize a look. You have to translate that look for a store rack, for your consumer, for everyday use.

Images via SGC NYC

Hilary Lauren Fox
		About the author:
		Sometimes she's a redhead, sometimes she's a blonde. Some days it's H&M, and on other days, it's Chanel. What ever the mood, she is a woman who is passionate about the arts, fashion and social media. Born in Toronto, Hilary Lauren Fox is an only child to artist parents - mom was an illustrator and pattern maker, dad was a painter.  Rather then studying the arts as her parents hoped for, Hilary opted for a degree in psychology with dreams of working in a clinical setting. But after graduating she realized that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and that the arts was in her blood, applying her education within the art and fashion world.
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