People collect pins , magnets , flags , shot glasses . They take an incessant amount of photos of their friends , random people , plenty of landscape or cityscape . They record , snap , insta story their entire trips to quantify and catalogue their memories . None of those things work for me . Items sit in boxes , or maybe on walls for some people . Photos and videos join hard drives next to plenty of other cherished .mov or .jpgs . I have them all .
The thing that’s worked for me the best when traveling is buying clothes or anything I can wear . You may think that clothes is just another item , way bigger than any of the other forms of momento and take way more space to store . While all those things are true , the main difference is that clothes is something you can wear , after your trips are long over . And I’m not talking about shirts that say “theme park” or any of the countries name you visited (though those may work for you) . I’m just talking about clothes I find anywhere . Street Markets , convenient stores , even chain stores like Zara or H&M . Some of my favorite pieces in my closet are classic staples from all over the world that I wear often and cherish . For example , brown loafers from a Zara on Champs-Elysées in Paris , a silver ring from a street market in Ecuador , or the brown trench coat I’m wearing in these photos from a thrift store in Chicago . All of these items have stories behind them .
The loafers I bought was on an European tour with LMFAO and some of the Quest Crew . It was my first time in Paris and me , Ryanimay (Quest) and Jordan (drummer of LMFAO) randomly wanted to checked out the famed street in the few spare free hours we had (when on tour , free time to roam is a rare gift ) . We checked out a couple stores , I bought the loafers and we decided to venture back to our hotel without maps or GPA . We got lost for about an hour but the extremely helpful Parisians helped guide our way back .
the memory is an exceptional one because it was my first time in Paris . I was with great people . And It was fun just to get lost for a bit and discovering Paris and it’s beauty as well as it’s wonderful people (despite stereotypes) . And what's great is that every time I look at or wear the loafers , I remember the glimpses of the streets , I remember walking long distances chatting with Ryan and Jordan about various things . and I remember how fun it all was because it was the beginnings of many tours with LMFAO . That was the first big trip .
The coat is another great story . Quest Crew was set to perform at Northwestern University that night and we had just finished stage tech . On our walk back to the hotel , me , Hok , Mark , and Andi , stumble upon this amazing coat in front of this thrift store that was 50% off . We all thought Mark would look dope in it so we all went into the shop . We ended up shooting a little video of us dancing in the store with the coats we all found and we each ended up buying one (video below). The lady was extremely nice in letting us play around in her store . This story doesn’t sound as great in print but this is one of the greatest things about traveling with your friends . You can’t plan moments like these , it has to happen impromptu and I’m glad I have a great coat to remind me of that feeling .
I’m lucky that my closet is full of great memories like this from all over the world , and whenever I go through them to pick for the day , or for shoots , or for trips , it’s like going down memory lane every time .
Coat - Thrifted
Beanie - Topo Design (courtesy of the General Store)
Glasses/notebook - The Goods
Photographer - Hey Yeh