With 'Anonymous Club,' Shayne Oliver is nurturing the next generation of fashion disruptors
in the way the term is used in the queer community, particularly in the ballroom space, as someone who nurtures and uplifts the next generation, a mentor. Andin the way the term is used anywhere in the world: as someone who raises you, in the way Oliver raised so many millennial and Gen Z fashion folks who grew up idolizing him and his pivotal work, and in the way he is now using Anonymous Club as a vehicle to platform the next generation of talent.
Anonymous Club is now being set up as its own brand, one that will eventually be sold on the Shayne Oliver e-commerce and website that is currently in the works. “My archive is what the kids dig through, and using that and the factories and capabilities that I have just allows them to spread their wings,” he said. They can do their thing, and Oliver can do his.
“I feel like it’s softly aggressive,” Miller adds. “Everything looks playful and kind of childlike, but all the silhouettes…I mean someone will definitely look at you a bit weird on the street, which is the fun part.” The Anonymous Club team came together through people Oliver met in his community. “It’s the kids that show up to class and show out,” he says. “That’s the vetting process, seeing who is showing enthusiasm and high quality work.” He adds that the houses share kids too, “some people from Telfar [Miller worked at Telfar before joining Anonymous Club], some know Raul [Lopez of Luar, and cofounder of Hood By Air].