Valentine's Day is definitely my favorite holiday, and it might be my favorite day out of the year. With February being so cold where I'm from, Valentine's Day has always added a bit of warmth to the bleak landscape of winter. I like the splash of red that gets added to a world of white and black for just one day. It also marks my "almost birthday".
With Valentine's Day being my favorite holiday, I like to do something to celebrate it within my brand. The first year I made items specifically for Valentine's Day, I developed the now classic Dream Co. design inspired by Drake's So Far Gone mixtape. There was also a limited run of sweatshirts with a Valentine's Day inspired drawing of my character, Dash. Shoutout to the people that have that sweatshirt; even I don't have it.
2018 was the year I began transitioning into making items I'd want to wear myself instead of pandering to who I thought my audience was. I decided to kick off this new direction with a full collection for Valentine's Day 2018. It was called "With Love, Dash".
The idea of "With Love, Dash" was based on my characters, Dash and Lucy, as hitmen in Paris. Wild idea, I know. I wanted to capture the essence of a noir film. All of the items were black or white with splashes of red, exactly the way Valentine's Day feels to me.
I even painted one of my favorite pieces to date, a purse with an image of Lucy, and made a whole giveaway out of it.
In 2019, I've realized that Valentine's Day is around the time I reinvent myself each year. It isn't the first of the year, or even my birthday. Something about the idea of Valentine's Day gives me a creative drive. By Valentine's Day, I have a clear vision of what I want my year to look like, and it seems like the perfect day to display new beginnings.
This year, I was having a difficult time coming up with a direction for Valentine's Day. I knew I wanted a design to celebrate the holiday, but I couldn't come up with any ideas. I even thought about skipping it this year because I'm committed to only putting things out I'd wear myself this year. No more fillers. If I don't like a design, I'm not going to put it out.
I had all but given up til I decided to dumb it down. Instead of thinking of some crazy story behind the design, I just thought about what I'd like to do for Valentine's Day this year. I decided I wanted to do something simple, like go to dinner and a movie. Out of nowhere, it hit me. Why not make a t shirt about a movie about a Valentine's Day dinner gone wrong?
The movie would be called "No Love Lost", and it'd star Roman C. Lane, Hav A. Hart, and Rose T. Horne. Get it? I thought of Mary D. Love once it was too late; I might make a sequel next year, though. Anyway, mark your calendars for a date to remember: February 14, 2019.
Jace Lamar