“WE ARE MORTALS® is an evolutionary gender-free urban streetwear brand.
We call ourselves MORTALS because we are the ones who understand the brevity of human life and the need to live it fully and limitlessly. We also believe that as MORTALS, we’re all equal. That is why we created our brand around this idea of a future in which we wear our personalities, not our gender identities or other stereotypicl labels.
Coining the phrase ‘The Future Has No Gender,’ WE ARE MORTALS® seeks to challenge the conventional and outdated his/hers formula of clothing design and retail. In the future, there will be room to exist in a ‘gray area’ in which our identities don’t rely on gender, sexual, or racial classification. Ultimately, we hope that by removing the traditional gender designations from our clothing, we can facilitate a cultural shift in the way we view gender, sexuality, and each other.”
WeAreMortals’ living soundtrack, sonic couture for the post-structural human culture, in founder Anji Becker’s own words…
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(W) orld Town – M.I.A: “M.I.A. is an artist that speaks up for causes, represents underprivileged people in the world. she’s fearless, a powerful woman who doesn’t accept traditional gender stereotypes.”
(E) rotica – Madonna: “Madonna was pushing boundaries in that era, trying to make sex less taboo and exploring all types of sexuality in her videos.”
(A) ll We Perceive – Thievery Corporation: Calling an early audible with this one (ghostwrite the script), I jumped in with a touch of a sonic 180 but kept in the core theme within WAM: collective perception.
“As much the deconstruction of archaic limitations and labels, the notion of gender, humanity, mortality, and oneness is entirely built upon perception… and so, for a clothing line founded upon the shared condition of the all, the entirety is nothing more, nor anything less that the entirety of the all in shared perception.”
(R) hythm Nation – Janet Jackson: “One of my personal favorites from the 80s… loved the dancing in the video, and the song reminds me of WeAreMortals because it’s talking about bringing everybody together as one and fighting injustices.”
(E) ast 1999 – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony: “Bone Thugs rap a lot about death, which is a theme behind the brand, and I listened to a lot of this back in the day. I’ve always been really influenced by rap and hip/hop, so it’s no surprising I’ve chosen oversized street wear as my genre of fashion.”
(M) iracle – Culture Club: “Genderless clothing is what we represent, and Boy George was someone who was gender-fluid back in the 80s when it was way less socially acceptable. Amazing how much progress we’ve made in 30+ years!”
(O) ne – U2: “The lyrics talk about coming together as humans and not looking down upon those who are different (because we’re all different). The video also shows U2 in drag, so that was bold for their era.”
(R) eady or Not – The Fugees: (Another audible…) “Post-structuralism is here, ready or not: fashion functions in line with said societal shift #thefuturehasnogender #thefutureispresent”
(T) he Show Must Go On – Queen: “We don’t know why we’re here on Earth, but the idea behind We Are Mortals is just to live life to the fullest while you are here, which is what the song is about.”
(A) rmy of Me – Bjork: “Bjork is a huge inspiration because nobody has really come close to replicating her creativity. She represents powerful women with this song. Personally, I feel like I’m creating this brand as an army of me right now as well!”
(L) ast Name Katz – Zebra Katz: “One of my favorite artists right now! I love everything about his music, and what he represents is change because being a queer rapper probably wouldn’t have been acceptable until now. It’s a new movement that started in NY and I hope it spreads everywhere.”
(S) oda – Boody & Le1f: “Le1f is another staple in the queer rap genre. He’s bold and fearless with his lyrics and he always makes you dance!”
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#WatchThisSpace
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Playlist:
(W) orld Town – M.I.A
(E) rotica – Madonna
(A) ll We Perceive – Thievery Corporation
(R) hythm Nation – Janet Jackson
(E) ast 1999 – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
(M) iracle – Culture Club
(O) ne – U2
(R) eady or Not – The Fugees
(T) he Show Must Go On – Queen
(A) rmy of Me – Bjork
(L) ast Name Katz – Zebra Katz
(S) oda – Boody & Le1f
(The) Epochauserie 