Fabric of Resistance: Who Decides War and the Pulse of New York Fashion
Fabric of Resistance: Who Decides War and the Pulse of New York Fashion
Blog Article
The Rise of Who Decides War: A New American Fashion Vanguard
Founded by Ev Bravado and Téla D’Amore, Who Decides War (WDW) has emerged as one of the most compelling forces in contemporary American fashion. Not merely a brand, WDW functions as a cultural project, blending streetwear roots with high-concept couture. Their aesthetic is unmistakable—distressed denim, bold patchwork, and hand-painted messages—all underpinned by a narrative of Black resilience, spirituality, and defiance. Born out of the DIY ethos of Bravado's earlier line, Ev Bravado, the rebrand to Who Decides War in 2019 marked a turn toward fashion that doesn’t just clothe but provokes thought.
The name itself, Who Decides War, invites inquiry. It's rhetorical and challenging, questioning systems of power—be they governmental, cultural, or personal. In a fashion world often obsessed with surface, WDW dives into content, choosing to comment on generational trauma, injustice, and redemption. Their pieces are battlefields, each telling a story that challenges the viewer as much as it excites them.
WDW is also a reflection of collaboration. Téla D’Amore’s background in art and design brings a poetic layering to Bravado’s raw energy. Together, they’ve created garments that feel spiritual—stitched with intention and protest. This synergy has allowed WDW to carve a niche that exists between fashion, activism, and street culture.
From Streets to Runways: New York City as Creative Battlefield
New York City has always been a canvas for revolution—political, cultural, and sartorial. In the case of Who Decides War, NYC is not just the backdrop; it’s the battlefield where their creative ideas take form. The city’s frenetic pace, its mosaic of voices, and its constant tension between old money and street hustle perfectly mirror the brand’s energy. Their shows, frequently staged in churches, abandoned warehouses, or open-air lots, become rituals that elevate fashion into performance art.
The streets of New York have given WDW its edge. From the Bronx to Bed-Stuy, Bravado and D’Amore have drawn on the city’s history of struggle and survival. WDW garments are worn like armor—not only against the elements but against erasure, marginalization, and cultural amnesia. Every ripped jean and hand-dyed hoodie tells the story of a city that refuses to forget its roots.
This relationship to New York also situates WDW within a new lineage of designers who redefine what American fashion looks like. Instead of the cold elitism of uptown fashion houses, WDW embodies downtown grit and cultural resistance. Their shows bring together rappers, visual artists, poets, and activists, transforming runway events into community gatherings. Here, fashion transcends commodity—it becomes communion.
Spiritual Armor: Religion and Symbolism in WDW Collections
A defining element of Who Decides War’s visual language is its incorporation of religious iconography. Crosses, stained glass motifs, and cathedral architecture are recurring themes, not as ornamentation but as deeply personal and cultural metaphors. WDW collections often resemble vestments more than everyday clothing—garments with a kind of sacred weight.
Ev Bravado and Téla D’Amore both draw from Christian iconography, not merely for aesthetic resonance but as a way to connect to broader ideas of redemption, sacrifice, and resurrection. The stitched crosses on denim aren’t just symbols—they’re spiritual interventions. These motifs offer protection and power to those who wear them, aligning with the idea that fashion can be both shield and sermon.
Their Spring/Summer 2022 show, for example, featured models walking a runway framed by stained glass windows and covered in religious graffiti. These elements weren’t ironic; they were reverent, recontextualizing sacred spaces to include Black and brown bodies historically excluded from such sanctity. Through these symbols, WDW reclaims a spiritual language and uses it to assert presence, voice, and purpose in the fashion industry.
This engagement with faith allows WDW to explore themes of justice, suffering, and transcendence. In a world where clothing is often consumed mindlessly, WDW demands a pause—a moment of reflection in the sacred, stitched seams of style.
Sustainable Defiance: WDW and Ethical Fashion
While sustainability has become a buzzword in fashion, few labels integrate ethics as deeply as Who Decides War. WDW’s commitment to upcycling, hand-finishing, and local production isn’t a marketing gimmick—it’s intrinsic to their philosophy. Every pair of jeans is patched with old fabric scraps; every coat stitched by hand reflects countless hours of labor. This is slow fashion in its truest, most rebellious form.
What sets WDW apart in the sustainability conversation is how they tie environmental consciousness to social justice. By resisting the wasteful cycles of fast fashion, they also resist the economic systems that exploit labor, especially in communities of color. Their choice to work with local artisans, to build community instead of just product, is radical.
This ethos aligns with their overall message: fashion is war, and sustainability is one of its battlegrounds. WDW’s garments are not disposable—they are artifacts, carrying stories of their creators and wearers alike. In doing so, the brand not only reduces waste but also redefines value. A WDW piece isn’t just priced by its material but by its meaning, its message, and its mode of production.
By operating outside of mainstream mass-production systems, WDW proves that sustainable fashion can be emotionally powerful, creatively rich, and socially transformative.
Disruption as Elegance: WDW and the Evolution of Couture
One of the most compelling contradictions about Who Decides War is how they bridge streetwear and couture. Traditionally, these styles exist on opposite ends of the fashion spectrum—one rough and raw, the other polished and elite. But WDW rejects those binaries. Their garments are both distressed and divine, brutal and beautiful.
This fusion signals a new kind of couture—one that isn’t rooted in Parisian ateliers but in Harlem basements, in the graffiti-lined corridors of Bushwick, in the stories of the overlooked and the underdog. By incorporating techniques such as hand-embroidery, detailed patchwork, and tailored silhouettes, WDW elevates the street into a sacred aesthetic.
This shift challenges long-held definitions of elegance. In WDW’s world, elegance isn’t about perfection but intention. A frayed hem or a paint-splattered jacket can be as refined as a silk gown if it's imbued with purpose. Their collections ask: Who decides what is elegant? Who has the right to define beauty?
By centering Black and brown narratives, they also democratize couture, which has historically excluded these voices. Instead of aspiring to the Eurocentric standards of old fashion houses, WDW builds its own lexicon—one where elegance is defined by authenticity, defiance, and cultural relevance.
The Power of Community: Building Legacy Outside the Mainstream
WDW doesn’t operate in isolation—they are deeply embedded in a community of creatives, activists, and storytellers. This community-centered approach not only fuels their brand identity but helps them build lasting impact. Their shows, Instagram posts, and public appearances all reflect a deliberate effort to spotlight collaborators, uplift new voices, and honor unsung heroes.
For Bravado and D’Amore, legacy is not about individual fame; it’s about collective transformation. This focus allows WDW to stand apart in a fashion world often obsessed with individual designers as auteurs. Instead, WDW functions more like a movement than a brand. Their community includes everyone from Bronx kids customizing denim to global fans drawing inspiration from their ethos.
They’ve also invested in mentorship and education, working with young creatives to share resources and open doors. In an industry rife with gatekeeping, WDW swings the doors wide open. That spirit of inclusivity has allowed them to grow a fanbase that feels more like a family than a market segment.
By choosing collaboration over competition, WDW is cultivating something far more enduring than hype—they are building a new cultural infrastructure for Black and brown fashion excellence that will outlast trends and seasons.
The New York Fashion Scene Reimagined: Inclusivity Over Industry
The emergence of Who Decides War signals broader shifts within the New York fashion scene. Traditionally dominated by elite institutions and inaccessible shows, New York Fashion Week is being reimagined by a wave of independent designers like WDW. These creatives are rejecting traditional hierarchies in favor of inclusivity, experimentation, and cultural dialogue.
WDW’s presence in New York’s fashion ecosystem disrupts the old guard’s assumptions about who gets to make fashion and where it gets made. Their commitment to storytelling, social justice, and craft has influenced a broader community of designers, pushing the industry toward greater authenticity and representation.
New York’s fashion DNA is being rewritten. No longer is prestige measured solely by placement in luxury boutiques or features in legacy magazines. Now, it’s about cultural impact, digital presence, and grassroots engagement. WDW exemplifies this shift—opting out of convention while still commanding respect from critics and consumers alike.
As the fashion industry reckons with questions around diversity, equity, and sustainability, WDW offers a compelling answer. They prove that excellence doesn’t require erasure. In fact, the most resonant fashion today is born from lived experience, unfiltered voice, and fearless experimentation—all things New York has always nurtured.
Conclusion: A New Definition of Fashion Power
Who Decides War is more than a brand—it’s a movement, a meditation, a mode of resistance. In reimagining what American fashion can be, they’ve also redefined who gets to participate in that vision. Their work speaks not only to the aesthetics of the now but to the ethics of the future.
In a time when fashion is increasingly globalized, commodified, and digitized, WDW insists on the power of the handmade, the localized, and the spiritual. They ask uncomfortable questions, not just about style, but about systems—who decides war, who defines beauty, who controls the narrative.
Their work within the New York fashion scene has shifted the paradigm, inviting a new generation of creators to bring their full selves to the runway. They’ve proven that fashion doesn’t https://whodecideswars.com/ have to choose between art and activism, between luxury and legacy, between protest and poetry.
As the fashion world continues to evolve, Who Decides War stands not at the margins but at the center of its most urgent conversations. And perhaps most importantly, they remind us that the future of fashion is not dictated from above—it’s written in the streets, stitched by hand, and worn with intention.
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