What's Contemporary Now?

The episode follows AMBUSH’s evolution from jewelry made for friends to a brand that Yoon describes as a platform, shaped by experimentation rather than a rigid business plan. She speaks candidly about learning in real time, being paid to learn, and why every job and skill eventually becomes useful. From research as a daily practice to AI as a tool that can accelerate creative work without replacing it, Yoon makes a case for staying open, resisting the urge to live in boxes, and trading horizontal expansion for deeper, more human storytelling. Her definition of what feels contemporary now is simple and powerful, pursuing who you are fearlessly, and staying uniquely human in a world increasingly driven by algorithms.

Episode Highlights:

A childhood shaped by movement and solitudeGrowing up between Korea, Hawaii, California, and Seattle, Yoon reflects on how constant relocation fostered independence, imagination, and an ability to adapt quickly to new environments.

Solitude as a creative advantageTime spent alone became a space for imagination rather than isolation, laying the groundwork for curiosity, inner confidence, and long-term creative resilience.

Subculture as a formative educationFrom Seattle’s grunge era to Tokyo’s club scene, Yoon describes how underground culture, music, and nightlife taught her more about identity and community than any formal training.

Discovering design through curiosity, not strategyHer path into graphic design and later fashion emerged organically through interests in magazines, presentation, and visual storytelling, rather than a predefined career plan.

Being paid to learn as a philosophyYoon frames early jobs, including PR and corporate design work, as opportunities to learn on someone else’s dime, reinforcing her belief that no experience is wasted.

AMBUSH as an organic unfoldingWhat began as jewelry made for friends evolved naturally into a brand, then into a platform, driven by experimentation, relationships, and responding to real demand rather than market forecasting.

Tokyo as a creative accelerantMoving to Japan exposed Yoon to layered subcultures, cross-pollination between music and fashion, and a culture open to hybridity, shaping AMBUSH’s DNA.

Fashion as communication, not productYoon describes fashion as a visual language for expressing identity and connection, rather than simply clothing or commercial output.

AI as a tool, not a replacementShe speaks openly about embracing AI as a powerful assistant that can accelerate research and execution, while insisting that creative intent and thinking cannot be outsourced.

What feels contemporary nowFor Yoon, being contemporary today means fearlessly pursuing who you are, resisting algorithmic pressure, and staying grounded in humanity, curiosity, and purpose rather than chasing scale.
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Asad Syrkett joins What’s Contemporary Now? for a wide-ranging conversation about design as a cultural language and the quiet ways environments shape identity, memory, and access. From a childhood spent moving through New York City’s homes, department stores, and streets, to a new chapter living and working in Milan, he reflects on how early encounters with the built world formed a lifelong curiosity long before he had the vocabulary of architecture or interiors.

Grounded in his background in architectural history and editorial leadership, Asad speaks to why design is never neutral, how interiors hold narrative and emotional weight, and why aspiration today feels less about status than self-knowledge. As attention splinters and taste is increasingly mediated by screens rather than experience, the conversation returns to what endures: craft, context, and the human touch as the most contemporary forces shaping how we live now.

“If you like it, I love it. I’d rather a space reflect real engagement with the self than something copied from Instagram.” - Asad Syrkett

Episode Highlights:


Living in Milan versus passing through itAsad reflects on the shift from visiting Milan for work to truly living there, and how permanence deepens relationships, curiosity, and cultural exchange beyond the churn of Salone and design week.


A childhood shaped by environments, not fashionGrowing up in Harlem and New York City, Asad became attuned early to how homes, retail spaces, and objects reflect identity, class, and aspiration, long before he had the language for design.


The built world is never neutralFrom department stores to shop windows, he describes how cities teach us, early on, that design encodes power, values, and social difference.


Curiosity as a lifelong engineRaised by a family deeply invested in culture, music, books, and dance, Asad traces how being encouraged to ask questions shaped his editorial and intellectual instincts.


Why architectural history unlocked everythingStudying architectural history at Columbia gave him context and language for instincts formed in childhood, connecting design to authority, religion, economics, and social structures.


A career guided by sustainability of curiosityMoving between journalism, design studios, digital media, and business wasn’t about restlessness, but about building an intellectually sustainable life around design.


Context over aestheticsAs an editor, Asad emphasizes that interiors don’t exist in a vacuum, they are social, political, and emotional artifacts shaped by history, access, and intention.


Access versus upward mobilityHe challenges the idea that design is about “upward mobility,” reframing it instead as access, self-knowledge, and environments that reflect inner growth rather than status alone.


Italy as a culture of makersLiving in Milan has sharpened his appreciation for Italian design’s deep respect for craft, family-run production, and material knowledge passed down through generations.


What’s contemporary now: the human touchIn a digital, accelerated world, Asad argues that the most contemporary thing is work shaped by human skill, physical effort, and deep commitment to craft, things technology cannot replicate.

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For our first episode of 2026, we sit down with Kyle Hagler and Emil Wilbekin for a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation at the intersection of Native Son, culture, and media. We begin with formative histories shaped by strong women, faith, and instinct, before tracing how both have navigated long careers defined by pivots, visibility, and cultural responsibility. From Emil’s journey through magazine leadership to founding Native Son, to Kyle’s perspective on power, representation, and stewardship within fashion, the conversation explores what it means to build influence without losing yourself. Together, they reflect on community beyond branding, legacy without chasing legacy, and why staying contemporary today requires clarity, courage, and a willingness to exist fully in complexity.

“A lot of my success came from haphazard decision-making based on instinct, not some grand plan. I followed the moment and figured it out later.” - Kyle Hagler

“Native Son was never about nightlife or crisis. It was about creating space where we could see ourselves reflected with dignity.” - Emil Wilbekin

Episode Highlights:


Beginnings that explain everythingEmil reflects on being adopted at birth and raised by radically cultured, spiritually grounded Black parents, while Kyle traces the imprint of a brilliant young mother who negotiated her way through systems not built for her and brought him along for the ride.


Strong women as original architectureNot a theme, a fact. Both credit women with shaping their confidence, ethics, ambition, and emotional literacy long before any career took form.


The professional pivot, demystifiedReinvention is not indulgence, it is survival. Emil maps his evolution across media, teaching, faith, and founding Native Son. Kyle frames adaptability as the only real form of security.


Safety, redefinedKyle’s assertion lands quietly but firmly: safety does not live in institutions or titles, it lives in your ability to navigate turbulence and keep moving.


Spirituality as infrastructure, not ornamentEmil speaks to prayer and meditation as daily practice and social responsibility. Kyle shares a later awakening forged through loss, illness, and uncertainty, arriving at calm through surrender.


A very New York origin storyThe Octagon in the 90s, Helmut Lang uniforms, early shade, and worlds colliding. Friendship eventually sealed not by proximity, but by shared obsession, precision, and care.


Doing the work before knowing the impactEmil reflects on Vibe as cultural moment-making understood only in hindsight. Kyle recalls realizing his influence only once others named it, while he was simply doing the job.


The birth of Native SonAn India retreat, a voice, Baldwin on a bookshelf. A mission emerges to create space for Black gay, queer, and gender nonconforming lives beyond nightlife, crisis, or erasure.


Progress and backlash, side by sideVisibility expands while political resistance hardens. Both argue that representation without ownership is fragile, and that DEI without equity is noise.


What feels contemporary now Fearless self-definition. Living in nuance. Building community that can hold contradiction, accountability, and becoming, without waiting for permission.

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Angelo Flaccavento has long been one of fashion’s most distinctive critical voices — sharp yet empathetic, rigorous yet imaginative, always willing to question his own certainties. In this conversation, he traces his path from a Sicilian childhood spent absorbing magazines in boutique backrooms to becoming a writer whose clarity and candor designers both fear and admire.

We discuss the formative power of self-doubt, the responsibility of the critic in an era shaped by branding and algorithms, and why genuine surprise has become fashion’s rarest commodity. Angelo reflects on taste as a lifelong education, the tension between fantasy and reality, and the importance of staying fluid rather than defined in a moment obsessed with categorization.

“I’m a dreamer, but not an escapist. Fantasy has to somehow crash to the ground in order to become reality.” - Angelo Flaccavento 

Episode Highlights:


A Sicilian childhood shaped by boutiques and early fashion literacy Angelo grew up in Ragusa surrounded by family-run boutiques at the height of Italy’s fashion boom. Magazines, Versace dresses, Guy Bourdin images, and the glamour of the early ’80s became his first education in style and visual culture.


Discovering i-D and turning Ragusa into his personal London Getting a subscription to i-D as a teenager becomes a defining moment. He reads each issue obsessively, treating it as a window into a world he hasn’t yet reached — the foundation of his sharp, culturally attuned eye.


From aspiring designer to critic: finding the right medium Though he once dreamed of being a designer, he realized he was more drawn to ideas, imagery, and interpretation. Writing became his path, encouraged by teachers who sensed his voice before he did.


A voice that evolves rather than settles Angelo talks about tone and style as living entities — shaped by constraints, sharpened by editors, and never fixed in place. He values clarity, concision, and atmosphere, always pushing himself toward more precision.


Doubt as a creative engine He sees doubt not as insecurity but as momentum, calling it “the essence of progress.” Self-questioning keeps him open, curious, and resistant to stagnation.


Criticism as decoding, not destruction For Angelo, the critic’s role is to cut through PR storytelling and help readers understand what they’re actually seeing. He believes in honesty delivered with generosity — critique as illumination, not cruelty.


Maintaining integrity in a political, PR-driven industry He speaks openly about the emotional and professional navigation required each season, from access issues to difficult conversations, and why seeing shows live is essential to telling the truth.


Fashion’s power to surprise Angelo celebrates the rare, electric moments when a show shifts the mood of the entire industry — reminders of why fashion still matters and how a collection can rewire the cultural conversation.


Taste as instinct refined over a lifetime For him, taste is a mix of instinct and education — shaped by art history, architecture, vertical lines, trial and error, and everything one has ever seen. Taste is biography turned into perspective.


What is contemporary now: resisting definition Angelo concludes that the most contemporary stance is fluidity — refusing to let algorithms, labels, or nostalgia define us, and staying open enough to see the world anew.

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