Shayne Oliver didn’t just make clothes. He built a cult. If you were paying attention to New York City’s underground scene in the early 2010s, you saw the shift happening in real-time. High fashion felt stiff, and streetwear was getting a little too predictable. Then came Hood By Air. It was loud. It was queer. It was aggressive. It basically invited everyone to the party while simultaneously making them feel like they weren’t cool enough to be there.
Enter Playboi Carti.
Before the vamp era and the Whole Lotta Red chaos, Carti was the young, enigmatic figurehead of a new aesthetic movement. He wasn't just wearing the clothes; he was the personification of the brand's chaotic energy. Seeing Hood By Air Carti on a runway or in a grainy paparazzi shot wasn't just a "fit pic" moment. It was a cultural pivot. It signaled that the boundaries between the trap house and the Parisian runway had finally, irrevocably dissolved.
The Night Everything Changed at the Spring 2017 Show
Think back to the Spring/Summer 2017 "Handshake" show. It’s arguably one of the most legendary moments in modern fashion history. The air was thick with the smell of Vaseline—literally, the models were covered in it. It was greasy, uncomfortable, and brilliant.
Carti walked that runway.
He didn't look like a traditional model. He looked like a glitch in the system. Wearing oversized proportions and that signature HBA graphic language, he moved with a nonchalance that made the seasoned fashion editors in the front row look out of place. This wasn't a celebrity cameo for clout. Shayne Oliver and Carti shared a specific, jagged DNA. They both thrived on being misunderstood.
Why the Hood By Air Carti Connection Actually Stuck
Most brand-rapper collaborations feel like a boardroom meeting gone wrong. You know the ones. A rapper gets paid a few hundred thousand to post a photo in a hoodie they’ll never wear again. But with HBA and Carti, it felt organic. Why? Because both were obsessed with the "anti-hero" archetype.
Hood By Air was never about looking "pretty." It was about looking formidable. It used bold logos—those blocky letters that seemed to scream at you—to claim space. Carti, even back then, was moving away from the "pretty boy" rapper trope into something darker and more experimental.
- The Proportions: Carti loved the way HBA played with length. Extra-long sleeves that covered the hands, mimicking a sort of high-fashion straitjacket.
- The Graphics: The brand’s use of provocative imagery mirrored Carti’s lyrical shift toward the abstract.
- The Subculture: HBA was rooted in the ballroom scene and Goth culture. Carti was the bridge that brought those "outsider" vibes to the mainstream rap audience.
The Hiatus That Left Everyone Hanging
Then, things went dark. In 2017, right when the brand felt like it was about to swallow the world whole, Hood By Air went on a "hiatus." Shayne Oliver went to work with Helmut Lang. The fashion world felt a little more boring. During this time, Carti’s own evolution accelerated. He became the "King Vamp." He started wearing Rick Owens and Givenchy, but the foundation of his style remained rooted in that HBA era.
He learned how to use clothing as armor.
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When HBA finally made its comeback a few years later, the landscape had changed. Streetwear was now "luxury." Every major house had a graphic tee. Yet, the Hood By Air Carti era remained the blueprint. You can see its fingerprints on everything from Ken Carson’s aesthetic to the way Opium label artists dress today. It’s all just a derivative of that original NYC anarchy.
Analyzing the "Vamp" Proto-Style
People act like Carti woke up one day and decided to be a vampire. Honestly, if you look at his HBA days, the seeds were already there. The brand’s obsession with leather, zippers, and "shackles" was the gateway drug to the full-blown Gothic aesthetic he eventually adopted.
I remember seeing photos of him backstage, draped in multiple layers of black cotton and nylon. He looked exhausted and electrified at the same time. That’s the HBA ethos. It’s the look of someone who stayed up for three days straight at a rave but still has a $5,000 outfit on. It was luxury for the dispossessed.
The Resale Market and the "Carti Effect"
Try finding an original HBA piece from 2016 on Grailed today. It’s a nightmare. Prices have skyrocketed, and a huge chunk of that is due to the "Carti effect." New fans, who were probably ten years old when the Handshake show happened, are now digging through archives to find the exact pieces he wore.
The "Avalanche" boots? Good luck. The "Cook" shirts? They’re gone.
It’s interesting because Shayne Oliver didn’t design for the masses. He designed for the kids on the street corner who knew who DJ Rashad was. Carti took that hyper-niche energy and gave it a global platform. He made it okay for a kid in suburban Atlanta to dress like a cyberpunk club kid from Manhattan.
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What Most People Get Wrong About This Era
There’s this misconception that HBA was just "logo-mania." People see the big letters and think it’s simple. It’s not. If you actually touch the garments, the construction is weirdly complex. The zippers go nowhere. The sleeves are double-layered. It’s deconstruction in its truest sense.
Carti understood the technicality of it. He wasn't just wearing a logo; he was wearing a silhouette. That’s the difference between a fashion victim and a style icon. A victim wears the brand. An icon uses the brand to change their shape. Carti changed his shape, literally and figuratively, through Hood By Air.
The Legacy of the 2017 Runway
Looking back, that 2017 moment was the peak of "Street-Goth." It was the bridge between the old world of fashion and the new, decentralized world we live in now. Without Hood By Air Carti, would we have the current obsession with "archive" fashion? Probably not.
Carti proved that a rapper didn't have to be a billboard for someone else's brand. He could be a collaborator in the art itself. He showed that fashion was a performance, not just a purchase.
Real-World Impact on Modern Streetwear
If you walk through Soho today, you’ll see HBA’s influence everywhere.
- The revival of heavy, oversized hardware (zippers, buckles, straps).
- The acceptance of gender-fluid silhouettes in hip-hop.
- The "merch as high-fashion" business model that brands like Yeezy and Travis Scott eventually perfected.
Shayne Oliver did it first. Carti wore it best.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Collector
If you're trying to tap into this aesthetic today without spending $3,000 on a vintage hoodie, you need to understand the principles rather than just the brand.
Look for structure over logos. The HBA look is defined by "aggressive geometry." This means seeking out pieces with sharp angles, heavy fabrics that hold their shape, and unexpected proportions. Don't just buy a graphic tee; find a jacket that changes the way your shoulders look.
Study the archives. Use sites like Grailed or The RealReal to look at old HBA listings. Don't look at the price; look at the tags and the descriptions of the materials. Understanding why a piece was made—whether it was part of the "Galvanized" collection or the "Pilgrim" era—will give you a better sense of how to style it.
Finally, remember that the Hood By Air Carti energy was about risk. It was about wearing something that made people uncomfortable. If you feel "safe" in your outfit, you're probably not doing it right. Mix high-end archival pieces with thrifted garbage. Break the symmetry. Wear the boots that look like they belong in a sci-fi movie.
The goal isn't to look like Playboi Carti in 2017. The goal is to capture the spirit of someone who didn't care if the world was ready for them or not. That is the true legacy of Hood By Air. It wasn't just a clothing brand; it was an ultimatum. You're either with us, or you're in the way.
To start your own archive journey, focus on "transitional" pieces from the 2016-2017 era, as these hold their value best and represent the height of the brand's technical experimentation. Always verify the "HBA" hologram tags on vintage items, as fakes became rampant during the brand's peak. Look for the "Made in EU" or "Made in Italy" labels on higher-end runway pieces to ensure you're getting the quality Shayne Oliver intended.