Stone Island documents hardcore music culture

Stone Island’s The Calm and the Chaos is a masterclass in exploring, rather than just documenting, culture.

A recent series by Mitun Thaker (check it out here: Taste, Depth, Community) revealed how brands must truly embed themselves in culture to truly become ‘culture-first’... and Stone Island might have just provided one of the strongest examples to date.

The clothing brand’s documentary project aligns Stone Island's values with the modern hardcore and metalcore scenes in the UK and US. Rather than focusing solely on music, the project examines the values that have kept hardcore alive for decades: ‘authenticity, commitment, independence and community’.

In something of a cultural deep dive, photographer and director Isaac Lamb spent more than six months travelling across Europe and North America, documenting bands including High Vis, Angel Du$t, Knocked Loose and Haywire 617. The resulting work combines a short film, reportage photography, portraiture and a forthcoming tour book.

Stone Island avoided the typical fashion-brand approach of styling musicians for a campaign. 

Instead, the bands wore a mixture of current and vintage Stone Island pieces that they already owned and actually wore in their everyday lives.

Additional archive garments were supplied by collector and stylist Archie Maher, reinforcing the idea that the brand has been organically adopted by the scene over many years rather than inserted into it through sponsorship.

At the centre of the narrative is the cultural exchange between the British and American hardcore scenes, particularly the friendship between Graham Sayle (High Vis) and Justice Tripp (Angel Du$t/Trapped Under Ice), whose influence has shaped younger artists such as Isaac Hale (Knocked Loose) and Austin Sparkman (Haywire 617).

Our take

The campaign succeeds because it doesn't try to borrow credibility from hardcore culture. Instead, it documents a genuine relationship that already exists.

As Mitun Thaker alluded to in his series (The Age of Curation: Taste, Depth and Community), you can't buy your way into a community. You share its values consistently over time until you're accepted as part of its story.

Although I’d read the blurb on Stone Island’s film before watching it, it’s obvious the filmmakers behind the effort have a genuine love for the scene, and an eye for the moments that define it. The time and passion invested here is impossible to fake… oh, and the clothes look incredible too.

'Authenticity wins over opportunism' is the take-home here for creatives, but we reckon fans of the genre will get the most out of this little cultural journey, which is how it should be.