Tyler, the Creator’s Advice for Designing Your Own World: “Stop Taking Advice”

Over the past two decades, you’ve built an incredible career in music and fashion. It started with OFWGKTA [Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All], the hip-hop collective that made merch. You went on to launch fashion brands, including GOLF WANG and GOLF le FLEUR*, and partnered with fashion houses such as Lacoste and Louis Vuitton. When did your interest in design begin?

I started stenciling stuff on T-shirts when I was 13, in eighth grade. I would make graphics in Microsoft Paint and Photoshop. The first one I did was Zoo York’s logo—I cut it out and stenciled it on my T-shirts, my pants, and grip tapes. I liked the super colorful poppy pinks, lime greens, turquoise, and hot pinks. At that age, that was my shit. I wanted to make really colorful clothes for men.

Were you making these things for your friends?

At 15, I started doing iron-ons and giving them to a few friends, but mostly it was for me. All of this was done at home in my room, making a mess. Anything I could draw on, I would. You would always see a little doodle or lyrics on things—I couldn’t stop.

What influenced your designs early on?

What Nigo was doing with A Bathing Ape really helped shape the colorful graphic element. What Polo, Old Navy, and Lacoste were doing really shaped the cut and sew. I have so many photos of me when I was younger in super flamboyant polos and shirts. I would wear my mom’s long-sleeve polos from Old Navy because I’ve always felt women got the better-colored items. And I’ve always loved real photos on T-shirts. Like, Oh, this is a hot dog—cut it out and put it on a shirt. My mom got me a skateboard with Jeron Wilson’s face on it for my 14th birthday. I was like, I didn’t know you could do that.

Now that’s your signature.

When I was 17, I was going to make a brand called Fucking Lame, a play on [the streetwear label] Fucking Awesome. The first pieces I made had Mobutu [Sese Seko], the guy who ran the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on a shirt, and I made a Ronald Reagan crewneck. The first Odd Future merch had Santa Claus’s head cut out on it. I would put terrible cutouts of cats on clothes. I didn’t think it was objectively good, but I didn’t care. I just visually loved it. That graphic element went into one of my biggest albums, IGOR. The album cover is my head cut out in black and white, with a pink background. It makes me so happy.

How would you describe your approach to design?

It’s a mixture and honest representation of shit that I like. GOLF WANG is more skate, and GOLF le FLEUR* is when I do the preppy look. The preppy look feels different because the way I wear my pants is rooted in skateboarding. I’m going to wear them with chains and gold teeth instead of a navy blazer. I’m not going to wear them like the guy who grew up in the Welsh parts of the United Kingdom.

Do you listen to music when you design?

No. But designing is a 24-hour thing. I don’t just sit and do it; I’ll be driving and have an idea. It’s the same with music. I’ll be at dinner, structuring in my head, or I might hear something and be like, Oh, that’s a good snare.

Who are some designers that you love?

Pegleg NYC was really, really influential for me as a kid. Lemar and Dauley’s mid-2000s streetwear stuff. Obviously, Ralph Lauren, A Bathing Ape, and BBC Icecream. And I was a Supreme kid coming up. I’m from California, so a pair of Dickies and a good hat still reigns supreme for me.

You’ve collaborated a lot with your friends, such as Pharrell Williams on a Louis Vuitton menswear capsule collection. Do you think you get better results when you collaborate?

No, I don’t think about it like that. If I’m like, Oh, I get better results working with friends, then it’s like, Oh, I’m not shit by myself. I will inherently start thinking, Damn, I’m not worth anything unless I’m a sidekick.

GOLF WANG is very accessible to young people, in terms of aesthetic and pricing. What do you want them to take away from the brand?

I hope these kids keep creating shit and not letting dudes who have been around be the dictators of what they like, what they’re buying, or what they’re into. Same for the old heads with their taste evolving and not getting stuck and trying to overstay their welcome.

Do you have advice for young people who want to start their own brand?

Stop fucking taking advice and just jump off the cliff. When you try to copy and paste, the result is not going to come out the same, so you have to go out into the world. If you observe and study, you don’t always have to ask for advice.

If you could dress any cartoon character, who would it be?

Either Static Shock or Flapjack. Or, low-key, Vince from Recess.

If you could have designed costumes for any movie, which one would you choose?

I would have had them looking flyer in Paid in Full.