Conversations w/da Ancestors & other Tote Bags

This is my first tote bag drop since the early 90's and I say "...welllll It's About Time!!!!!!"

Here's a pic of the 90s tote bag featuring the SKNY Menswear logo, with bold a crown emblem and adinkra symbol jewels.

A friend suggested (a while ago and recently), I should created some tote bags. So I think it through ...to carry stuff, my farms market goodies, books or to help out the environment?!

So when I finally decided "yes, I'm going to do this" I just couldn't get a handle on the direction I wanted to pursue. What did I want to say? What size bags? Printing cost? Colorways? Will the market support the cost... yadda yadda yadda!

Fast forward I'm organizing the fabric closet and stumbled up on some canvas fabric, I scribbled on in 2023 (motif doodles & SKM signatures and building numbers of my design studios & boutique). Then I remember the t-shirt printer had a print of the scribblings in my file. Bim, Bam, Boom "Conversation w/da Ancestors" was realized. I decided I would treat each bag as a canvas and I would create random in the moment.

backStory: In college my "goodgood" friend (photographer) Robert Walker said I should paint on canvas or screen print my motifs I adorned winter designs with and my signature abzag stitching which he said, to him, had a "language feeling sorta like morse code".

He also came up with the branding "who Is SHAKA KING???". We were to post this statement all over NYC inspired by what Keith Haring was doing, with graffitiing the city with his baby.

Conversation w/da Ancestors is a Limited Edition 4pc Collection of mixed media totes. Vintage premium vanilla canvas cotton is frayed then adorned with random scribbles, writings & doodles, freestyled using various sizes of black Sharpies. I stitched down each panel, freestyle, using my signature abzag stitching.

I love the whole designer bag, key chain vibe so I created a safety pin & fob, which is attached to every tote bag from this series, representing access and open doors.

I CREATED TWO ADDTIONAL TOTES...

One using recycled SKM t-shirt sleeves, backed w/SKM signature muslin the the cut-out is attached to the back of the bag.

One with the company slogan, "...it's a feeling!".

For these two totes from this first drop, I created leather dog tags with the house's signature abzag stitching on them which are knotted and hangs from a cotton cord.

Each bag is one of one.

All are handcrafted (w/the exception of the quality canvas totes, they are blanks).