(Designers)
Back Market’s Collaboration With Sustainable Artist, Gab Bois Just Gave Y2K Tech New Life
The drop is so Julia.
Ever since Julia Fox took over the street style scene in 2022, she’s become known for pulling off unexpected, eccentric pieces with ease. In under two years, the fashion muse has worn a dry cleaning bag as a top, numerous underwear as outerwear looks, and a bandeau made of watches (to name a few notable numbers). But on December 5, the risk-taker took her signature aesthetic to an even edgier level — all thanks to a brand-new collaboration between Montreal-based artist Gab Bois and Back Market (a global marketplace that sells refurbished electronics). And just hours after the capsule collection dropped online, Fox got her hands on the wearable art made from Y2K tech.
Bright and early on Thursday morning (after eight months of production), Fox shared Bois’ creations with her 2 million Instagram followers. In the now-viral post, the multi-hyphenate styled three of the six pieces from the Fall/Winter 2005: Hardwear collection, including a Discman turned into a compact mirror, tech-embellished press-on nails, and a flip phone belt around her chest. Bois says Fox’s style was a frequent source of inspiration throughout the entire creation process. “From very early on, we always tried to envision the archetype of who could wear the pieces, and her name kept coming up, so it just felt like a natural fit,” Bois tells TZR.
With the help of Back Market, Bois sourced vintage staples from late ‘90s and early 2000s technology and transformed them into functional clothing. Even though the online marketplace was involved every step of the way, Bois says it fit perfectly into her established wheelhouse. “The collection feels like something I would do as a personal project, especially because I had already done a few tech recreations, like a camcorder repurposed as a wallet,” she says. “The connection with Back Market feels really authentic and 100% aligned — it really is two worlds merging together at a very mutual pace.”
When it came time to source the electronics, Bois says Back Market encouraged her to take the collab in any direction. “I cast a very wide net of ideas and then had a mutual brainstorm of the best way to funnel them into a proper and concise direction,” she says. “We wanted pieces that yes, looked amazing and could be used editorially, but also ones that are functional and serve a real purpose.” According to Bois, being as diverse as possible with the range was a major priority. In addition to Fox’s pieces, the team also created a candle holder out of webcams, a headphone balaclava, and a camera coin purse. “Having these assorted elements all from the same time period was super interesting to us — just so we could establish a seamless throwback that engages people into this Y2K era,” Bois says.
As you may have seen on Fox’s IG post, every purchase of Bois’ capsule collection helps support the Right to Repair movement — a consumer advocacy cause that defends the fundamental right to repair and restore their own electronics. She says this was driven by the goal of making the tech repair process more accessible. “The value of craftsmanship is getting lost in tech with companies having the monopoly on how we fix our everyday goods,” Bois shares. “There’s a dichotomy with that, because all these electronics are omnipresent in our everyday life, but we're also not autonomous when it comes to the upkeep and health of tech.”
The whimsicality of the launch doesn’t go unnoticed by Bois. “I love every design, but in terms of my personal style, they’re a bit out there for me,” she says. But she still manages to spotlight them in her minimalistic rotation. “Even though my look leans more neutral, the webcam candle holder and the camera coin purse are my everyday ‘I love to look at them and touch them’ items,” she adds. So, take it from Bois: You don’t have to be a maximalism enthusiast to appreciate these artworks.
If you’re a fan of the creative’s mission, you can shop her Back Market drop right now. But hurry, because some styles (including Fox’s Discman compact) are selling fast.
