ONCE AGAIN, STANCE HAS UNITED WITH ACCLAIMED MIXED MEDIA DESIGNER AND ARTIST CHRISTIAN GONZALEZ ON A NEW ALL-GENDER TOE-TO-HEAD APPAREL COLLECTION FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH. A LONG-TIME RESIDENT OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, CHRISTIAN FOCUSES MUCH OF HIS CREATIVE EFFORTS TOWARD SPREADING THE WORD ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES WITH MULTIPLE COLLABORATIONS UNDER HIS BELT FOR THE LIKES OF NIKE AND CHILDISH GAMBINO.
For Summer 2023, Christian and Stance are launching an exciting new collaboration of designs featuring a reversible fleece hoodie and shorts, a dad cap and some all-gender crew socks. More importantly, each style contains a “Love Your Mind” message as our crucial reminder for you to take care of yourself. Inspired by the notion to unplug, these pieces are expressly made for you to head outside and enjoy your surroundings.
To help get the message out, Gonzalez called on two of his friends to model his work. You may recognise the talent as Lawrence Castro, an LA-based visual artist, and Gabriela Ulloa, a writer and co-host of the “Thoughts May Vary” podcast that often deals with mental health discussions. And we appreciate their help! Christian and Stance are also giving back portions of sales to one of Christian’s favourite non profit mental health organisations, mhanational.org.
The Christian Gonzalez x Stance Collection is now available on Stance.com and in shops around the world.
We recently caught up with Christian for some quick q&a about this new collection and whatever else that may be lying ahead for the artist.
INSTAGRAM: @BADBOYPAPI
Since last working together what have you been unto?
Since our previous collaboration, I’ve been working a lot on my brand called Mauvais Garcon. It’s awesome because I get to do it with my best friend Matthew Barrios and it’s all surrounding Mental Health. Y’all would dig it!
What was it like to get an entire apparel collection with Stance?
To be honest, unreal. I’ve always been a big fan of Stance as a company and ethos so getting a sock last year was a dream come true. An entire collection brought me to tears. Truly grateful for Stance believing in me..
Where did the inspiration for the collection come from?
From the graphic perspective, it was a way to let people know around the world to love their minds. Literally. We’re taught to always check up on others and turn the other and what not but it’s not talked about enough to just stand still and check on yourself. See how your mind is doing. That’s what love your mind is about. Making time for yourself.
We worked with 2 of your friends on the creative shoot for your collection. Can you tell us about Lawrence, and Gabby and why you chose them to be a part of this project?
Lawrence Castro was one of the first people I met here back in 2018. His energy and all around charisma is something you feed off of. I had the honor of mentoring him in design and he’s flourished into an incredible creative and a mental health advocate. With Gabby, we got connected through the mental health community and have worked together on some projects! To see what she has done with the ThoughtsMayVary podcast has been beautiful and excited for what’s to come for them. I love my friends!!
What is ahead for Christian Gonzalez?
What’s next for me? More traveling hopefully. Working on something special for Mauvais Garcon for August. Aim to do more murals! Did my first one with Lawrence in January and it was sick!
Where can our audience find out more about you?
You can find me on IG @badboypapior on my site, www.badboypapi.com
SHOP STANCE X CHRISTIAN GONZALEZ
