Afrojack in Miami Part One: What the Hell Are 3-D Pants?

Photos by Eric Fehringer

Afrojack, the currently number-nine-ranked DJ in world - yes, there is a widely accepted ranking system for EDM musicians - has decided to venture into the world of fashion through a collaboration with G-Star Raw. In conjunction with his trip to Miami for Winter Music Conference, he was rolling out his line, which included something called 3-D jeans. When stuff is in 3-D, it is automatically better. When Afrojack goes somewhere, it is automatically a big deal. Obviously, I had to check this out.

When I first met Afrojack by the door of the shop, he seemed to befuddled to see me because he was fairly certain we'd met before. I was taken aback. I hadn't really known what Afrojack looked like before this week, but I felt pretty sure I would have remembered meeting a 6’10” superstar Dutch DJ. You have to have a lot of raves in your system to just let that memory slide. Afrojack told me he'd talk to me later.

Inside, confronted with a massive line of customers waiting to meet him or purchase items from his line, Afrojack was incredibly gregarious and lively. He spoke with fans, took photographs, and signed any item put in front of him. The Afrojack lifestyle was on full display. A group of models in swimsuits circulated the shop in “Afrojack” labeled bottoms. Afrojack music was blasting, natch.

As far as the clothes were concerned, the key draws were the A-crotch cut jean and the 3-D jean. Since the materials I'd read in advance hadn't really helped me understand these unique styles, I tried my best to learn from the store clerks what their mystical properties were. From what I gathered, the A-crotch cut has a unique “A” shape on the back pockets of the jeans and also a “dramatic arch” in the grundle and taint area. The 3-D jeans have a less dramatic arch, and a far roomier exterior due to extra folds in the pant section of the jeans, which make the legs conform to your body.

Afrojack and Martin Garrix

Curious to get a consumer perspective on these options, I asked a young man what kind of clothes he was planning on buying at the event. He responded that I should talk to his manager, who in turn curtly told me that the jeans looked fantastic. He seemed to want to get away from me. I later found out that my interviewee was 17-year-old DJ Martin Garrix, which is who you might as well expect to run into in Miami during Winter Music Conference at another DJ's in-store appearance. One can only speculate on his attitude toward pants that escape the two-dimensional paradigm.

After the meet-and-greet was finished I met Afrojack and his people (about ten of them) in a large empty room with various white couches next to a panel of windows. We were joined by Remco de Nijs, the brand manager of the G-Star Raw brand. The weather was crisp but pretty, and we could watch the fleet of Lincoln Road shoppers walking by from our vantage point. Afrojack was sporting a shirt and hat that read “RAW,” with the stylized A that he uses for his own stage name. He was also wearing some of the baggiest leather pants I had ever seen. I asked Afrojack where he thought he had met me, and he explained that I looked a little like a combination of Felix Cartal and somebody who used to hang out in his studio who works for Billboard now. Mystery unsolved, we launched into a conversation about fashion, dating, and Afrojack's artistic future.

Noisey: What are you looking forward to most at this year’s music festival? If you collaborate with anyone at the festival this year who would you pick?

Afrojack: I’m really excited to see all of the artists. Basically the entire world is playing there, so I’m going to try to see the entire world. Friday I have a night of freedom so I’m going to see some friends. Saturday I’m going to see Martin [Garrix]. These are all my good friends. A lot of time with my friends. Last night I was at [Club] Set with [Steve] Aoki and like a shitload of people. It was insane. Lots of fun. And really like the whole week is fun here. Ultra’s just people getting together and loving dance music, and everywhere every DJ shows up. If it says secret guests somewhere you can expect to see the headliners of Ultra there at that party.

What do you think of the Miami fashion scene?

It’s not just in Miami but through all of Florida and all the warmer parts of Florida…they’re on it. I see people outside and they are walking with my hats on…so they’re really on top of their shit. They wear my hats! There’s going to be a lot more of them now. [Afrojack whispers to Remco, “hats…hats”]

Why do you like to wear the A-Crotch, or 3-D jeans? What do you like about them?

They have space. They have space and they look really cool.

Do you have space issues when you’re DJing?

I just don’t like jeans where like you sit down and it’s like “PAKOW” [here Afrojack makes an explosion on his crotch kind of gesture] It’s like you’re wearing no pants. Especially these leather ones. They have this extra fabric inside. So it makes it extra soft.

I hear that’s because there’s something called, like, a dramatic arch in the crotch in the pants?

Remco: I think with all 3-D, what Nick’s saying already, is that it’s very, well, it gives a certain kind of silhouette that is very specific. So they’re more comfortable. It’s very strange. You know your whole body’s 3-dimensional, but your jeans are two dimensional. It’s never comfortable. But with 3-D jeans, they are, and that’s what we stand for.

And the 3-D part is?

R: Well it’s like you put the pant on the ground, and you can see the shape of the leg.

A: You cannot lay your pants flat on the ground. The last year I was like [Afrojack simulates patting down flat pants on the ground with his hands, like an EMT technician trying to revive a patient]

What were you wearing before these 3-D jeans?

A: Nothing.

NOTHING?!

I just like really, really, really baggy pants. They look kind of silly, but I like being comfortable. And then I was really happy when I got to go to work on making my own clothes.

R: It’s great.

A: So then I get to make baggy pants that feel baggy but still look cool. I saw pictures of myself like [Afrojack shakes head]. Typically I’m in the DJ booth, so most of the times people don’t see [what I’m wearing], but these I can only DJ like 'Aaaaaaahh everyone sees my pants and oh my god those are cool pants!' I used to be like, [Tim Allen grunt] with my old pants.

Aside from music and fashion, what are some other areas you’d like to venture out into, in the future?

Art.

Like painting? Film?

Everything. What I’ve been doing for a while, like even to me the billboards we do are a sort of art-form; the clothing line is a sort of art-form; the music is a sort of art-form. The covers of all my records are [art-forms]. I’m really specific about it already. I had a lot of times where I saw the covers of new records that people are like 'Yeah, it’s great! It’s like the greatest thing ever and this guy worked on it for seven days!' Look, I used to be a graphic designer. That shit doesn’t take seven days. I still have Photoshop on my computer, so I just want to do it.

So you designed the cover for the new album?

Yes, in collaboration with my manager and with G-Star. It was really specific. The thing is, like, my face is on it, so when selecting a picture of my face…like, I can say what I like. But I don’t see my own face every day. I’m looking at you now. You’re looking at me. You don’t see your own face. So I have someone else tell me “That’s your face!” Like I have other people telling me that’s my fucking face I don’t know.

So you seem like a really upbeat guy, but the cover’s really rather striking and somber.

I like having fun. I like making jokes and stuff. When it comes down to it, you wanna have a serious conversation with me? I can go far. I studied psychology part of my – all of my – life, reading all about it. Philosophy and sociology too, trying to find the answers to my life. Like everyone is always looking around like 'What do I do?' because the world is filling you with these rules and these morals that are supposedly right because everyone is willing to deal with them.

But I’ve thought about it, and it didn’t make sense. So when I was a kid I went on an adventure when I was twelve or thirteen. I was just looking for: 'What do I want to do with my life?' You get one life. What is the essence of living? That’s also the title of the album. It’s called Forget the World. The essence of living is living for yourself. Don’t live for the world. I see people on Facebook, and they post a picture of – let’s say they find sunglasses and they say 'look, these are my new sunglasses. Fuck, I love these sunglasses, and my friends will like them.' But then they get a couple of dislikes and they say 'I love these sunglasses, but my friends don’t like them. I’m going to throw them away and get some sunglasses my friends like.' Do you wear what you want to wear or do you wear what people around you wear?

And you see way more clearly now, peer pressure is just way more clear now through the digital life. If you read the booklet inside the album … now that I have a voice, I just want to tell my fans and all these people i meet around the world that are looking for answers to just let go, forget the world, and think yourself. Do what you want to do. If you want to be a journalist? Be a journalist. Of course you could have gone to school and studied banking or something and become a rich banker. But you would still be so interested in journalism secretly. Then you’re 50, and you think 'Huh, okay now I’m going to do it! I’m going to get into journalism.' But then you’re 50 and it’s too late. That’s why I’m telling these people now to do it! Let go and go for it!

So I’m newly single. I just got dumped out of a relationship of two years. What advice could you give me? And do you think wearing these jeans would help me out entering single life?

Yeah, I think you should start it off easy with the jeans themselves. And if you’re ready for it – and if you feel comfortable with it – you can wear the leather. The most important that everyone in this room needs to understand is that – I didn’t get this when I was a kid – appearances do not matter. Power! Sexiness! I remember Ashton Kutcher said this at the Kid’s Choice Awards – and you shouldn’t say this at the Kid’s Choice Awards, but he did – sexiness is in the mind. Attraction has nothing to do with facial appearances. For men, yes. If you’re female, no, it doesn’t work that way. It’s pheromones. And I’ve studied this shit. That’s why I’ve been saying: If you do what you like, and you’re a proud man and you’re proud of doing what you do, then you shouldn’t be worried about it.

A friend of mine, David DeAngelo, released a book covering dating. And it basically explains to you the way you think it works. And it doesn’t really work that way. Like people look at themselves and think “How’s my hair?! How’s my hair?!” [here Afrojack briefly removes his hat, revealing an adorably messy tuft of hair under his RAW hat] It doesn’t matter. For example, a friend of mine, DJ Pauly D, has really characteristic hair. He likes it! He talks to a girl, [and] he talks about it. She’s like “what’s up with your hair?” It’s all a matter of perspective. Perspective is actually the [original title] of my album. Later, I renamed it to Forget the World because I wanted to make the message clearer. Again, the only advice I can give you: Don’t worry about it. If you focus on yourself, you’re gonna be fine.

Can you two talk about what made you decide to collaborate together on this project?

R: Well we met through Nick’s manager, Tomas, and then I made a pair of pants for Nick, and he loved them. And from there on we went step by step. It’s not done by marketing philosophy. We have a connection, not just in how we see life but in how we make jeans and music.

A: I also think you start to see that if you watch who we collaborate with – like my collaboration with Spree Wilson on “Spark” – it doesn’t matter who you work with, it matters that you are comfortable with that person and a relationship will grow naturally. You cannot force shit. If you want to put me in the studio with an artist that doesn’t like me, he will never get a great product. You have to go like this [claps], then it works. When it’s like “Yeah we’ve gotta do it,” then it’s not going to work. It’s like a natural cosmic thing. You just sit down, you talk, you think let’s try something, have a cup of coffee. Hey, if it clicks then it clicks.

The author with Remco and Afrojack.

Jonathan Peltz is a writer in Miami who lives in three dimensions at all times.

Eric Fehringer is a photographer who has yet to turn down at WMC. Check out more of his photography on his Facebook page, Photography by Eric Fehringer.

For more of Jonathan's adventures in Miami celebrity appearances, read about his trip to Cam'ron's sad birthday party.