Jamie Hewlett Belongs on Clothes

The thing about Gorillaz that gets buried under all the virtual-band novelty talk is how good the actual albums are. Demon Days is one of the genuinely great records of the 2000s—a sprawling post-millennial anxiety piece that holds itself together through sheer force of vision. And that vision is split cleanly down the middle: Damon Albarn provides the melancholy and the hooks, Jamie Hewlett provides everything you can see.

Without Hewlett this is a sideline project. With him it becomes a mythology. 2D’s hollowed-out stare, Murdoc’s sulfurous energy, Noodle’s evolving arc from child prodigy to something genuinely dangerous—these aren’t mascots, they’re characters you can spend time with. Hewlett came up through underground comics, and that sensibility runs through everything the band has ever put out: grotesque bodies, saturated color, a political edge buried under surface absurdity. From the debut in 2001 through The Now Now, the visual world has never been an afterthought.

Levi’s put together a collaboration through their Print Bar, letting you build custom pieces—T-shirts, jackets, bags—by selecting from Hewlett’s character artwork and adapting colors and patterns to your own taste. It makes complete sense. Hewlett’s work already sits at the intersection of illustration and fashion; having it on something wearable rather than just on a screen or a record sleeve is the natural step. The four band members as design elements, mix and match. What I want is a Noodle jacket.