Iād been aware of Donwanās hand drawn M65 Vietnam jackets since we first shot him for Denim Dudes in 2014, but when Spike Leeās Da 5 Bloods came out last week, I was struck by the parallels in both Harrellās drawings and Leeās film. As we know, from great adversity comes great art, so I decided to hit Donwan up to talk about these beautiful yet brutal pieces he has created and how his personal project came about:
āFirstly, I am enamoured by Vietnam and by the stories and the people I surround myself with, who have experienced it firsthand. They talk about the music and the clubbing and the fashion and the cars: so much came out of it, so much! Of course there was obviously nothing good about that war, but the artistic expression that came out of it was pretty amazing. Thereās not been a war like it sinceā

So tell me about the guys who owned the jackets: the drawings are based on their stories right? How did it all come about?
āI have a lot of friends who are older than myself because Iām also very into car culture. And a lot of my older friends are Black and Puertorican Vietnam vets and they would just talk to me as we were working on a car together. They would tell me these crazy stories of things they experienced at war. And they all still had their jackets so they would give them to me and I would draw their stories; first hand depictions of things that they experienced being minorities on the frontline in Vietnamā

It must have been a pretty emotional process for them, right?
āYes, absolutely. And it was my way of communicating āI hear youā. Not to sound like a therapist in any way but it was very therapeutic for them to have me draw some of the horrific things they were describing. Things they wouldnāt even tell their wife or their kids. Stories that are never really expounded upon because itās always coming from a different perspective; thereās always a Rambo or a Chuck Norris going in there saving everybody!ā
And so it honours the sacrifice they made and makes them feel more a part of that history?
āI mean, long before photography, people used to draw history. And thatās how we used to understand history; through paintings, drawings in caves, the pyramids. This was my way of communicating because I wasnāt there in person, so all I could do was to listen to them and illustrate what they had seen, because there was no camera for them. There was nothing for them.
It was not pretty. It was not pretty being on the front line and being a minority. Fighting for what you thought was right and then not being accepted back at home. Can you imagine know how difficult that must have been?
You can see more of Donwan’sĀ jackets on his personal instagramĀ @kingkrash and his denim brandĀ @artmeetschaos


Trend forecaster, denim designer, industry journalist and author of Denim Dudes.
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Amy Levertonhttps://denimdudes.co/author/lamolevo/
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Amy Levertonhttps://denimdudes.co/author/lamolevo/
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Amy Levertonhttps://denimdudes.co/author/lamolevo/
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Amy Levertonhttps://denimdudes.co/author/lamolevo/
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