This year, StockX has teamed up with Coachella to bring some of the festival’s most exciting acts together with a number of today’s hottest brands to bring you a unique and first of its kind collaborative festival merch experience. One of these partnerships sees Korean fashion brand, Emotionally Unavailable team up with Korean-born DJ, Peggy Gou for a special pairing that celebrates the commonalities between the two world-famous parties.
Emotionally Unavailable’s story has become streetwear lore. For those unfamiliar with the legend, here is how KB tells it: “Edison and I were going through a break up at around the same time and as we were on some heart to heart talks, he jokingly said that we were both “Emotionally Unavailable” – and that’s how the name came about.” Shortly after, KB reached out to a friend who was working for Disney at the time and helped them to design the dripping heart logo that is now iconic to the brand.
Throughout the label’s nearly decade-long existence, the Emotionally Unavailable pair have never strayed far from their roots, as their Korean heritage has remained a foundational piece of their identity. When the brand was approached by Nike to collaborate on a pair of shoes in 2019, Chen and KB chose an Air Force 1 silhouette constructed out of canvas as their canvas. This was a nod to their home country where the shoe is seen as a universal staple among several subcultures including the world of hip-hop as well as skaters.
Now, presented with this compelling opportunity by StockX and Coachella, Emotionally Unavailable has been able to once again honor a celebrated piece of Korean culture in Peggy Gou, a leader in the electronic music scene who has also paid homage to her Korean heritage through tracks such as Hungboo, named after the protagonist of a Korean fairy tale. With the deep cultural ties between Emotionally Unavailable and Peggy Gou, the partnership just made sense, “There are two types of collabs” explains KB. “The first is a friendship or relationship that organically comes together, with similar energy everyone brings to the table helps to create a visual that we can appreciate. The second type of collabs are with partners that have somewhat of a different idea and see how we could make a twist on each other’s brands.” In the case of this collab for Coachella, KB says it was option one. “For Peggy, she plays a big role in the music industry and is also a fellow Korean, so it felt organic to work together to both share our creative input to see this project come to life.”
The Emotionally Unavailable x Peggy Gou Coachella collection is made up of one jacket, two long sleeve t-shirts, and a hat. Each piece employs a racing aesthetic, which according to KB from Emotionally Unavailable combines how they view Peggy while also nodding to Coachella’s desert setting, “I see Peggy similar to an Olympic hero and I wanted to create some type of uniform that ties into the racing vibe,” says KB. “I love the aesthetics of Dirt bikes and BMX racing, so with Coachella being in a desert oasis I wanted to design something that would play into the location as well as show Peggy as an athlete going for first when she performs.”
The respect that Emotionally Unavailable has for Peggy Gou is quite literally woven into the threads of this outstanding collection, and allowed for some truly inspired work. “Peggy and I are both creatives in our respective fields, for my ideas usually come from curiosity” states KB, “It’s not just about something new, it stems from something I know and how I can change it to make it better. My Inspirations will come from different places from talking to a stranger or seeing something that is aesthetically pleasing, that’s when my brain starts going to work.”
Click here to shop the DropX™ Exclusive Emotionally Unavailable x Peggy Gou x Coachella collaboration on StockX.
