The daily grind is full of challenges that&rsquo;s why Benny Andallo makes hats that function like armor. They&rsquo;re laced with humor and can empower any character.

Born in London from immigrant parents, Benny Andallo grew up in a Filipino household that instilled the value of grit and pragmatism. Back then, fashion seemed like a frivolous idea. It took a long time for Benny&rsquo;s mother to warm up to his profession. Nonetheless, she supported Benny&rsquo;s interests and sent him to Central Saint Martins to study menswear. Afterward, he pursued a master&rsquo;s degree he didn&rsquo;t finish. Fortunately, he was better off being schooled by the streets.
 When work dried up, he had to overcome the frustration by entertaining himself. He was short on cash and couldn&rsquo;t afford new clothes so he experimented on creating things for personal use. &ldquo;When you get something new for yourself, you feel a bit fresher and more powerful,&rdquo; he says. The hats slowly gained traction when he posted them on Instagram. Count Rihanna in; of course, the world naturally followed.
 Despite the celebrity approval, he&rsquo;s wary of the hype. He admits he&rsquo;s a bit hard on himself. &ldquo;I have to be my harshest critic because I work alone. I&rsquo;m always pushing to be better. In times of achievement, I move on quickly. It&rsquo;s always about the next thing on how to sustain or develop my craft.&rdquo;
 Fresh from his collaboration with Junya Watanabe MAN for its Fall/Winter 2022 collection, Benny is psyched to succeed. His inspirations ranging from the trashy pop style of the 2000s to the timeless stride of British uncles mesh perfectly with the show&rsquo;s soundtrack &mdash; Jamiroquai&rsquo;s Virtual Insanity &mdash; a hymn that pinpoints the human foible of twisting technologies for needless causes. It has a similar tone to his work that cloaks social commentary with a wink of wit.

How did your collaboration with Junya Watanabe happen? I got a message on Instagram from the collection planner last November... I really thought it was a fake message. I was like, this can&rsquo;t be for real. I was really excited about it but a bit wary about whether it was true or not. I did a bit of stalking to see if the emails were legit. I didn&rsquo;t know anything about the concept, but they made it very clear that my hats were going to be a huge element of it. I think they used four and maybe another five or six from my personal designs and archive. It was an amazing opportunity because they don&rsquo;t really collaborate with a lot of smaller designers.
 Are you influenced by Japanese things like cosplay or kawaii culture? The [Japanese] always appreciate color, vibrancy, and energy. London can be quite gray at times. I originally made hats for myself for partying as a contrast to the city. I&rsquo;ve always been a fan of video games and costumes in video games. I&rsquo;ve always gravitated towards energy and loudness. I used to play fighting games like Tekken, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat. I was obsessed with the costumes. I always used to draw these characters. I would get in trouble because when I was in school, they would always be like, &ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;re drawing naked women?&rdquo; I was just always obsessed with the fantasy of dressing a bit like warriors and something that gives you more power. That&rsquo;s how I feel with my hats.
 You consider yourself an adult toymaker because hats are like toys. That said, what kind of adult are you? How do you play? What are your favorite adult toys? Whenever I&rsquo;m making hats, I&rsquo;m always listening to music. I&rsquo;m always dancing around. That&rsquo;s how I play. I just love going out... People can see me as quite a serious person, but I have a silly sensibility that can be sarcastic. I have this cackle. I&rsquo;m quite loud. I&rsquo;m singing all the time. That helps me get through my day. The contrast balances the seriousness of building a business and surviving. I find it quite ridiculous that I make money from making silly hats. Favorite adult toys? Oh, I don&rsquo;t know. That&rsquo;s such a good question though. [laughs]

Benny Andallo

You&rsquo;re serious but also silly. Can you tell me more about how contrast drives your work? As you get older, there&rsquo;s this kind of uniform &mdash; having to dress corporate or conservative to fit within the working environment. I was quite anti-that. My dad was like, &ldquo;When you get a job, you can finally wear a suit.&rdquo; I was like, &ldquo;I would never want to wear a suit.&rdquo; I&rsquo;m obsessed with contrasts in general. I don&rsquo;t mind wearing a suit, but I can wear it with one of my silly hats. It&rsquo;s confusing. I like that confusion. I enjoy it. It&rsquo;s such a good conversation starter.
 You studied menswear, and now you&rsquo;re into making hats. Would you consider designing apparel again? Yeah, that&rsquo;s why I say I&rsquo;m not a traditional milliner because I didn&rsquo;t train on making traditional hats. I trained on making clothes. So, I just adapted my skills from creating clothes onto hats. Naturally, when I was younger, my inspirations came from video games or costumes, and the energy of London...I was born in London. There&rsquo;s good energy of cultures coming together. But even though I&rsquo;m in London, as soon as I walk into my house, I&rsquo;m in the Philippines. My house is very traditionally decorated Filipino.
 What are your Filipino influences? Hustling, being ballsy, and going for things because you&rsquo;ve got nothing to lose at all. There&rsquo;s always pressure about having a better life in some way, like gaining generational wealth... Family is such a big thing for me because it keeps me stable and grounded. Fashion &mdash; it&rsquo;s great like people gravitate towards my work like celebrities, but the thing is, this is a job, and we&rsquo;re trying to sustain it. It&rsquo;s something that seems so unattainable for anyone who wasn&rsquo;t white because I live in a white country. I think it&rsquo;s nice that I&rsquo;ve carved out my own scenario of being within the fashion industry and being Filipino, and doing it in a very untraditional way.
 Describe your muse. My muse doesn&rsquo;t have to be a specific person, but I think it&rsquo;s more of an attitude of the person. I really appreciate anyone who can persevere through hardship and still have fun, respect, and positivity.
 I like that you use the word spice a lot. Tell me about your statement: spice your head up. I say that word so much. I think this is very Filipino. Like, you know, when you see relatives or friends at parties, and you look really good, and want to take photos all of the time. I see that as a spicy attitude. Everyone gets so excited. It&rsquo;s giving off really good energy. With London being quite gray &mdash; it&rsquo;s the diverse people all around that give the spicy energy...It&rsquo;s relatable. It&rsquo;s attractive. It&rsquo;s just positive. You just kind of want to gravitate towards that.

As you get older, there&rsquo;s this kind of uniform &mdash; having to dress corporate or conservative to fit within the working environment. I was quite anti-that.

Street Fighter: Benny Andallo Is Winning the Fashion Game by Making Power Hats

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