Inside A$AP Rocky’s Second Runway Show for AWGE

A$AP Rocky’s sophomore show for his brand AWGE took place in Paris tonight at the Temple de l’Étoile, with a front row that included many of Rocky’s longtime collaborators—among them A$AP Nast, Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), and Fear of God’s Jerry Lorenzo. The mobbed entrance to the church was manned by a security team armed with automatic rifles and AWGE logos on their vests. (They seemed to be just there for show but might as well have been crowd control.) Starting an hour and a half past the advertised start time of 9 p.m., a pregnant Rihanna showed up with baby Riot on one arm and a yellow tote from Jonathan Anderson’s debut collection for Dior on the other.

The collection was titled Obligatory Fashion and unfolded as a commentary on how the perceptions of what people wear are used as a form of categorization and control. “People always associate and make assumptions about people from the way that they dress, so that [what you wear] becomes a uniform,” said Rocky backstage. “But don’t you see how people wear tracksuits all the time? They don’t play sports. These things aren’t even real, but it’s all obligatory uniforms, and I wanted to just show my way of repurposing them.” The looks ran the gamut from visible boxer shorts, hair in huge rollers, and bruised eye makeup to sharply tailored, corporate-looking suits accessorized with court documents, shifting through various vibes of formality to illustrate his point. “It’s art, and I want it to be appreciated on an individual level,” said Rocky.

The set made reference to the court case in which the rapper was acquitted in February. A judge manned a gigantic bench at the far end of the runway, and metal-detector security gates lined the path, so the models appeared to be passing through the entrance to a courthouse. A striking fresco of gangsters, judges, the Statue of Liberty, and the American flag was projected onto the church ceiling. “He didn’t talk about his court case,” said a fellow editor, “but he just made a runway show about it.”

The show also served as a teaser for Rocky’s forthcoming collaborations with Puma, including a pair of Mostro Gabbia sneakers and an intentionally disheveled take on the Speedcat, as well as Wayfarer Puffer shades created with Ray-Ban. According to the brand, Rocky will host a pop-up sample sale in Le Marais this coming Sunday—though if tonight taught us anything, you’ll probably need to know the right people to get in. Hinting that he plans to keep showing AWGE in Paris in the future, Rocky leaned back in his church pew. “We aiming for the top, honestly—I hate to sound cliché, but that’s it,” he grinned. “It’s like a paradox. I just want to stay humble while still being a badass.”