INTERVIEW: AUSTIN AUGIE X RAG & BONE
rag & bone has always put quintessential New Yorkers to the forefront of their campaigns and imagery and has been doing it in such a way that does justice to its subjects’ own distinct profiles. For one of their latest commercials, they’ve featured long-time BMX rider, photographer and, occasionally, as in this case, model Austin Augie. “When a fashion label approaches and portrays a subculture it isn’t necessarily part of, the outcome can so easily end up looking pretentious and tacky,” says Austie. “That didn’t happen with rag & bone.”
He tells us that when he turned up on set to model for the New York-based brand’s new capsule collection, Pursuit, it showed that they had done their homework. The photographer hired for the shoot, Sloan Laurits, has some experience working with fashion houses and publications but is also well used to capture people who skate, which suited Austin perfectly as he could be in the streets doing his thing, riding his bike.
We caught up to Austin to talk about his journey into the BMX world and the opportunities that opened up from it, including the rag & bone photoshoot he just modeled for.
Have you always been a BMX devotee, and how has it impacted your life?
I’ve been riding a BMX since my early teenage years and it kind of has been responsible for everything that happened in my life. I left my hometown in Indiana when I was about seventeen working as a door-to-door salesman just so I could travel around. It brought me to Louisiana, Arizona, Philadelphia, and then California, where there’s a tight BMX scene. I stayed in Venice Beach for a while but ended up moving to New York City. It’s kind of crazy to think how something as small as two wheels has brought me where I am today.
Would you say that that aspect of yourself has given you opportunities that you possibly wouldn’t have got otherwise, such as modelling?
Oh, definitely. The whole modelling thing is all thanks to BMX, really. I’m not particularly stoic and fit like most other models and so if it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t have been scouted in the first place. It’s what made me stand out from the lot. And to this day it still is a key part of what I’m like on a set.
How did shooting with rag & bone go?
It was great because the team on set has given me the freedom to ride and fool around and they’ve been able to capture it. I skitched behind a truck, slid on iron rails, jumped over fire hydrants, etc, just like I would do if I was out riding with my mates. And that’s a rarity, especially in fashion editorials where it’s not so much about capturing the tricks but about posing in a certain way. Not every photographer can do so but Sloan had this very organic way of photographing and we were able to properly portray the art form that is riding a BMX bike.
What’s planned for the future? Can you see yourself still riding a BMX 20 years from now?
I will always be riding a bike, that’s for sure. But as I grew up I came to realise how this path is not always easy… like, I literally broke my body doing it. In recent years I’ve actually switched my focus to photography. If I used to wake up dreaming of becoming a pro BMX rider, now I hop on my bike and head to my studio first thing in the morning to work on photography projects. In the years to come I want to take photos and make a body of work that feels honest and real, one that we’ll be able to look at and remember how things were, and share a chat about it.
