Basketcase Gallery Season 4: References and Remakes of Vintage Pieces
References and reinterpretations have become more and more common in fashion today. From Helmut Lang putting the classic military M65 jacket into a new context, to Demna’s Balenciaga turning a Lay’s chip bag into an accessory, or Mowalola’s recent remakes of iconic logos like Umbro and Sony Walkman.




Finding these nods in collections feels like an Easter egg hunt in a movie or video game. And there’s no better feeling than spotting a reference while shopping: catching your friend’s eye and laughing together because you both recognize what it’s drawn from.


As we already know, Basketcase Gallery is heavily inspired by vintage pieces. This season, we’ve noticed several references woven throughout their latest collection. Here are a few we’ve spotted—see how many you recognize, and maybe there are more waiting for you to find.
The Valentine Tee is a direct reference to the band My Bloody Valentine. Both feature a close-up image of a person’s face with red text printed over top.
My Bloody Valentine is an Irish-born, UK-based band formed in the 1980s and widely recognized as a pioneer of the shoegaze genre. Their distinctive use of heavily distorted “glide” guitars, blurred androgynous vocals, and hazy melodies helped define the dreamlike soundscapes that became synonymous with shoegaze.
Initially influenced by post-punk and noise-pop acts such as The Jesus and Mary Chain and Cocteau Twins, the band later incorporated the dissonant textures of American bands like Sonic Youth.
The album Loveless was credited as the album defining the shoegaze sound and inspired many later bands around the world.
This hoodie features a logo remake that references the clothing brand Skin Industry, which was popular in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
The brand was deeply tied to extreme sports (especially freestyle motocross and MMA) and was known for its mix of gothic fonts and the bold, graphic-heavy Y2K look that brands like Ed Hardy and Harley-Davidson also embraced.
Basketcase Gallery reworked the concept by putting the logo “BASK" to a similar gothic font Skin Industry was using on their hoodie while keeping the similar alignment.
This next reference might come as a surprise: the American apparel brand Abercrombie & Fitch. While A&F might now feel like a mall staple, it was phenomenal once in the past
In the late 90s and early 00s A&F the brand was synonymous with the American preppy look. They were selling the fantasy of pretty collegiates' youth and hormones.
A&F rolled out commercials with bare top muscular models and opened new shops in the malls with dozens of sculptured-like shirtless male models. This crazy advertising didn’t make A&F the most approved brands by the public, but definitely the most talked about brand inside the mall. And people either hate the smell of A&F the second they step in the mall, or wait hours in the line when a new A&F store opens and take photos with the bare-top male models.
The rise and fall of A&F went hand in hand with mall culture and the shifting perception of exclusivity and identity. Questionable as some of its marketing may have been, it captured a unique moment when shopping at the mall was still an event. The Dweller Zip Hoodie, with its fleece logo patch and collegiate feel, brings that memory back.
This one’s a bit harder to trace to a specific reference, but the Haystack Denim Jacket piece really reminds us of a vintage Big Ben denim jacket one of us used to own. It has a very similar four pocket construction on the front panel, and corduroy collar, but most noticeable is both the jacket has a blanket-like lining, making it a super sturdy and warming feeling.
Special thanks to Kobe for sharing his knowledge with us.