MEET ELGAR JOHNSON
THE CREATIVE COUNCIL:
The editor-in-chief of CircleZeroEight talks sports, authenticity and starting out on his own.
You know someone’s ballsy when they quit a dream job – fashion director at GQ – to start their own mag. From scratch. In the middle of a pandemic. Well, that’s exactly what Elgar Johnson did.
Rewind to the peak of the pandemic – and those weird moments in between lockdowns – and Johnson was at London’s iconic art festival, Frieze, when he had an idea. “I love sport, obsess over sport, and I wanted to find a way to incorporate the things I love, as well as art, music, fashion,” he explains. So, Johnson quit the big job. “It’s definitely the riskiest thing I’ve done… but I think you have to take those chances. We were going through lockdown, and it just felt like the right opportunity.”
The gamble paid off. Fuelled by his aforementioned love of sports – Liverpool FC in particular – and music, the result - a print magazine dubbed CircleZeroEight - is a thing of beauty. In its first year of publication the likes of skater Boo Johnson, footballer Declan Rice and boxer Ramla Ali have all graced the cover. While this month sees the launch of the CircleZeroEight website.
Doing things his way, in his time, is a recurring theme in Johnson’s CV. In his own words, an unconventional choice for the role at GQ, Johnson bought a relaxed, sportswear aesthetic to the title in a time of strict tailoring and suits, fresh from his stint at iD.
“I don’t know what they thought they were getting, maybe it was like a black James Bond or something,” Johnson laughs, when describing turning up in shorts on his first day at Condé Nast. “But everyone was really great about it. I think the editor-in-chief was a bit weirded out by the huge Liverpool FC tattoo on my leg, wearing shorts when everyone was wearing suits. But that’s what I brought to that magazine, I think, a sense of relaxation to the way people dressed.”
Johnson has been a part of the streetwear shift from subculture to mainstream luxury. “I think there’s a bit of snobbery towards what I do,” he says. “I think the whole sportswear/streetwear moment – before it became so popular – I think people thought it was for a very certain type of person.” Johnson credits the late Virgil Abloh, creative director of Off-White, for being one of the key players to change the game but highlights that bringing sportspeople into the fashion world – as CircleZeroEight has - has had its challenges too.
“I’ve always grown up around streetwear, around sportswear, and it’s not because of my background, it’s not because I’m rich or poor or whatever. I’ve always worn it,” explains Johnson. “But I think it was definitely hard knocking down doors, getting people to change their minds about sports people, as well as sportswear, as well as streetwear.”
There have been other challenges too, breaking into an industry dominated by white voices. “I think also being a person of colour – I think it’s always been quite challenging in this industry and I think it is improving, there’s still a lot to do, but I think it’s getting better,” he says. “It’s a double whammy of things, I mean, looking the way I look and also liking the things I like. It takes a bit of time for people to get used to it, but they’re going to have to [laughs].”
Even his OG role in the business came via an unusual route. It was an encounter with stylist Simon Foxton, when he was at a Nick Knight casting for a modelling gig, that inspired him to get into styling, deciding he wanted to be behind, not in front, of the camera. He ‘bugged him’ for years and finally landed a gig as his assistant. “He’s the most important person I think I’ve learnt from,” states Johnson.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO CHASE WHAT PEOPLE THINK IS COOL. - ELGAR JOHNSON
So, what would he like to teach the next generation coming up? “You don’t have to chase what people think is cool. Maybe when you’re a bit younger you feel like that is necessary, but I don’t think anyone’s ever been able to define what ‘cool’ is, so I wouldn’t bother trying to."
Johnson’s latest addition to his CV? Joining The Creative Council, a next-generation advisory board filled with six of the most exciting voices in the industry. Over the coming months, the group, including stylist Leah Abbott, artist Slawn and hair stylist Issac Poleon, will be curating a series of projects for FLANNELS X that tap into their area of expertise.
For Johnson, that means the launch of a 48-hour CircleZeroEight exhibition with artist Corbin Shaw at FLANNELS X. From 3rd to 4th May 2023, the artist will present work from his time spent with a class of boys from Aylesbury Grammar School. Titled ‘For The Love of the Lads,’ the work examines modern day masculinity, flipping the narrative by using Shaw’s signature reworked flags.
Something that Johnson is doing time and again through his work. When asked what he hopes to be his legacy, he replies: “That I made sport not common. Because at one point everyone thought it was and it was really upsetting to think that because I liked a certain thing, I was from a certain class, and that’s all completely turned on its head now. So, they were wrong, I was right.”
We can’t wait to see what else we learn from Elgar Johnson. Watch this space – as they say.