Thirty years ago, before the internet came along, creative culture was siloed and separate. Brands were controlled by massive companies, and culture was carved up into distinct and separate lanes.
Then along came the internet, where you could build a brand from the culture up. Where the boundaries between seemingly disparate communities could all come together in one place.
Sneakers, rappers, architecture, luxury fashion, memes, cars, cartoons – thirty years ago, these were all totally different things. Now, they’ve all converged into one thing; one place. The story of the internet is the story of convergence. And it’s the story of HIDDEN too.
HIDDEN
HIDDEN is an anonymously managed Instagram account that began as a mood board, weaving together culture in one perfectly curated, perfectly converging feed.
Like other internet-native brands of its era, HIDDEN didn’t have to follow the old roadmap. Rather than starting with a company and product and then fitting it into culture, they started with culture and worked their way back. Their moodboard morphed into a streetwear brand, offering extremely limited runs of their own apparel and accessories as well as high-profile collaborations with the likes of Salomon and Clarks.
HIDDEN is the ultimate internet story; the ultimate convergence story.
The ghost
The ghost is called “Present” – an homage to HIDDEN’s “Past, Present & Future” curatorial paradigm. The phrase appears throughout HIDDEN’s work, in multiple collections of apparel and accessories. It’s also the bio of their Instagram account. On the HIDDEN blog, they explain the mantra thusly: “HIDDEN.RSRCH is a publication informed by the past, grounded in the present, and excited for the future.”
The “Present” 100% ghost tells the story of Hidden. But how do you tell that story? With just a logo? With just a (green) brand color? Those are good starting points, but we wanted to do something more. The story of HIDDEN is the story of convergence, and we wanted to create a ghost that tells that story too. We wanted to create the ultimate convergence collectible, where every collectible trend comes together in one place:
- Chase variant (the ghost comes in an ultra-rare chase colorway)
- Grading (it comes pre-graded by AFA)
- Culture (duh, it’s a HIDDEN collab)
So there it is: the entire history of collectible convergence and the entire history of internet convergence, all represented in a single figure, in a perfectly-sized acrylic display.
Could we have gone with a slightly less cerebral storytelling route and made life easier on ourselves? Probably, yeah. But where’s the fun in that?
A Note on Grading
Every “Present” 100% ghost is pre-graded by AFA and comes in a custom AFA acrylic slab. For those unfamiliar with grading: AFA, or Action Figure Authority, is a division of CGA, and is the leading grading company for collectible toys.
Like every other physical product, ghosts are created by human beings: manufacturing defects and minor flaws are a part of the process. Because of this variance, not every “Present” ghost received the exact same grade from AFA. Most of the “Present” ghosts received a grade between 8.5 and 9.
All ghosts were randomized prior to shipment, which means that some people will receive the lower graded ghosts, and others will receive the higher graded ghosts. But if you receive a lower graded ghost, don’t despair: an 8.5 grade is still very high! AFA explains their grading scale HERE, “Case fresh modern items tend to most frequently receive the grades of 8.5 and higher”. In other words, an 8.5 grade is still “case fresh”.
To paraphrase Voltaire: “Perfect is the enemy of good, and perfect grades are the enemy of collecting”. A little grading variance is all part of the game.
ghostwrite 