How is fashion week going? Well, whether you were in New York or Milan, chances are the answer was chosen by multi-hyphenate power couple Matthew Mazur and Tama Gucci. Within a week of this season, they set the tone for both the hottest new brands and the most established fashion houses, conquering the runways of Mirror Palais, Prabal Gurung and Moschino.
It started in DM. “He added me to Close Friends on Instagram,” the Florida-born musician and Gucci designer says over Zoom. “I was the one flirting,” chuckles New York-born stylist and DJ Mazur. Mazur ordered clothes from the Gucci Tama’s Corner brand. As it turned out, they were both invited to perform at Art Basel. The following year, when Mazur was asked to headline Virgil Abloh’s annual final set following the designer’s tragic death, he invited Gucci. Since then, they “became inseparable.”
Now they have taken their relationship to the next level: working together. “Mirror Palais was probably the most intense show, right baby?” – asks Mazur. It was not only one of the first shows for the fashion brand to get back on its feet, but also their first collaboration: “I didn’t fully trust Tama yet—it’s just a personal thing,” says Mazur. “Virgo!” Tama, turning to Leo, intervenes. “Yes,” Mazur laughs. “I’ve been doing this on my own for so long.”
But it worked: as DJs, they balance each other out. “He’s more classic and I’m more experimental,” Gucci says. “What he can’t imagine in the soundtrack, I somehow can—it’s like two sides of the same coin.” This made it easier to develop the soundtrack for Moschino. For its 40th anniversary, following the departure of Jeremy Scott, the label had four stylists interpreting the legacy of founder Franco Moschino: Carlene Cerf de Dudzeele, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Lucia Liu and Katie Grand. “Carline asked Matthew by name,” notes Gucci.
“Carline is one of my idols,” Mazur explains. “When I worked for Jeremy Scott, I was always around her because I was fascinated by this living legend.” Landing a job with a designer straight out of Parsons, he DJed at the brand’s parties while styling celebrity clients along the way; he now works with Gen Z icons including Ice Spice, Lil Nas. Gucci, meanwhile, is an alternative R&B artist with a cult following awaiting his debut album, due early next year.
Below, Fashion meets a powerful couple.
Louise Opaleski
How do you feel about your personal style?
Tama Gucci: I have pink hair because I’m basically a Barb. I think about Nicki (Minaj) when she first came out and how she made such an emphasis on pink hair. My style is loud, eccentric and quirky, but being Caribbean and weird, it’s everything I “shouldn’t” be, so I keep it front and center. Being Caribbean, Miami, and Barb: that’s what the product is all about.
Matthew Mazur: I’m a little older, so I went through a phase of, “I have green hair, blue hair, bleached blonde braids…” rather than a quantity, in terms of clothing.
TG: He went through my closet—I was obsessed with thrifting because you can find cool clothes in Miami. I outgrew all these things that I literally kept because I found them for $2 and…
MM: He’s a hoarder.
TG: (Laughs) I’m not a hoarder! He went through my closet and we got rid of everything, and now, he says, it’s more about quality than quantity. I have so many soft things now! The number of threads is really good.
MM: I truly believe that clothes are meant to be used too. I used to say, “Oh, it’s expensive, so it has to be handled very carefully, and I can’t wear it unless it’s a really nice place.” But this is what I learned from Carline many years ago; I think we were talking about Birkin, and in her crazy French accent she said, “No, the cooler it looks, the better!” We’re all going to die, it’s just clothes.
You can see a general playfulness, ironic Y2K humor in your style.
MM: Going back to Carline, I always gravitated towards people who had a playful point of view on fashion. For our first Christmas/birthday together, I gave Tama these blue Marni horse leather mules. They are so outstanding that you can wear them with anything. We’ll wear a minimal outfit, but then leave an accessory – Marni mules or my purple Bottega clutch similar to Grimace. It bonds us because we both find humor in fashion and also love –
TG: It’s not that serious.
MM: And the only way to survive in this industry is to understand that it’s beautiful, but it’s not everything, you know?
Matthew, how did you get started working with Ice Spice and Lil Nas?
MM: The Ice people approached me before the EP’s release and we recorded videos for “In Ha Mood” and “Boy’s A Liar”. She has her own point of view, which I like. She doesn’t ask, “What brand is this?” She was like, “This suits me, right? Is this my favorite color? Is this the style I like?” This makes the task easier; I can push the boundaries of her comfort zone a little, which is what I did with Moose Knuckles. Plus, he’s an iconic black designer that we both know personally. Telfar (Clemens) was one of Tama’s defenders; he wears all of Tama’s clothes.
TG: It’s so sweet because Telfar lifts the mood.
MM: Yes, he really does that. And he’s obsessed with us being together. But when I work with artists, I try to listen to what they want, understand them, and then try to introduce them to something new. Style-wise, all Ice wanted were True Religion jeans, Juicy Couture tracksuits, and BB Simon belts. I grew up in the era of Juicy Couture – Simple life This is essentially what raised me and got me interested in fashion. Lil Nas X is so funny and so calm that I can show him things he didn’t like before and he gets upset. He thinks about fashion differently because he’s maturing as an artist, so he’s really fun to work with.
How Tama’s Corner start off?
TG: I was obsessed with frugality and Florida is one of the best places because it seems like the place where people retire and end up going. It first started as a consignment store, then expanded into jewelry and then clothing. I’ve always wanted to make artist merchandise that didn’t look like artist merchandise: something that could be associated with me as an artist, but it wasn’t a shirt with my photo on it. I put song lyrics, then sassy sayings from reality TV.
It was crazy to see him grow; you can tie your music and personality as an artist to your brand, but it doesn’t have to be so traditional. When Matthew named Coy (Lere), she chose him. Lil Miquela was the first to wear it – I remember getting so many requests for that shirt. So in a way it’s funny to see that because other artists are wearing it without necessarily knowing that it’s an artist’s product.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This article was originally published in British Vogue.