Spike Jonze's unseen photos transformed into NY Fashion Week show

For Opening Ceremony’s New York Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2015 show, designers Humberto Leon and Carol Lim created not just a show, but an exhibition – collaborating with long-time friend and director Spike Jonze.

The duo created their Please Use Your Best Judgement collection around never before seen archive prints from Jonze’s collection- turning the show into a one-night-only exhibition of Jonze’s work from 1985-2005. Last season, Jonze and actor Jonah Hill created and directed a one-act play on Opening Ceremony’s origins, staged at the Metropolitan Opera House. This season, Leon and Lim have returned the favour.

Both Opening Ceremony and Jonze have woven the same unique, southern Californian counter-culture ethos throughout their work – the vibe that designers Leon and Lim grew up with in the 1980s.

The photographs feature everything from the evolution of BMXing and underground skate culture in Los Angeles, to early images of Sonic Youth and Björk. The old-school film component of Jonze’s photos inspired Leon to partner with Kodak and created sweatshirts stamped with their vintage logos.

“I’ve been hounding [Jonze] for six or seven years to show me his photo archives because I’m a photography fan and a nerd of pop culture,” Leon told Pret-a-Reporter at the show on Sunday night. “Finally after years he said, ‘Hey, it’s in a place in L.A. where we can look at it.’

“He pulled it all together and said, ‘If you want one day I’ll sit down with you and show you some stuff.’ So that moment turned into three days of us looking at photos and him walking me through moments. It started as a personal conversation between friends.”