![](\"https:\/\/assets.rebelmouse.io\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81ODI3NDg2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc3NzM2OTgxOH0.lzBwX1oWRuAbHXN_nCwKKE_a86MNBJKPvUUGKG4USPk\/img.jpg?width=2075&height=3130&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Designer Sam Finger<\/u><\/a> and \u201cWorld Trade\u201d<\/u><\/a> singer Jonah Almost<\/u><\/a> threw NYFW<\/u><\/a>\u2019s unofficial afters this February. On the final night, the pair took over Ella Funt\u2019s under construction basement (once famously a gay sex club) to unveil Finger\u2019s collection, \u201c24 HRS,\u201d featuring a debut capsule collab with Almost. \u201cWe work, we party, we have sex, we make art, we hustle, all in a day,\u201d the show notes read, explaining that \u201c24 HRS\u201d was an \u201cexamination of the cycle of life.\u201d <\/p>\n Like exiting the ramp of Basement<\/u><\/a> at sunrise, models (Raven Valentine<\/u><\/a>, Merlot<\/u><\/a>, Fabiana Love) stormed the space one by one, some flirting with the front row and others barely making it up the stairs as if strung out and dragging a half-empty jug of Poland Springs. Women\u2019s outfits were sleazy, clubby and clung to the body, looking like lovers for all the men who emerged in Almost-branded streetwear<\/u><\/a>. Everyone gathered around a DJ booth in the center, smoking cigarettes and cruising each other.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery 24 hours, you get to choose,\u201d Finger writes. \u201cWhat do you want to do next?\u201d Below, him and Almost tell us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did you two first meet, and what inspired the desire to work together creatively on a fashion product?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jonah Almost:<\/strong> I guess we first met when you cast me for your last show, and I think it was like around that time that\u2013<\/p>\n Sam Finger: <\/strong>We realized that we were living on the same block. <\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>Yeah, so we realized we’re neighbors, and then a couple months later I started working at Temple Bar and you were also working at Temple. It really came together out of one night after work, me, you and Merlot<\/u><\/a> went for drinks.<\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>And you’re like, \u201cDo you want to film something for my new song, \u2018Icarus,\u2019 tomorrow morning?\u201d [Laughs] <\/em><\/em>What’s crazy is well, firstly, living on the same block, working at the same bar, doing the show, but also I didn’t know you were making a song about wings flying too close to the sky, right? Like, when I made those [metal wings] and thought for you to wear them [in my show]. So it adds to the crazy. <\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>There\u2019s weird levels \u2014 the subliminal, subconscious. <\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>But you were already writing that song by then. <\/p>\n Jonah:<\/strong> It was in the works, yeah. I was like, \u201cYo, my song\u2019s coming out this Friday and I haven’t done visuals.\u201d The label\u2019s like, \u201cWhere the fuck are these visuals at?\u201d And I’m like, \u201cSam, do you still have those wings that I wore in the show?\u201d So the very next day we linked up and we shot all this like shit on the roof. I was wearing the wings and it would go on to become the visualizer for my song. I feel like that was the birth point of our collaboration.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>I had this graphic collection that I was trying to figure out and it wasn’t happening. I was just staring at this wall trying to find the message. How do I make graphics for this brand that’s never done graphics?<\/em><\/em> Then you were like, \u201cI want to make a merch tee.\u201d I was just like, \u201cYeah, sure.\u201d In my head it was a Jonah Almost t-shirt, but then I sat down and started thinking about it and I was like, \u201cWait, this wall\u2013\u201d<\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>That was a synchronicity moment. I came over to your studio, I saw the wall and I was like, \u201cDamn, this mood board is sick. Mine would be very similar.\u201d It all came together super fluidly. I remember,I was like, \u201cI don’t just want to do a t-shirt. I’ve never done a merch item before and I want to do something special.\u201d I was like, \u201cHave you ever done jewelry?\u201d And so it kind of started with this key to New York idea.<\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> That was the first piece we made.<\/p>\n Jonah:<\/strong> From there we were like, \u201cThis graphic is sick, what if we started throwing this on other things?\u201d <\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> And then I was like, \u201cI’m doing a [NYFW] show, we should just put this in a show.\u201d It just started rolling, it wasn’t forced.<\/p>\n Jonah:<\/strong> You know I love a side quest, so why wouldn’t I? The pipeline from, \u201cI want to do some merch to a runway show at fashion week.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You know I love a side quest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Why are you both drawn to this sort of rave, sex energy that the show gave off? What inspires you about that space, creatively?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>Both of us working in nightlife, there’s something about meeting Sam. We’re on these shifts where you’re working 6 to 2 AM or 10 to 4 AM. Then afterwards we’d be going for drinks. On our off nights, we\u2019d meet up with our other nightlife people and be going out to different spots in the city. We’re always converging in places where we get to drink for free. There’s just this community aspect of it coming together.<\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> And so many talented people are working in those environments. For me, it’s always been about community. The \u201crave, sex energy,\u201d I always like playing with impulsiveness and not these ideas of control. I’m always curious about what that looks like creatively, and I feel like your music does that. So it was cool for me, because I’ve always been inspired by music, but I never used somebody directly as music [inspiration] and then funneled it into [my work]. When I started the graphics, the song would play, and then I would be drawing and that would create the graphic. <\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>It was really special to have you engage with my art so quickly, you were really listening.<\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> It was cool to be able to actually tap into the music, versus put music on just to get inspired or feel a vibe. It\u2019s like this song is going to literally inject into this graphic right now. <\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>I think we did such a good job about really creating that universe with the show. It was tapping into the sound that I’m making, the designs that you’re doing and the world that we inhabit, just trying to reflect that. It was our little slice of life.<\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> And for me, it’s always personal. I’m just looking at whatever I’m feeling in that moment towards life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How do you see your two aesthetics mixing together?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>I feel like they mixed really well. From the first show that I did with you when I wore the wings, it was very Tony Hawk\u2019s Pro Skater 2 <\/em><\/em>mixed with nu-metal. Your favorite song of mine is \u201cPowder White.\u201d The Prodigy, Linkin Park energy. <\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>We’re both inspired by \u201990s skate culture. Also, classic old-school New York motifs and just living the New York story. For me, growing up here and you\u2019re very New York in your music and energy. There’s a lot of commonalities there.<\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>You\u2019re really good at execution. I would have a loose [idea], and then your ability to synthesize. I trust in your taste. The differences really just came in sizing. Just like, \u201cMake this a little small.\u201d <\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>Which was a clutch move, I was gonna make those so big. What’s cool about musicians and you specifically in that realm is that this idea of identity is really solid: it’s your lyrics, it’s your sounds. You’re not dressing somebody else, whereas, as a designer, you’re dressing different people, you can shift per season, you can tell different stories. It was cool to ground the collection with an identity, your identity. <\/p>\n Jonah:<\/strong> It\u2019s giving yourself an intentional box of parameters. I also feel like my approach to music is much like a designer’s in that the sound changes per my eras of Jonah Almost. The next project I’m working on is a departure from this ravey, 24-hour world I\u2019ve inhabited. So in a way, it was also like a sunset. In music, people get so stuck in a sound, but I think the best artists are ones that are evolving.<\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>But your identity stays there.<\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>That also ties into the title of the show, \u201c24 HRS,\u201d and trying to create these archetypes in this world and what they’re doing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have to be in the world that I’m trying to sell to the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> The show title came to me because I was so fucking overwhelmed this season. I even said to you one day and I asked pretty much everybody involved at one point, \u201cDo you think I should do this show?\u201d And everyone was like, \u201cYeah.\u201d I was like, \u201cI’m tapping out, somebody else has to jump in.\u201d The 24-hour cycle was moving so fast for me. Because of the nightlife jobs and going out and doing the collection, it was like the speed in which I was moving was so crazy. I’d never experienced that speed before. I was just like, \u201cThis is next level, this 24-hour cycle I’m living on,\u201d and that’s where the name came from. <\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>Even the people we were casting, we were going out to the club and picking cute people.<\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> That’s where most people in that show came from, knowing them from somewhere, having met them somewhere. There were so many musicians in this show, basically my whole Spotify. <\/p>\n Jonah:<\/strong> I would be working one day, the next day doing the door, then the next day taking the time off to work on the show. Originally I had tried to cast a DILF and the amount of DILFs I reached out to in New York, and none of them were down. So DILFs of New York when you hear this, step your shit up. We need more DILF representation on the runway, let me put you on, c\u2019mon. <\/p>\n Jonah, how did it feel to walk in the show? <\/strong><\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>I feel like you need to lead by example. This is a moment that I’ve created and I’m putting, quite literally, my identity onto these consumable products. Music is a little bit more nebulous as an art form, because people can’t directly buy into your art. It’s different from creating a product and selling it. So I was like, \u201cI have to be the model, I’m the lifestyle.\u201d It’s an aspirational element to the fantasy.<\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> I never even thought about you not walking.<\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>I have to be in the world that I’m trying to sell to the world. Because this was the Sam Finger x Jonah Almost collab, I needed to be present and storm the runway. I was having fun, I was living in it. We were kiking backstage, everyone took shots. I was giving motivational speeches before I ran out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>Backstage was a little bonkers. I loved backstage, because it was also part of that 24 hours. I cast Fabiana<\/u><\/a> at 7 AM the day of the show. She had just gotten off her shift and was like, \u201cI’m gonna go to sleep. I’ll see you at 3 PM.\u201d Like, perfect. She had never walked, we didn’t even have a rehearsal. I was like, \u201cGirl, just walk like you are walking home from work.\u201d And she takes the water jug and struts out. Tripp<\/u><\/a> [Jones] and Ize<\/u><\/a> [Gonzalez] were like, \u201cCan we smoke on stage?\u201d That\u2019s how last minute we were. I was like, \u201cYeah, in the pit in the middle and hopefully I don’t get in trouble.\u201d <\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>One of the most affirming moments of that experience was, after the show, someone came up to me and they were like, \u201cWow, you guys really created that vibe. When everybody was waiting in the middle, it felt like Basement<\/u><\/a> had just ended and we were trying to figure out the afters.\u201d That’s crazy, because that was the idea. How many times have you left the party and you’re like, \u201cI\u2019m not ready to go to bed yet. What’s next? What are we doing?\u201d There’s that anxious in-between moment while everyone tries to secure the spot. You’re trying not to share the address with too many randoms. There’s gotta be some fierce edits. But that was the vibe, so it was really cool that people got it. <\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>It was in the casting and movement with each model. We started playing with that idea of you guys together, hanging out. To me, it was sort of like brotherhood, there was community. <\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>We wanted it to be a little theatrical, but not too campy. Trying to find that right balance.<\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> And authenticity at the end of the day, because it was real. Nobody did anything that wasn’t true to themselves. <\/p>\n Jonah:<\/strong> But still served. I didn’t want to just give nothing, but I didn’t want to give too much. We found that right balance because we chose people from that world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A big part of my message is this underdog. We’re out here trying to make it, we’re in our New York hustles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Sam:<\/strong> There was a lot of realism. It’s always about working with people that I admire, that I think are cool and are doing something interesting. Bringing those people together. This season, I felt like that really naturally happened. With Ize, we had talked the season before and if Izzy had been in that season, it wouldn’t have made sense. It was perfect that he was in this season.There was a lot of natural camaraderie with the cast and people wanting to be there and wanting to support each other.<\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>I had a full fan girl moment when you told me Ize was walking. I\u2019ve been watching this dude make sick fucking music, like in the pandemic going to raves on the pier in deep Gowanus or whatever. He’s performing out of the trunk of some fucking drug dealer car. He’s fucking badass. Yeah, it was really special to have all these people show up for us. <\/p>\n What do you think the show said about New York and New York fashion?<\/strong><\/p>\n Sam: <\/strong>The key to New York was very New York, the whole collection was very New York. <\/p>\n Jonah: <\/strong>A big part of my message is this underdog. We’re out here trying to make it, we’re in our New York hustles. And the key to New York, symbolically, is someone who has made it and is given it. It was about being like, \u201cFuck that, I’m not gonna wait for it. I\u2019m gonna give myself the key to New York.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-213.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-214.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-215.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-216.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-217.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-218.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-219.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-220.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-221.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ihousecolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img-222.jpg\")
<\/p>\n