Cleons Clothing Fashion Show

CLEONS Spring/Summer 2009 pt. II Fashion Show
feat. NOIR II Dance Troupe
Saturday, April 25th @
DuSable Museum of African American History
Doors Open 6:30pm
Showtime 7:00pm
Advance Tickets $20
At The Door $25
Tickets On SALE March 8th!

MySpace: Commercial

YouTube:


EXCLUSIVE NEW 242 Piece Collection!

www.myspace.com/cleons
www.modelmayhem.com/cleons

Interview: Sneakerfiles x Dave Jeff (PHLI)

So the homeboy Oscar from Sneakerfiles sat down with (the much respected affiliate of XchangeChicago) the founder of PHLI and the voice of Chicago Dave Jeff...ENJOY!

Props to the homie Oscar


During the past years, Chicago has made an enormous growth in the sneaker culture. Stores like St.Alfred, Self-Conscious and LDRS 1354 have paved the way for other up and coming boutiques from which they stem ideas from. However, behind the sneaker boutiques, one man has made a name for himself being the first of few to start the boutique and sneaker scene in Chicago. Meet Dave Jeff, A sneaker and fashion connoisseur that turned the PHLI brand into many different markets other than just the sneakers.

Sneaker Files: People have thrown your name around within the sneaker scene in the Chi and You have made a name for yourself but Who really is Dave Jeff?

Dave Jeff: Dave Jeff is a Hyde Park kid. Born and raised over there. Sneaker head, I’m a boss, CEO, I’m a designer in fashion, I’m a trend setter, and I’m everything Chicago.


PHLI Nike Air Force 25

Sneaker Files: What is PHLI?

Dave Jeff: PHLI is a lifestyle brand. We deal with everything our lifestyle consist of. The sneaker world, The fashion world, deal in marketing, design, artist management. Everything lifestyle with your computer, cars, music, we have our hand in everything.


Sneaker Files: What about the store?

Dave Jeff: The PHLI store was the first sneaker boutique in Chicago. The first private label to do what we do as far the T’s , the whole fashion thing and the sneakers. This was like 5-6 years ago. That’s where that whole thing started.

Sneaker Files: Since you started the sneaker boutiques, what would You say about the other Chicago boutiques?

Dave Jeff: If you look at the people who first began it with the three main joints, PHLI, Leaders, and Self Conscious, it was me, Vell, my man Sam and a few others spreading around amongst the Footlockers and corporate America. We, the Diegos and all of that came from Tony Sports.

When we left Tony Sports, me, Diego and a couple of other cats were at a store called Half-Time. A buddy of mine from the east coast came down and just set the world on fire. He was a real fly dude, east coast dude, and was really up on expanding that whole pipeline. Like five or six years ago, I remember him coming back from Asia, sitting Atmos down and buying up all their stuff, with the atmosphere and linens, the Wheats (and this was when they were first released).

This was back then, but then the store closed. He got into some things and he basically left the store to me. Afterward I did what I could do. I sold the lease, liquidated some stuff and that was basically the start of Capitol, to get to the store I was at now, which PHLI in Hyde Park.

Sneaker Files: How do You see your self in today’s sneaker scene? Whats Your position?

Dave Jeff: I’m the voice of Chicago. I been on three tours now, I been around the country twice this year, dealing with sneaker fans, DunkxChange and being a voice for the sneaker world, but everybody knows I’m from the Chi and everybody knows what PHLI. I definitely represented, been an ambassador from Chicago across the country.

Sneaker Files: Whats going to happen with the PHLI store?

Dave Jeff: As you know, the stores moving so there will be another store. The University of Chicago bought the property in where the store is currently now, it’s where its been for five years, so the store will stay in Hyde Park but it’ll just be bigger and better.

Peep the PHLI blog daily at:
www.phliworldwide.com

House Of Hoops Chicago

(Mixtape) Naledge / DJ RTC - Brainiac...

DL Link: Brainiac Society

Read the Full article: Naledge / DJ RTC...

Naledge of Kidz In The Hall enlisted the services of RubyHornet's DJ Roosevelt Treasurechest to put together the first installment of the Brainiac Society Mixtape series, Welcome To Brainiac Society. The free mixtape is a nice collection of music by Naledge, as well as other artists that he's built with and that he has been inspired by. Get the full story on Brainiac Society, the tracklist, and download link below. Props to St!zo on the artwork, and special props to Mike Kolar of SoundScape Studios for making it sound so, so crisp.



From Naledge
"Welcome To Brainiac Society is a compilation or collection of music that I
like, and that I might have made or contributed to. There's no real rhyme
or reason to it. I think a lot of people got confused when I started
repping Brainiac Society as my crew or my label cause I think a lot of
people took it as a separation from Kidz In The Hall, which is not what it
is. It's just me giving a platform to people that I like, and I want it to
be looked at moreso as a Native Tongues type of thing than as a Bad Boy type
of thing. It's just a group of people that make dope music and appreciate
the artistry of Hip Hop and doesn't have to necessarily mean they are
rappers. They can sing, they can make beats, DJ, whatever. It's about the
creative renaissance that's going on within Hip Hop all over the nation.
These are people that I met in my travels who I feel are dope and they
inspire me. We just get together and we collectively make art...It's also a
platform for me to put out Fooch who is my artist. It's no departure from
Kidz In The Hall. Me and Double O are such creative beings in general, that
we don't know how to operate without 30 things going on at once. We're very
much multi-taskers and we've always been that way. We try to have our hands
in everything.

RTC mixed it, it's got new freestyles, some exclusive stuff, some stuff
that's been leaked on the internet, stuff that you might have forgot existed
or never had or never downloaded on a a CD. My hope with this is that
people will download it, burn it to a CD, and just play it, or add it as a
playlist to their ipod. That's really what it is, just a dope mix, a dope
collection of music. Talented individuals on all fronts, and I'm really
excited about it."

Ex1st featured on TheMavenReport.com

Those familiar with the XCHANGE also know how we celebrate the art of Chris Whisby.

For those that missed out

http://www.xchangechicago.com/blog/index.blog/1785090/ex1st/

http://www.xchangechicago.com/archives/nov_18_dec_10.html

Read the feature themavenreport.com put together... Pretty dope

Just when you think you’ve seen everything, Chitown invites you to bear witness to the pinnacle of creativity. Relentless and raw this young man is no holds barred, unleashing masterpiece one after another. Introducing Chris Whisby, artist slash creator slash designer of Exist 1.

Born and raised on the south side of Chicago’s Englewood community, Chris took what started as reoccurring nightmares and created vivid and lifelike illustrations. Using only Pilot gel pens and Coldpress Water Color paper he was able to unearth the most indescribable detail that has become a signature, distinguishing his work from all others. From Chicago and New York to Japan and even the UK, as time passes his fan base is constantly growing.

In the fall of 2007, Chris decided to use a different canvas and take his genius to clothing … spawning Exist Wear Series. The series is not to be considered a clothing line, but yet another avenue for Mr. Whisby to display his art (this time on people). For that reason nothing is digitally altered during the transition from paper to clothing.

The same hand drawn detail is perfectly mirrored on T-shirts, sweaters, gym shoes and skateboards. The line has enjoyed continued success since its initial release last October and is now available worldwide. This fall, Exist 1 launches the women’s wear series including everything from jeans, shirts, sweaters and skirts.

What direction will Chris and his uncanny talent take him next?

Well “everywhere” as the young entrepreneur described. Character design for the film and video game industry as well as an Exist Comic Series are on his top priority list. He is also considering touring worldwide where he will host art shows and venues in various locations.

Check out Whisby’s artwork and Exist 1 collection @

www.myspace.com/exist1 and chriswhisby71@gmail.com