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Matthew Williams Is Reclaiming His Past by Selling It All on Grailed

Matthew Williams has plenty of street cred, thank you for asking. As the founder and creative director of Alyx, a ready-to-wear brand named for his eldest daughter, he has singlehandedly made cooler-size chest bags and roller coaster clasp belts hip. Both items are so popular on the fashion scene, you can’t click through one of Vogue’s street style slideshows without coming across at least 10 of each, real and imitation.

What you should know about Williams is that he has the industry cred too: Alyx been an LVMH Prize finalist and Williams personally collaborated with Kim Jones on hardware for Jones’s first Dior Men collection. Behind the scenes, Williams is so devoted to his craft that he upended his family from the United States to the quaint Italian town of Ferrara—to be closer to his factories.

And yet to much of the Internet, Williams is still best known as a big time “onetime”—Lady Gaga’s onetime creative director, Kanye West’s onetime art director, a onetime collaborator with Virgil Abloh, Heron Preston, and Justin Saunders at Been Trill. “The fact that I worked with celebrities in the past, sometimes it becomes clickbait for other publications,” Williams says over the phone from South Carolina, where he was vacationing with his family. “It’s like, yeah, I am really proud of that work, but I’m not defined by that work, and I’m not a nostalgic person and I want to move forward.” He pauses. “Sometimes I feel like I’ve been answering the same questions about working with celebrities for the past five years.”

Matthew Williams Grailed Sale

Alyx x Macintosh Tan Belted Coat, $2,150
Alyx x Macintosh Tan Belted Coat, $2,150
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alyx x Spidi Motorcycle Jacket, $1,825
Alyx x Spidi Motorcycle Jacket, $1,825
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Pastelle Varsity Jacket, Not for sale
Pastelle Varsity Jacket, Not for sale
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alyx Palm Tree Knit Short Sleeve, $600
Alyx Palm Tree Knit Short Sleeve, $600
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alyx Tank Leather Backpack, $1,620
Alyx Tank Leather Backpack, $1,620
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alyx Chest Rig Bag, $430
Alyx Chest Rig Bag, $430
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Raf Simons Spring 2002 Bondage Blouson Jacket, $2,800
Raf Simons Spring 2002 Bondage Blouson Jacket, $2,800
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Raf Simons Fall 2010 Velcro Down Parka, $3,500
Raf Simons Fall 2010 Velcro Down Parka, $3,500
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alexander McQueen Spring 2006 Mohair Sweater Dress, $460
Alexander McQueen Spring 2006 Mohair Sweater Dress, $460
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Williams’s Personal Studded Leather Jacket, As worn by Lady Gaga in “Telephone,” $10,000
Williams’s Personal Studded Leather Jacket, As worn by Lady Gaga in “Telephone,” $10,000
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Supreme One-of-One Onesie, $20,000
Supreme One-of-One Onesie, $20,000
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Travis Scott Japan Exclusive Concert Tee, $100
Travis Scott Japan Exclusive Concert Tee, $100
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Louis Vuitton x Supreme Sample Monogram 6-Panel Hat, $3,000
Louis Vuitton x Supreme Sample Monogram 6-Panel Hat, $3,000
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alyx x Fragment Design Reversible Nylon Bomber, $1,080
Alyx x Fragment Design Reversible Nylon Bomber, $1,080
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alyx Mini Stubai Black Rollercoaster Belt, $297
Alyx Mini Stubai Black Rollercoaster Belt, $297
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alyx Tank Boot, $696
Alyx Tank Boot, $696
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed
Alyx Tactical Vest, $1,097
Alyx Tactical Vest, $1,097
Photo: Courtesy of Grailed

Today, he’s opening up about it all—only to kiss it goodbye with a massive archive sale on Grailed. At noon EST today, 135 items from Williams’s personal archive, ranging from a Yeezus tour badge to Alyx samples to a one-of-a-kind Supreme baby onesie that was a personal gift from James Jebbia to the studded leather jacket worn by Lady Gaga in the “Telephone” video, will go on sale on the resale website. Prices range from $100 for a Travis Scott tour tee to $20,000 for that Supreme onesie, with proceeds divided between benefitting the SOL Connect platform and the Lamu village in Kenya.

The project is Williams’s way of closing the door on an era that saw him transform from a kid from Pismo Beach, California, with no traditional fashion education to one of the most powerful creative forces in the music industry. “I think one of the reasons for me to do this project was that I hadn’t ever really been able to talk about the past 10 years of my work with my voice and have it just be exactly what happened from my point of view and my thoughts,” he says. Here, he's paired every item with a personal photo and an anecdote so that you know exactly what happened and how—in Williams's own words.

Parting with some of these goods was tough, the designer admits, but as he sees it clothing is better worn than stacked in some storage unit. “There are only so many clothes I can personally wear in a week or a month,” he says with a laugh. “I think it’s fun for this stuff to be available to kids and to people.”

Williams skateboarding over the years
Williams skateboarding over the years
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Williams

Grailed got the opportunity to host this grail of a sale because Williams sees the platform as representing a huge shift in the way the business of fashion is done. “First off, it’s a sustainable company, it’s finding a new value in clothes that maybe would otherwise not be used. It’s also an education platform for future kids that are getting into fashion . . . some of these kids know so much about product and about the history of clothing. I thought why not speak to the Grailed users directly?”

Williams continues, “I would probably see myself shopping on Grailed when I was a teenager.” In fact, he shops on Grailed now, too. Recent acquisitions include some Raf Simons for Jil Sander designs.

So what’s the lesson for those teenage kids in Pismo Beach, California, or Ocean City, Maryland, or Omaha, Nebraska? “I think, in general, what you can get out of my story is that it’s a nontraditional approach to fulfilling your dreams as a fashion designer or working in the fashion industry. It doesn’t always have to be the A+B=C approach,” Williams says. “Sometimes it’s A+B=D, you know what I mean?” He laughs, and his daughters echo him laughing in the background. “You can end up where you want to go with not always following the most commonly walked path.”

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