Author: Jessica Brant
Cretaceous Clothing’s small storefront, situated on the corner of Elmwood and Shepard in the village of Kenmore, is a drive for city dwellers that spend their days marinating in the heart of downtown culture. Don’t let size or location fool you, though; garnering the likes of Bills players Sammy Watkins and Darius Robinson, and 93.7 WBLK radio personalities ReddRoxx and DJ Bandana Black, the screen printing business’ influence is far reaching.
The brand, started in 2009, has helped redefine the “new urban Buffalo” look through creative visual elements that not only incorporate Buffalo’s recognized hometown names, but also ordinary, everyday people and their surroundings. In the land of high fashion, where wannabe socialites place themselves in unnatural setups and sashay around in overly exaggerated versions of iconic styles just to get photographed, street style photography has turned into more of a sport rather than an art of expression. Clothes don’t sell themselves. The people do, this is true. But without authenticity, or an authentic audience, the clothes become perishable trends.
In Cretaceous Clothing’s latest photo campaign, the objective of embodying an authentic lifestyle was resuscitated, reminding urban brand lovers why they were attracted to the genre of street fashion photography in the first place. Girls and guys in comfortable screen-printed tees hanging out in the middle of Lafayette square. A girl in a gold and black tee tied to the side hugging her waist, waiting for a friend as the breeze catches her hair. A group casually standing around outside on Chippewa, expecting the unexpected. These are people in their element: no fuss beauty, just living. Cretaceous succeeds as a Buffalo street-wear brand because it isn’t “trying” to sell you a lifestyle; Cretaceous is a lifestyle.
For more information on Cretaceous Clothing photography campaigns and the brand, visit their site at www.cretaceousclothing.com.
Photos by Ricky Ward of RC Images