Not so long ago, Colen, part of the Gagosian stable, could have never imagined he would become a farmer—or a fashion designer. In the late aughts he was, along with his friends and occasional roommates Ryan McGinley, Nate Lowman, and the late Dash Snow, at the center of a raucous downtown art scene. It’s been a little more than a decade since he purchased these 40 acres to serve as a refuge from the city—but while farming did prove to be a big step away from freneticism, Colen has found the agricultural community to be just as character-filled. He says it’s given him welcome access to more craziness—the good kind. “It’s like, you get 10 farmers in a room, you have 10 artists in a room: The artists are going to seem really normal. And I love that.”
Colen had already worked with Dover Street Market on a series of clothing drops over the last few years, collaborating with brands and artists in the orbit of Sky High Farm. A full-fledged line seemed like a natural approach to raising both money and awareness for the nonprofit. “We realized that with the interest people have in conscious consumption, Sky High Farm Workwear could carry the company’s message in a way that felt modern and accessible,” says Daphne Seybold, now the brand’s co-CEO after 15 years as head of communications and marketing for Comme des Garçons.
ANIMAL INSTINCT
Dan Colen, with one of the farm’s young charges.
In addition to releasing two Workwear collections each year, the brand will produce seasonal capsules under the name Sky High Farm Family. Denim Tears designer Tremaine Emory was chosen as the first collaborator, but previous design experience is not a requirement: The photographer Quil Lemons has created the next capsule.
“What’s unique about Dan—and something that we share—is the commitment to bridging visual artistry and other forms of creative culture to the food space,” says Jon Gray, the cofounder of Bronx-based cooking collective Ghetto Gastro and a Sky High Farm board member. That commitment has resulted in a business model where fashion doesn’t just symbolize their values: It furthers them, too.
