According to Dieter Rams, ‘Good design is as little design as possible’ – a tenet to which the South Bronx-based collaborative duo Hul Arnold avidly subscribe. From their minimalist pattern-cutting techniques to a quiet rejection of convention, the emerging brand is seeking to reconceptualise androgyny and luxury without the fireworks of some other houses. Instead of high theatre, they offer a particularly contemporary version of cool, one in which structure and fluidity converge, and where unconventional fabrics offer fresh twists on old themes.
At the helm are Bopha Hul and Troy Arnold, whose collaborative process is integral to the label’s success: ‘Our collaborative state becomes enhanced when both sides of the “brain” are activated,’ they explain. ‘One of us has the idea, the other executes it.’ The pair work in harmony with the admirable aim of producing ‘timeless, quality products that transition the seasons’.
Behind that traditional ethos lurks a rather more radical edge to their work. Hul Arnold’s ‘One World’ concept – a world in which masculinity and femininity converge – touches on wider cultural movements, but finds particular significance with the duo. Where others have sought to explode gender categories through carnivalesque androgyny, Hul Arnold instead seek fluidity; an aesthetic through which women can find ‘new ways to stylise men’s clothing without having to be so literal’ and in which men can ‘challenge’ norms through ‘silhouettes many would consider effeminate’. Their unconventional use of fabrics gesture towards such a post-gender world, incorporating articulated neoprene and spacer mesh into more traditional pieces for any client of any gender.
Later this year, Hul Arnold will launch their first store-based experience at Sean Knibb’s conceptual retail space Flowerboy Project in Los Angeles, but for now, New York is home. ‘South Bronx has a rich history in the arts and for birthing new movements; it’s not a kept secret by any means,’ they say. But for the team, they continue, ‘it’s a perfect bubble to incubate our creativity without the contrived and diluted nature of Lower Manhattan or Brooklyn proper’.
The coming year holds collaborations with artists and musicians, the continuation of their ‘Logue’ project profiling multidisciplinary creative figures, and, of course, new collections. If you’re in search of a brave new world this year, keep an eye firmly focused on the South Bronx.
Instead of high theatre, they offer a particularly contemporary version of cool, one in which structure and fluidity converge
The brand is set to launch a first store-based experience at Sean Knibb’s conceptual retail space Flowerboy Project, Los Angeles, later this year
With this new emphasis on the West Coast, why remain in New York? 'South Bronx has a rich history in the arts and for birthing new movements,' Bopha Hul and Troy Arnold explain
Hul Arnold balance boundary-pushing concepts with a quietly minimalist aesthetic
The more radical note to their work comes in the form of the 'One World' concept, where masculinity and femininity readily converge
Where others have sought to explode gender categories through carnivalesque androgyny, Hul Arnold instead seek a more fluid concept of self-identification
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Hul Arnold’s website
-
A new Oxford Street pop-up celebrates IKEA's blue bagsIKEA's iconic blue bag gets its own pop-up concept store, the 'Hus of Frakta'.
-
Audemars Piguet and Kaws have created the Royal Oak Concept watch we didn't know we neededThe Audemars Piguet x Kaws Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Companion' is slick wrist-worn art
-
A friendly rivalry coloured by kinship: Wendy Maruyama and Tom Loeser on their two-artist show'I wanted to make furniture, just not traditional furniture, but weird furniture,' says Wendy Maruyama on ‘Colorama’, a two-artist show presented at design gallery Superhouse (until 11 January 2025)
-
Olfactory Art Keller: the New York gallery exhibiting the smell of vintage perfume, blossoming lilacs and last night’s shameOlfactory Art Keller is a Manhattan-based gallery space dedicated to exhibiting scent as art. Founder Dr Andreas Keller speaks with Lara Johnson-Wheeler about the project, which doesn’t shy away from the ‘unpleasant’
-
Kohler plunges into the world of wellness with an ice bath for your homeKohler has teamed up with Remedy Place to design an ice bath for the home, marking the brand’s first move into the wellness space
-
‘Remembering without nostalgia’: Giorgio Armani presents his S/S 2025 collection in New YorkGiorgio Armani returned to New York for his S/S 2025 show, which coincided with the opening of a flagship boutique on Madison Avenue
-
Discothèque perfumes evoke the scent of Tokyo in the year 2000As Discothèque gets ready to launch its first perfume collection, Mary Cleary catches up with the brand’s founders
-
Fashion’s favourite bookstore, Climax, opens a ‘sexy, angry’ New York outpostWallpaper* catches up with Isabella Burley, founder of Climax, as she inaugurates a New York outpost of the cult bookstore and showcases a playful new collaboration with fashion label Chopova Lowena
-
Henry Zankov is the knitwear non-conformist making fashion’s favourite sweaters‘It's about pushing the boundaries of what knitwear can be,’ says Henry Zankov, whose exuberant New York-based label is already beloved by fashion insiders
-
New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 highlights: Tory Burch to Michael KorsWallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss selects the best of New York Fashion Week S/S 2025 in our ongoing round-up, from a reinvention of sportswear at Tory Burch to Michael Kors’ Italian escape
-
What is the future of New York Fashion Week? The city’s independent designers weigh inAs New York Fashion Week begins today, Nicole DeMarco catches up with the city’s rising designers to talk about the positives, pressures and pitfalls of showing at NYFW, and asks: can you still ‘make it’ in New York City?
