Experience the power to Snap back

About Matthew Cook

With my designs, I explore the styles and aesthetics of where I am from and create collections based off of the events and perceptions people have of Saint Louis, Missouri and the areas surrounding it concerning race, gender/sexuality, and body image. My designs challenge the stereotypes that have been created and ingrained into our society for decades and still continue to generate in today’s society from one generation to the next and then comparing these viewpoints from where I am from to my surroundings in New York. I consistently keep in mind the goal of representing the community I am from through the use of textures and materials to convey a concept of value and body image in an inclusive, comprehensive, and accessible way that bridges the gaps within our society. For me, my target customer is someone who not only takes risks with fashion but wants to have fun while commenting on something socially or politically and reaches to a large audience, such as Cardi B and Lady Gaga. Overall, fashion is more than something you wear to clothe with, it is a way of expressing, identifying, and representing who you are to the outside world through a visual way by providing designs that are bold, powerful, accessible, innovative, and inclusive that are unmistakably mistakable.