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—Kanye West A weary Patrik Ervell gave me a limp handshake last night backstage following his NYFW Spring 2013 show at Made Fashion Week. There was a line of dudes behind me with shit-eating grins waiting for the chance to pat him on the back and possibly snag a photo. I can imagine the whole thing must have been exasperating for him, being forced to greet the talentless hacks who'll make a fortune peddling his art and the fanboy Stans (like myself) who think they have some connection with him because they buy his shit. All his hard work and creativity distilled into a five-minute spectacle in front of a bunch of self-aggrandizing angry people. When we shook hands, I wanted to ask him if it was all worth it. This wasn't the first time I'd met Patrick. Almost exactly two years ago I was standing at the front door of his apartment in SoHo, which also served as his showroom. It was 7 PM on a Thursday evening in late September, and the cool breezes of autumn were starting to pick up. I had just arrived in New York for the first time in my life from Ohio and I was fresh from signing a lease with three other dudes for a teeny one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. Even though I was rendered destitute from the big move, I was determined to become a hip urbanite and cop some of the shit that I used to look at on forums and fashion sites in the wee hours of the morning back in Ohio when other guys were out boozing and banging beaver. My roommate had heard through the grapevine that THE Patrik Ervell—the elegant designer from the Opening Ceremony camp who had his models walk on copies of the Financial Times during a recession—was having a sample sale. So we high-tailed it to the city to take advantage. The only problem was that we had the wrong date. "Where's the pizza?" Patrik asked us with his door barely cracked open, the way old ladies do when they are weary of a home invaison.
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