“I want to have everybody go out, create, and be a family. Go talk to their grandparents and listen to their stories. Just create, go out, have fun, and be human again.”
Street, nostalgic, and cozy. These are a few words that can be used to describe designer MVHCO’s style. Also known as Marco Collins, he was born in Salem, but grew up in Lynn. After living here his whole life, and having lived in California a couple of times, Collins now aspires to give back to the community he grew up in. Aiming to lead by example, be a positive symbol, and put in as much hard work as possible to show everyone that they can do what they dream of too, especially the youth.
“I feel like I’ve been put here to inspire not just the youth, but people in general. To be themselves and find themselves,” Collins said.
Collins also emphasized on how important community is and how impactful it is to show support for one another. He hopes to one day curate events of his own and let the youth show off their art and get them involved.
“I like to shop a lot of the local brands too … A lot of the kids that sell stuff, I like to wear their pieces and take pictures with them. It’s not really hard to take pictures of your friend’s clothes, tag them in the post and just promote them, especially if you’re fly… like why not?”
Having been inspired by fashion for as long as he could remember, Collins recounts that growing up his family didn’t have much money, but they made it work by shopping at thrift stores, TJ Maxx, and other shops where he could find affordable clothing but still find a way to look good at the same time – always mixing and matching his clothes to create different outfits.
What really kicked off his drive to begin creating his own pieces was his time spent working at Zimmons in Lynn. That’s when Collins learned the art of sewing and making his own creations. Collins’ former boss, Michael, was an inspiration to him. Watching him work with the fabrics and colors caused Collins to get motivated and start designing himself, first by creating patchwork for his pants. Collins cites Zimmons as a good place for kids to visit to spark up some creativity.
THE ARTIST BEHIND THE BOT
When it comes to his clothing, Collins aims to convey the following message: Don’t be a bot.
A logo of a bot Collins created is on display on his social media and some of his clothing pieces. It takes inspiration from Japanese fashion designer, DJ, record producer, and entrepreneur, Nigo. The Japanese designer is best known for creating the streetwear brand A Bathing Ape (Bape). Collins’ logo signifies to people to not be a bot and go out and play. Collins doubled down on that message with the hats he has released that adorn a hand-knit stitched star on the side of the cap, and a 3D hand-printed drawing of people playing outside enjoying the day.
“I want to have everybody go out, create and be a family. Go talk to their grandparents and listen to their stories. Just create, go out, have fun, and be human again,” Collins said. “It might be childish a little bit, but a lot of people really love it because of the message behind it. Especially if they have kids or if they notice themselves too much on their phone. They look at the hat and say, ‘I need to go out and play. I’ll go out and create. I’ll go out and hit up my mom, my father, my brother, or my sister’ – just some type of human connection, unity, everybody together.”
PROCESS BEHIND THE ART
When he makes his hats, Collins orders blank hats, finds a nice space to work, puts on some music, and picks out his paints. From there, he doesn’t have a specific rule to what colors he picks for the hats and chooses based on nostalgic based colors, or two or three colors that may match. Although the colors vary between the hats, the same drawing adorns the front of all the caps to push out the message he wants to get across. Collins admits that sometimes he might mess up on the drawings and sometimes he might not.
“That’s the whole purpose of art because there’s no mistakes in art,” Collins quotes famous artist Pablo Piccasso.
From there, Collins uses a needle to knit stitch the stars that embellish the sides of the hats. In the future he aims to have a more interactive experience and be able to be put on display and create the hats while people watch and see the process in real time.
WHERE TO FIND HIM
Collins has recently begun selling his hats at Salty Seas Vintage on 545 Washington St. in Lynn. Every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. people can stop by and take a look as there will be 20 different hand made one-of-a-kind hats and other pieces made by Collins that will be put on show at the shop.
Collins will also be one of the designers featured at the Vlush Fest Black and White Ball in Somerville. There he will be showcasing his designs on the runway. More information about the event and how to purchase tickets can be found here.
“There is room for everyone. You don’t have to step on toes to succeed,” Collins said. “Everybody wants to have fun and create. I want my kids to do it. If my kids don’t want to do it, hopefully somebody else’s kids want to do it. There’s room for everybody, it’s just about actually taking initiative and doing it.”
