The Napapijri Bulletin is a monthly editorial project that tells the extraordinary stories of extraordinary people. Modern explorers, friends of the brand, cultural icons: each month, The Bulletin celebrates those who dare to abandon the known maps to chart unexpected territories.
Too Hot’s Ollie Evans on the power of fashion nostalgia
Having a mod father is the secret to which Ollie Evans, founder of Too Hot, owes a unique sensitivity to the stories that clothes tell about themselves and whoever wears them. During last Paris Fashion Week, Ollie curated an exhibition for Napapjiri to mark the launch of the Fall/Winter 2024 collection. Through a selection of Napa's historical pieces, he imagined a journey through the future, the past, the outdoors and metropolitan subcultures. ‘Future Heritage’: an immersive and emotional experience that goes straight to the heart of the brand, projecting it into the contemporary. We caught up with him at the vernissage and he spoke to us about his adventure with Napa and how the collaboration went.
Tell us about Too Hot and your passion for archives.
Too Hot was born in 2012. I was between jobs as a music video director and needed some cash so began selling some of my old clothes and very quickly realised I had tapped in a culture of people online who appreciated the same labels and subcultures as me. I the
What do you think is the value of the archive for a brand?
Archives are extremely important for brands to understand their own past in order to move forward. Fashion is cyclical and nostalgia is extremely powerful, if you as a brand are lucky enough to have a been producing clothes for years that should be celebrated through an archive.
What does a brand like Napapijri represent for you?
For me brands like Napapijri represent a sense of discovery and repurposing their function into new contexts. I love how subcultures discover brands and reappropriate them to give new meaning, so they become worn by new audiences in fresh environments.
For example with Napapirji’s polar expedition roots repurposed for inner city living.
You chose six historic Napa items, why those?
The items I chose for my selection are representative of the types of pieces I would look for when sourcing vintage for Too Hot, they contain the core elements of what I feel makes Napapirji work, bold colours, technical fabrics and a unique style language that you can recognise instantly.
What kind of work did you want to do with Napa?
I wanted to explore Napapirji’s history and identity through its archive, to show the consistent language that has been used throughout to create its one-of-a-kind identity. That as the brand has evolved and become more popular you can trace its roots through these vintage pieces and recognise it as the same brand we have today.
Your styling of Napa items seems to have an extremely contemporary twist. Were you looking for it or was it something that went beyond your intentions?
I always like to style vintage items in a contemporary manner to show how they fit in the modern wardrobe and that people can wear old clothes whilst looking very current.
I didn’t want to make something that felt it was trying to be styled directly from the 1990’s. It’s good to give things a relevant twist.
If you had to choose a Napa item for yourself, what would it be and how would you use it?
For me personally it has to be the Skidoo jacket, when I think of Napapirji it’s that jacket that pops into my head. Iconic is an overused term but there is no other way to describe it. It was Napapirji first jacket, it was designed for a particular purpose and it has stood the test of time. It’s the apex.”
