To mark International Womenās Day, we wanted to hit up one of our favourite sneakerheads, the incomparable Monsieur Banana. One of Melbourneās biggest and best collectors, she not only has impeccable taste, but also a YouTube channel that will have you binging until the early hours.Ā
Stay tuned to StockX as we look to tap Monsieur Banana’s style picks in coming months, but for now check out what she has to say about the sneaker game and making your own path as a content creator.
How did you first get into sneakers, can you remember?
I feel like my first hype pair of sneakers was back in like 2005. In my mind what was hype back then was a pair of Bape Staās – this was the Nigo Bape era – it was so hard to get, online shopping wasnāt a big thing then so having Bape was like a real if-you-know-you-know type thing. I was in HK for a holiday and I just had to get some Bape Staās – I bought the smallest size they had, they didn’t even fit!
I was highly influenced by the Pharrell, Kanye era back then. I watched so much MTV and thatās how I discovered Bape. From there it evolved into looking at Jordans and Nike and other brands.Ā
How would you describe your style these days?Ā
My style is very casual. I had to go out for drinks the other day and my friend had to say to me, “Please no boy clothes and no Supreme!” A lot of my clothes are men’s clothes, but everything to me is unisex. If it fits, wear it!
Thereās something in that, in feeling confident enough to just wear whatever you like, regardless of what the gender label says. When did you first start feeling like that was something you could do?Ā
I think even in the mid 2000ās when I was wearing Bape, it was mostly menswear that I was seeing. The womenās fashion I was seeing wasnāt appealing to me at all so I gravitated towards the mens stuff.Ā
Youāre very respected in the sneaker world, not just in Australia but right around, and your content on YouTube is super high quality. What made you want to start creating content?Ā
I was buying all these sneakers and wearing them and loving them and I just thought maybe I could start sharing them. Why not? One of the main questions people were asking me at the start was about sizing – especially women trying to figure out menās sizing, and I knew a lot about that. So I made some videos about that.Ā
When I first started my YouTube channel I was really just learning everything about filming and editing so I started doing vlogs first. My logic was that when your channel is new, it doesnāt matter if itās good or bad – no one is going to watch it anyway! So i took that time to figure it all out and get confident talking on camera.Ā
This was also when Yeezyās were really popping – if there was any raffles in Melbourne for Yeezyās, I was there! I did a lot of content on Yeezyās and I think thatās how people found me.
You went from being influenced by MTV, to creating your own content and influencing thousands of people with your style and your choices. How does that feel?Ā
Iām always so surprised that people watch my videos! I always assume the only people who watch are my parents…But really Iām just sharing what I love on my channel. Itās cool that people might like something I talk about or sometimes theyāll tell me they picked something up because of how I wore it.Ā
What advice would you give to other young women who want to make a lane for themselves in content?Ā
A: Just do you! When I started doing this I never cared or thought about whether sneakers were a male-dominated space. I just thought, “I like sneakers so Iām going to talk about it.“ I get a lot of questions asking if Iāve had any difficulty being a female in this space and I can honestly say I havenāt. Iām just so focused on sharing what I love. If youāre passionate about something you just have to pursue it. Maybe if youāre a female in a male-dominated space it can be an advantage for you – especially if there are other women who want to consume your content or have the same interests as you.Ā
Finally, whatās your favourite pick up of the last year?Ā
I will say the KAWS x Sacai Blazer in the Reed colourway. I woke up early to get them off the KAWS website but they donāt ship to Australia so I had to ship them to someone else to on-send them to me, but it was totally worth it.Ā
That whole KAWS x Sacai Blazer pack is still really attainable – thereās no crazy resale value on them which is a good thing – if you like the sneaker it shouldnāt be about the resale value.
