Photography: John Midgley
A friend of ours in Canada heard of a young buzzing soul singer from Texas named Leon Bridges and felt he was the perfect fit for The Brooklyn Circus- upon researching his image we couldn’t agree more. So we of course added Leon to our in store playlist and on a calm Sunday we casually mentioned on Instagram what we were listening to at the shop. The next day we received an email from Leon’s management team. We also noticed Leon commenting on our IG post. Ohh wow! the power of social media is real.
A few emails and phone calls later we were discussing a Leon Bridges x BKc collaboration for his online store and upcoming tour. We settled on something with shared historic meaning to us as the reference and created a rendition of it. The reference was the Memphis sanitation workers strike of 1968, where black workers carried the “I AM A MAN” signs emphasizing that they too were men in America.
While designing the shirt, it was clear to us that Leon wanted to make the statement that he was a novelty act, but was a rhythm and blues artist and was performing R AND B in its original form. The shirt was a major hit in store and online.
Leon Bridges photographed by John Midgley at Webster Hall. We built an entire studio in two and half hours to capture these magical shots in less than 15min. Leon went on to perform to a sold out crowd of fans and friends.
