Why does Ishod Wair keep telling me that he doesn’t want to be labelled? Because even though a Google search correctly defines him as an ‘American skateboarder’, that isn’t strictly true anymore. ‘I don’t see myself as just a skateboarder. I like fashion, looking good, putting that shit on. I believe that I can do anything that I want to do,’ Wair tells MATCHESFASHION from his home over Zoom. ‘When I get an opportunity to do something like this: Yes sir, I’m going to do it.’

Growing up in New Jersey, Wair’s inherent determination to assert his individuality and retain a sense of rule-breaking freedom has always propelled him forwards. ‘I played basketball as a child because my dad played and he wanted me to. At some point, I just wanted to hang out with my friends and I started skateboarding,’ the 31-year-old recalls. ‘Either I conformed to team practices or I could skate whenever I wanted with no rules. I picked the looser activity and I fell in love with it because it was fun.’ Signed by Nike aged 15, he turned pro at 18 and was named 2013 Thrasher Skater of the Year after winning the Maloof Money Cup South Africa street finals as an amateur. ‘The actual act of skateboarding is an individual thing,’ he points out. ‘No one has gotten me here other than me because I did all the work.’

‘When I get an opportunity to do something like this: Yes sir, I’m going to do it.’

The skateboarder scrapes off the pro-graphic on the underside of his board and adds earnestly that extra millimetres in width and wheel height make all the difference to his form. Describing his favourite tricks is impossible because they can never be perfectly recreated due to the thrilling unpredictability of the street surfaces that he skates on around the world. ‘Other skateboarders say I’m like a mad scientist. Why? Because I think about every little detail. I’m very in-depth with what I do and that’s why I am who I am,’ he explains. The American has meticulously designed two original skate shoes with Nike and keeps almost a million Instagram followers thoroughly entertained with clips of effortless flips and wow-factor tricks (check out his heelflip crook, nollie backside flip and switch frontside) that are slickly edited and spliced with other bold footage. The constant feed of cool party pics and admirable streetwear ’fits, plus a new trickle of experimental self-shot analogue photography, really hammer home the fact that he’s exploring his creativity unapologetically.

A natural in front of the camera after years of filming YouTube videos for his sponsors, the influential content creator is now fully in his fashion model era. Rocking highlights from our new-season menswear edit with a smile and plenty of swag, the song that best embodies his MATCHESFASHION shoot has to be Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz, according to the music-loving multi-hyphenate, who played DJ on set with Jack Bool behind the lens. Wair is currently the SS23 face of Acne Studios, after walking in Virgil Abloh’s AW22 Off-White and Heron Preston’s AW23 shows, and is always cast as himself – an authentic, charismatic, and very talented skateboarder. ‘It might not look like it but I’m analysing and listening to everything that the photographer and assistants say on set,’ Wair reveals, forever taking mental notes in creative environments to level up his own endeavours. Here he is now: working smarter and playing harder.

On what professional skateboarders do

‘We don’t get paid hourly so you might not skate for three months, then go out skating every day for a month to film a video and you did your job. You can be as good as you want in a skatepark but unless you video in the street, nobody’s going to give a fuck about you. If I’m in the contest, I want to win.’

On seeing the world through a skateboarder’s eyes

‘Fresh and new every single time. I’ve learned tricks [in the] last year that I’ve been trying to do for 10 years. Skateboarders have a different view of the world. When I see a wall or the ground, I’m thinking: What’s the material made of? Does that grind? How dense is it? What does it sound like?’

On getting dressed

‘I just try to be myself, honestly. I put stuff on and see if I feel comfortable in it – I do if the lines fit me properly. If I’m not skateboarding, I’m not wearing shorts 95% of time. I’ll wear dress pants, jeans, I like to mix it up. I wear Nike tech shit, Off-White, Heron Preston, Prada is sick, and A-COLD-WALL*. I did an Acne Studios campaign and wear it, too.’

‘I’m very versatile with my skateboarding and I try to be the same with my clothes and hair. Maybe a hat, an Afro, box braids – I change my hair a lot because I don’t want to be that guy who looks like that. I want to be unique.’

‘I just try to be myself, honestly. I put stuff on and see if I feel comfortable in it.’

On his favourite shoot pieces

‘Those Rick Owens baggy pants are really cool. It was cold when we shot that on the roof, so I was like, I got this nice little warm Amiri varsity jacket on. Those leather Marni slides were cool and the OUR LEGACY button-up. I really think I could pull off any colour – I’m not trying to be cocky but I’m just really confident. That comes through when you put on your clothes and people can feel your energy. You need to wear the shirt; the shirt can’t wear you.’

On how skateboarding influences his style

‘If I’m skateboarding, I’m wearing shorts 95% of the time so I have visibility of my feet and the board that’s flipping underneath me. I’m sponsored by brands who send me clothes. After a point, I started seeing clones walking down the street with a skateboard and the same hat and clothes that I wear. I was like, I need to be an individual. You blow up off of you being yourself and then they want to control what you do. I get why but I try to combat that at every chance that I can.’

On fashion week

‘People were asking me if I’m nervous and I’m like, I fall in front of thousands of people. Why would I be nervous about walking in a room of hundreds? I mostly spoke to Virgil about skateboarding and I first met Heron Preston years ago because he used to work at Nike. When he started his brand, he sent me pieces from his first collection and [I liked it] very organically.’

On skateboarding and fashion intersecting

‘We don’t have rules. That’s why fashion looks to us for inspiration because people do shit just because they want to. It doesn’t matter that it’s not cool at the time, realistically, nobody’s going to stop you. Then people can see you doing that stuff and be like, ”I like that inspiration.”’

On being a role model

‘It feels good but you’ve got to set the right example and not just fuck off. It’s important for Black people to know that they can have a business, be successful, and gain generational wealth. We have to stick together and lift each other up. Virgil changed the game and inspired me. I am never going to change – my full first name, Ishod-Kedar, is Muslim and it means dark-skinned man of glory.’

On his contemporaries

‘Lil Dre is my homie, he lives just down the street from me and it’s super dope that he’s into fashion, too. It’s the same as my boy Evan Mock who has amazing style on board. You think Lil Dre is cool and has good style, but if you took all that away and you just looked at the skateboarding – he’s actually a very capable skateboarder.’

‘I am never going to change – my full first name, Ishod-Kedar, is Muslim and it means dark-skinned man of glory.’

On rediscovering photography

‘I used to go on trips and bring point and shoot disposable cameras, a Polaroid camera, and a digital camera with me. I got back into photography when I unboxed all my old cameras a few months ago, once I fully moved to California from Philadelphia. I started learning how to use a camera in a manual mode and I like shooting landscapes, weird cars, and stuff in different countries when I travel.’

On success

‘Success is being able to do what you want when you’re a boss. There’s more to come with the Nike shoes, and I’m going to make a YouTube channel and a photo blog soon. How do you go from A and get Z results? Work and precious time, but how do I get there in the most efficient way? I’m just trying to live, get shit done, and have fun. Life is short and you’ve got to make the most of it.’

‘Success is being able to do what you want

when you’re a boss.’

‘I’m just trying to live, get shit done, and have fun.’

PHOTOGRAPHER JACK BOOL. FASHION EDITOR ALESHA JIVANDA. TALENT ISHOD WAIR. GROOMING CARLA PEREZ. STYLIST ADAM WINDER. HEAD OF CREATIVE PRODUCTIONS TOMASINA LEBUS. CREATIVE PRODUCTION MANAGER CHRISTIE PHEDON. PRODUCTION & ART BUYING AUTHORIZED DEALER.