MIEL Y NOIR is a brand driven by sports and street-fashion culture focusing on handcrafted small-batch capsule releases of customized NBA jerseys and apparel.
In May of 2011, I envisioned embellishing a jersey with different fabrics and hides. I wanted each concept to carry a theme and have it correlate to the team, city, or style of player. As a life-long fan of the NBA, sportswear, hiphop culture, and men’s style, I wanted to build a brand focused on customer experience while paying homage to the great athletes that continue to influence my life.
With a lot of help from industry friends who aid in stitching, embroidery, and print production, we are able to craft exclusive, well-made items that offer a premium experience.
Special thanks to: Micah, Brenda, Bonnie, Tim and Mern.
WWAW • SHAQUILLE O’NEAL • November 1, 2022
i had an idea one day…
It was November of 2020 — a year to forget, lol. At any rate, I was thinking about the next set of concepts, hoping to build momentum with a widely appreciated Black Mamba concept and a Penny Hardaway concept that I thought was pretty fresh. I thought, “…a great follow-up to all this would be Shaq!” — I think I even divulged this to Mern once. Maybe it was the other way around during one of these random catch-ups… always on some, “you know what you should do is…”. And, then here comes another crazy idea.
Since I had the concept in mind, I quickly drafted what first came in. But, when I got it all down, it didn’t feel right. It felt incomplete. Plus, I had planned on more things going right than they did, which left me short of the mark to get the concept sailing. Social climate dictated a lot during these times, so I figured I would focus on becoming more skilled while I waited (and waded) it out.
But, the times we were experiencing continued on, which really pushed plans off the calendar — and it dented me in a bit too. Many people were online at the time, being stuck inside which meant more eyes… more creatives forced to create. And, there’s this weird effect that happens when you create uniquely — that people find and pick at it. I think it’s like a law, lol. I felt, at times, like I was on a hamster-wheel inside a tornado, so I took more time off social media and started making life more manageable and made things less important.
“Then — after some more left/right combos to the chin by life (aka wallet aka self-esteem aka hold me, lol) I’m scrolling daftly through Tiktok…”
Over this period, I had started putting together items, being more patient and conscious of the process. And, as I wrapped everything up, some weird things started happening. First, I had this call from Mern about Game 7 when The Mavs OBLITERATED The Suns in unforgettable fashion, and while rocking the Dirk jersey, he ran into Dirk! Around the same time, I learned that Shaq just bought a home in Dallas. This meant I had an actual possibility of connecting with him (again) in the future!
Then — after some more left/right combos to the chin by life (aka wallet aka self-esteem aka hold me, lol), I’m scrolling daftly through Tiktok, trying to figure out this new landscape, and I run into this set of videos back-to-back:
(NOTE: This is a screen recording of the exact sequence of videos that introduced me to this cat’s beats! It was so good, I had to record it to be sure, lol.
And, when I heard this beat… yo — WHEN I HEARD THIS BEAT! I must have replayed this clip like 20 times in a row. No lie. This beat is just… it defines the energy of this pursuit somehow. I had been looking for the sound that could encapsulate the feeling of these pieces, the journey… and this was it. Then, in the caption: “Winner Sh*t Only”. It was pure synchronicity and divine timing at it’s finest. This sound fueled me, and I was able to bring it all to a place that I felt I could share the pieces (which tends to be the hardest part). Undoubtedly, I had to use it to supercharge this promo video I cooked up — and it reminds me of the discovery every time I play it.
I’m hoping I get to do the same thing I’ve done with these past drops, and get to meet Shaq again (and not any of his lawyers, lol)! As a long time fan of his — and The Fu-Schnickens, I had to come as correct as I could, with my own influence and answer the question: “What would a capsule collection look like focused on an NBA player?” Keep scrolling to hear the story of the first time I met Shaq!
Follow @soyisreal everywhere and scoop up his sounds here. And, if you’re a real winner, swing by MIEL Y NOIR and let’s see!
a mixtape recording by lynxx worldwide
Likely, the illest 16-bars currently out right now.
GET CROSSED UP! • TIM HARDAWAY SR & JR • May 11, 2022
“So Mern hits me up one day…”
He starts tellin’ me about how it’s Tim Hardaway Jr’s birthday. And, to celebrate, I should cook up a jersey for him.
I’m like — yes. Yes. Let’s do that, I’m down.
He needed something to celebrate his dad, ‘The Killer Crossover’ himself, Tim Hardaway Sr.! He was just inducted into the NBA Hall Of Fame, plus with Timmy Jr.’s birthday — it’d be a perfect gift.
The turnaround was gonna be tough, but I was confident. I’ve been a fan of Tim Hardaway Sr. since NBA Jam, especially when he was on the Miami Heat. On the jerseys, I love how big the letters are — the black, white and red, and all the creative space it offers. I knew I had some real estate and wanted to try some new things too.
I wanted to use a mix of hides, and chose cheetah and rattlesnake. Also wanted to try something new with the reflective, and Micah and I had cooked up these mini-chenille patches that I was hype to use on a project.
I told Mern that if he was able to get a Timmy Jr. jersey, I’d happily make that one for him too. And, he did of course! So the adventure was really on.
For the concept, I liked that both animals had traits of being quick and dangerous. The patterns, colors and textures would definitely compliment the jersey. It was coming together, but it all needed a little bit more juice.
”I was in a groove with digital illustration and these ‘Boomin’ Busts’ concepts I’ve been doing, and wanted to see what a portrait would look like on a t-shirt.”
I needed to test printing and sizing for another project, so I decided to make some custom tees and prints too. Hopefully, I could get it all right in one take! I cooked up a graphic and the fonts, and centered it around The Killer Crossover theme. At first, I had: “Don’t Get Crossed Up”, but thought it sounded a bit too esoteric. So I shortened it to ‘Get Crossed Up’ which I feel sounds a little more fresh. I rounded the project out by making a couple prints, and framed them to commemorate the father-son duo.
This project was awesome to work on, but it wasn’t without it’s own unique set of issues. Incorrect shipping caused frustrating delays and shopping online for the quality hides I prefer gets challenging. There exists some questionable quality out there and with photo retouching you can get ‘got’ pretty easily. It takes patience, resourcefulness, some intuition, a good squad, and a lot of faith.
I present ‘The Killer Crossover’ for Tim Hardaway Jr. — check out the illustration process below!”
THE TRUE HISTORY OF MIEL Y NOIR • 2011 — 2021
The first set of customized jerseys used the original floral fabric — ‘The Rose’ Derrick Rose jersey.
“THE TRUTH ALWAYS COMES TO LIGHT.”
It all started one night with an old Ben Wallace jersey, some floral fabric, and an idea. Influenced by my then long-distanced brother, Ayan, an overly-talented hiphop producer who introduced me to Tumblr (yes, Tumblr!), I came across images draped in black, gold, renaissance art, hypercars, attractive women, and all of the elements that the ‘Watch The Throne’ era provided. It was truly inspiring to get a view of a world I always imagined existed. At the time, Ayan and I were making music together and were going to be the next big sound to collapse the internet… lol. Although we made fire tracks, the blowup didn’t happen — but lemme tell you what did.
One night, on a squalor’s budget (not a baller; squalor lol), my girl at the time and I hit the fabric section of this one store, and found a ridiculously beautiful floral fabric. When we got home, I decided to get crafty. I remember walking in and looking at the old Ben Wallace, Chicago Bulls jersey I had, and thinking how cool it would be to get the floral fabric onto the jersey. In a late night of motivated effort and a bunch of mess-ups, I made something truly creative — my first customized jersey! Unknown to me, it was the start of a difficult journey filled with wonderfully painful lessons from the people I loved and respected most. A bouquet of success and betrayals, help from strangers, and a whole lot more. I learned A LOT about people, business, and the fashion industry, so here’s the full story…
FIRST STEPS
I genuinely had no idea what I was doing in starting a brand. No clue. As a lover of hiphop and the arts, growing up reading The Source and XXL magazines, I have always made an effort to support and contribute to the cultures I enjoy. From my days as a bboy, touring and doing high profile gigs in my city, to rockin’ mics and just being an all-around representative for hiphop, I haphazardly made this jersey and didn’t know what to do. All I knew is that I wanted to wear it!
If we go back a few more steps, I had been making music and was influenced heavily by Ye’s energy. I decided to make, by hand, a crewneck sweatshirt as merch for an award-winning mixtape I made, (B)EAST to help with all the costs that come with making music. This is the preamble to the story, really. And, it later lead me into the esoteric knowledge infused into certain designs, which is a conversation for a later post!
I remember texting my then-friend, let’s call him by his anagram: Chain Planet, sending a pic of the jersey I had made. I was excited to wear it to an event that day where the creative community would be, as a show of my own creativity. When he saw it, he said he had never seen something like this before, and that I should figure out a way to make more — and not to show it off yet. If I wasn’t naive at the time, I would’ve realized he was likely patronizing me, but I respected him and his advice, and it sent me down a path that would lead to me giving one of my works to one of the greatest NBA players to play the game. Here are some early pics.
First shots of The Rose jersey and BEAST crewneck sweaters, handmade and posted on Tumblr.
a whole set
Shortly after making these pieces, more ideas started to flow. I had come up with the name and created a logo, went by the fabric store again, found more fabrics and drummed up more jersey concepts. I was excited that I may have found a way to fuel all of the dreams I had of making music, helping my family, building the relationship I was in… so I was committed to figuring this thing out!
And then, I was like “how do I put this out without someone jacking it?!”
I had always heard that when you get a good idea, you have to protect it. I had to learn how to do that, and so I worked slowly at releasing photos to see if I could generate interest and stay below the radar.
Special thanks to Travis and Aaron, the crew at the time who I showed these pieces to and begged them to keep silent. I didn’t know how to navigate and wasn’t aware of the wonderfully toxic war of American capitalism (lol) I was sailing into. This was the original set:
Top to bottom: The Dirk Nowitzki ‘Drei Blonde’, The Lebron James ‘King James’, The Kobe Bryant ‘Black Mamba’, The Rajon Rondo ‘Boston Garden’, and The Derrick Rose ‘The Rose’ set; photographed by Travis Lilley.
