Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into fashion?
Name(s): Kevin & Karl
Age: 23
Hometown: Peckham
Adjectives: Authentic, Boisterous, Social Butterflies
Reflecting on the 4 years since this creative journey started, we’d say that we got into fashion by chance.We all have vocations in life and ours found us by divine intervention - we knew that we had a knack for creativity and allowed ourselves to be vessels in order to promote what we wanted to see within the industry. Our first campaign was shot for Diesel back in February 2018 and since then we never looked back… it's funny how we went from selling the jeans working retail to eventually modeling for the brand. That's a full circle opportunity we will forever be grateful for. The first creative project we directed was for sports brand Ellese. It was the first time we ever had control of the end-to-end process and were able to express our vision for a campaign.
You’ve just celebrated Mission Statement Magazine’s first birthday. How did MSM come about?
MSM started off as ideas written on a whiteboard in Kevin’s university bedroom. This was the organic next step and inevitable progression from being models - something to put our name onto whilst finding a platform on which to distribute our message, ideas, and community ethos. At the forefront of it all, our mission statement was “an alternative creative platform to empower creatives, giving them the ability to create their own narratives.” We became fascinated with production & creative direction and always questioned who put together everything behind the scenes. Our nature of questioning and thinking outside the box led us to build a platform that followed this same mantra.
What are your biggest achievements with Mission Statement Magazine so far?
At this point, everything feels like a milestone. We’re appreciative of the impact we now have on other people beyond the MSM circle. An additional moment so far is seeing the MSM in print atthe local store in Soho, next to renowned publications. It's been a surreal moment for us. We know that this is only the beginning and there are more achievements on the way.
It’s 2022 and summer is back in a big way. Tell us what you have done already and are planning this summer?
This summer is about experiences, traveling the world, meeting new people. We’ve been very busy this summer: throwing events all over, attending music festivals & coming up with new ideas.
What’s your advice for customers to style DM’s sandals?
To wear the DM Sandals, you need to have the confidence to pull it off. We like to style the DM’s with loose fitting bottoms and a fly t-shirt to match.
Dr. Martens has evolved over the decades, do you have any stories or memories about when you first saw or heard about the brand?
Our earliest memory of Dr. Martens stems from our older cousin (shout outs David) who always used to come to our house with different colourways of DM’s. Karl’s favorite colourway is the Burgandy.
What’s your top three tracks of the summer?
Burna Boy - Last Last
Wizkid - Steady
Alex Isley - Good & Plenty