It’s impossible to overstate the effect that the late Virgil Abloh has had on the now enjoined cultures of streetwear and capital F Fashion. What began as a hip-hop infused, grassroots streetwear movement in the early 2010s, eventually led to Abloh’s appointment as a Creative Director of Menswear at Louis Vuitton in under a decade. The ripples of Abloh’s significant contributions to the culture move both forward and backward, easily distinguishable in the past and present while remaining unknown in the future. This last week, Tremaine Emory’s brand Denim Tears honored the late icon’s legacy with the release of their small Pyrex Tears collection. The small capsule combines the most iconic design elements of the Abloh-created brand Pyrex Vision with Emory’s traditional Denim Tears iconography.
For those unfamiliar with Pyrex Vision, it was one of Virgil Abloh’s first official forays into the worlds of streetwear and fashion. The brand was founded in 2013 and was, in the most direct form, a product and manifestation of the streetwear landscape that surrounded it. Relatively famously, Abloh would purchase deadstock Ralph Lauren flannel shirts and screen print the word Pyrex onto them above the number 23, which is famously the number that Michael Jordan wore. The brand quickly became the beloved favorite of devoted streetwear fans and celebrities from A$AP Rocky to Kanye West. In just a few years, Pyrex Vision was cemented as one of the biggest brands in the burgeoning culture.
It was with Pyrex Vision that Abloh began the concept for what would become Off-White, which would eventually end up being the platform that launched him to the head of menswear at Louis Vuitton. Like Off-White, Pyrex Vision frequently featured paintings from the Baroque period by Cecco del Caravaggio as well as large, easy to read branding. For the Pyrex Tears collection, Denim Tears’ Tremaine Emory has resurrected Pyrex Vision’s most iconic designs of the past, while also applying his own transformative touch.
The Denim Tears Pyrex Tears collection included three different pieces, all of which call out to Pyrex Vision pieces from the past. The collection’s hoodie delivers the piece in the most classic Pyrex Vision sense, featuring Caravaggio’s The Resurrection on its chest with the brand’s iconic print on the back. The back of the hoodie alters the original design slightly, as do the other pieces from the collection, changing the text to say Pyrex Tears and changing the number 23 to 45, which was the number Michael Jordan played in when he returned from retirement. The other pieces released as a part of the collection were a pair of shorts, which feature the word Pyrex in large white letters across the crotch, and a yellow t-shirt with the same Pyrex Tears branding on its back with the number 45 on it. Both pieces are iconic in the ethos of Pyrex Vision.
Though this collection is an obvious homage to the legacy of the late Virgil Abloh, Tremaine Emory, the founder of Denim Tears, is having a massive year so far. He started as the creative director at Supreme earlier this year and under his watch, the brand has already moved in an exciting new direction. With the release of this Pyrex Tears collection, Emory has managed to deliver one of the biggest releases of the year, simply out of its deep meaningfulness and connection to the past. Even if it doesn’t sell like crazy on StockX, this collaboration serves as a moment in culture where the present honors the monolithic presence of Virgil Abloh in the past and how his work will continue to influence the future.
Buy & Sell the Denim Tears Pyrex Tears collection on StockX below.
