How much we progressed with Ada + Nik

First and foremost, the biggest thing to happen was when Ada + Nik (our menswear brand still in its infancy) won the Gen Art Award (previously won by Zac Posen, Rodarte, Philip Lim and more) at New York Fashion Week where we had the opportunity to showcase our collection. Ada and I have worked tirelessly over the last two years to create a menswear experience that people want to undertake through various mediums, it’s a world to us and after we did the Immersive Experience at LCM in June, we really fundamentally understood who we were and what this direction stood for. When Gen Art called to tell us what we had won, our collective minds were genuinely blown – it was such an honour. This is the photo that Angel Haze took from the front row at the finale. I personally just want to thank everyone who has supported this venture so far and how excited I am to progress this baby to the next level.

Secondly, we were also picked up to be stocked at Harrods and we made a bit of an impact with our wearable technology development too. You can read about it on Forbes here. Oh and this is probably my favourite photo of the year, taken by Gallucks from our Ada + Nik show last January.

Finally, I got to make a few films with the brand including SYN which just won the award for Best Actor at AIFFF! Nice one Duran! This was the performance of the monologue that I wrote with Ada, Barbara Zanditon and Ursa and directed Duran in.

Travel

I woke up on the 1st of January in the ice cold Italian mountains and vowed that 2015 would be full of sunlight, and it really was. Soma Bay in Egypt, Dubai, LA, New York and Toronto during Summer, Athens, Barcelona, Paris three times for work, driving through the German countryside with Mustang were all incredible experiences – and I really cannot wait to share more. The travel has also upped my photography game one hundred fold – so thank you.

Health and Fitness

The last six months of dedication towards grooming and well-being have been super important for me. Being an Equinox Ambassador has massively helped somewhat, but so do midnight sociopath gym sessions at the basement gym in my apartment block. It’s just down to either pyschoticness or balance, but either way I am really happy that it’s working out for me right now and so was OUT magazine when they named me one of their most eligible bachelors and in their OUT 100 list this year.

Oh and THANK FUCK I cut off my man bun, even if it did make it onto Man Bun Monday on Instagram (insert kimoji, reach for carbs).

Charity

Without the health and fitness, it would have made the shirtless sell for my Grooming Adventure in aid of raising money for the Albert Kennedy Trust a little bit harder. I jest. Actually, this was just the more public side of things when it comes to what I’ve been volunteering on this year. The other big part is mentoring creatively underprivileged kids in East London every couple of Fridays. I can’t Snapchat it for you guys exactly, but it’s surreal. I’ve learnt so much from them (they’re between 13 and 18 years old) and we’ve helped them develop so many incredible and inspiring ideas together that some day I will get to share with you too.

We also kept Ada + Nik sustainably intelligent and did two charity brand projects, one for Oceana and one with St Andrews University.

Life Imitating Art and The Yolo-Factor

I guess this ties into everything, the personal style posts, travel, partying and some amazing friends all over the world but I’ve been to spend time with, whether at the top of the CN Tower, my apartment, the Burj in Dubai or online.

But also to adding layers to personal expressionism which I managed to achieve this year through my paintings and signing with Contemporary Collective.

This all feels so lengthy, so I hope you’ll read and bring on 2016. From the boy who just wants to make things that you guys can experience – thank you. X

The post My Best of 2015 appeared first on KIMU.

After much industry debate and contention, the time has come for Tom Ford International to concede and join the digital fashion revolution. This week marked the official unveil (albeit in beta) of TOMFORD.COM as an e-commerce site, along with an official Twitter and Instagram.

Unsurprisingly, the visuals are gripping and somewhat sexual echoing the early fragrance and beauty campaigns from the brand. In terms of selection, the site focusses on fragrance and accessories – which is absolutely a logical progression. Personal menswear accessories favourites under the cut (which you can click through to) and a preview of my short film collaboration with Tom Ford Beauty to celebrate the new OUD Collection can be seen here – it’s out in a couple of weeks.

The post Tom Ford International Goes Digital appeared first on KIMU.