ANWAR HADID on music, fashion, and creating without urgency.
Jacket Givenchy, pants WWWYRED, underwear ERL, belt Stylist’s own
It’s early in Los Angeles. “I have clarity in the mornings, it’s when I get shit done,” Anwar Hadid tells me before the day starts for most of the city. To his point, we’re getting shit done, ready to have a much-anticipated conversation. Of course, this isn’t a chore for either of us. As for me, I’ve been a fan of the youngest brother in the Hadid family since his days as fashion’s it boy. He was on every campaign, on every magazine, on every ad. Since then, he’s blossomed into a full-blown artist, both through his band, howVanish, and his brand, Obsidian.
Left Jacket Dior Men, shorts Entire Studios
Right Full look Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello
For Hadid, work is not a word he quite subscribes to. That’s not to say that what he does isn’t demanding, it’s just that he believes in creating in an organic fashion, rather than in a contrived one. Take his relationship with music, something he’s been publicly sharing only for the last couple of years, but that he’s been developing all his life. “I feel like I always had a connection to sound. My mom used to tell me that when I was little, I would play by myself. She used to worry about me, but she would know that I was happy when I was whistling and humming.” Even then, music was proof of life. “That would reassure her that I was alone, but I had the music.”
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Right Bag and belts Obsidian, Vintage pants Palace Costume & Prop
That relationship never became transactional. “Music has always been a friend to me,” Hadid says. It’s something he returns to instinctively; it’s one of the ways he deals with life. That therapeutic component is most apparent in the ways he creates songs. They arrive in myriad ways. “It depends,” he says. “Sometimes it’s just poetry. It’s things that are happening in my life where I can’t seem to figure it out any other way, I have to make it into something beautiful.” His emotional side leads his creative process. “Definitely emotion for me. Words, definitely. But sometimes it’s music too. Songwriting can come from anywhere.” Since he’s so raw and vulnerable when writing, it’s no surprise that the people he works with — or, to Hadid’s point, creates with — are his closest friends. “It’s interesting how easy it is to make music with people that you love, rather than, like, going and doing it as work.” Music happens at home, between conversations. “My buddy Khan and I can just go downstairs in my house and make four songs and create whole new worlds. It’s just so effortless.”
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That ease was hard-earned. Before he ever sang, Hadid wrote. “I have books of poetry in my house.” Singing came later, and it came with fear. “I never trained to sing or anything. My friend Joey [Francis] would record me, and I would make him leave the room. I would make everyone leave. I’d sit there for hours.” We all have to start somewhere, and Hadid started quite shyly. He describes his voice in the first recording session as “squealing.” He laughs, “like a mouse.” Look how far he’s come. His band, howVanish, released their first single, Cinnamon, last year. He humbly attributes the length he’s come to his friends. “Joey held a lot of space for me, and now, because of it, I can make music, any music I want.” Their bond has grown into something intuitive. “Joey and I are a hive mind now, it’s like we’re the same person.” That trust defines how he thinks about bands and collaboration. “It’s like friendship,” he explains. “Everyone’s imperfect. Everyone has their own beautiful thing to share. You want to honour all those things.” Sometimes it’s hard. “It’s a battle at times.” But even that friction is a sign of progress.
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Two upcoming projects reflect that complexity. One came together effortlessly. “It was very natural, fluid. It felt like the songs would just come down.” The other demanded everything. “That felt like a mirror to the self,” he explains. “We were really exploring, trying difficult things, thinking outside the box.” Neither is more important than the other. Hard work isn’t what Hadid resists, more so the expectations of success that come with the “w” word. “I don’t think people should ever look at this stuff like there’s a due date, or that you should be famous overnight.” For years, he barely released music at all. “It was all about real life, and the healing we needed from it. The journey we were on.” External validation wasn’t the point. “You don’t even need any monetary growth; the real magic is in the music.” Spoken like a true artist.
Left Shirt Stylist’s own, pants Ludovic de Saint Sernin
Right Full look Loewe
That same philosophy extends into fashion, through Obsidian, a project that mirrors his approach to music almost exactly. “When I’m making music, it’s from the seat of my soul, whereas fashion is an armour.” He hits the nail on the head; clothes are both protection and communication, a way of aligning the outside with the inside. “In the wrong clothes, you feel like shit.” He would know, born partially out of his experience in the fashion industry, he’s had more than his share of opportunities to wear the wrong clothes. He found the right garments and a motivation to make them, again, through friendship. “I was literally on my way to make a belt when I ran into my friend Ty [Stephano], who had a belt in his bag.” Instead of buying one, they went to a shop and started cutting leather. “We went downtown, got the rivets, came back, finished it.”
Jacket Givenchy
One belt became more belts, leather jackets, T-shirts and messenger bags. “I make things that I love,” Hadid says. He began crafting pieces for the people around him, handmade belts hammered together in his kitchen while eating with friends. When we speak, he shows me a bag he just repurposed, reattaching new homemade (literally) straps to the piece. Much like his music, he does it out of joy, not hunger. “I could be working with leather for hours, then you wake up at the end like, what the fuck? It’s so natural, our brains enjoy it.” In a digital world, physical craft feels grounding. “People want to work with their hands, and people appreciate those who do.”
Left Bag and belts Obsidian, Vintage pants Palace Costume & Prop
Right Shirt Stylist’s own, pants Ludovic de Saint Sernin
Everything comes back to intention. “You have to be careful with all the things you do; our words and actions are so powerful.” Whether it’s music or clothing, he doesn’t outsource meaning. “I don’t look anywhere else, I search my heart.” When asked about what’s next, he stays receptive. “I’m open to all good things and all good possibilities, but I’m trying to get my music stuff off.” We’d imagine it won’t take much; his sound, a raspy rock sound with nods to punk, feels like it’s on the brink of mainstream discovery. Of course, that’s not what Hadid means by it. That’s not what success is for him. “I haven’t always been in a headspace where I could create, but now I’m lucky and blessed to be alive. Ready to take on the day.” And as the morning finally settles in around us, it’s clear he already is.
Words by Pedro Vasconcelos
Photography by Emilia Staugaard
Fashion by Jake Sammis
EIC Michael Marson
Casting by Imagemachine cs
Grooming by Heather Weppler
Stylist’s assistant Natalie O'Campo
