Dr. X stitches together brand name merchandise and art
We read a while back about these leather jackets. They had Coke logos all over them, and they were selling for something like $3,000. We naturally wondered who made them and why. Which his how we stumbled upon Darren Romanelli. He’s a designer who goes by the name Dr. X, and he runs a creative agency that specializes in turning brand name merchandise into art. We went out to his office in West Hollywood to check it out.
“Some people call it brand hijacking, I call it collaborating. Brands like Dunhill, vintage Nike, Fraggle Rock, all these different properties that I had an affinity (for) when I was a kid growing up. I’ve tapped into those memories but in a way where I’ll source vintage. I’ll find an article of clothing from that property I’m working with and I’ll clean it as well as I can and I’ll reconstruct it. I’ll cut it up and I’ll put it back together in a new silhouette. Because when you think about it, vintage either smells really bad or it’s hard to find your size, because it’s not like they stock multiple sizes, so I’ll bring it back to life in the best way I can for a youth consumer who might not be too famliar (with) that brand because maybe they weren’t born when it had its moment in time in the market.
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