Australian Fashion Week: Dan Single opens up about near-fatal fall
Sydney creative Dan Single has spoken at length for the first time about his near-fatal fall from a Paris hotel balcony in March 2017, opening up to an audience for his return to Australian Fashion Week.
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Sydney creative Dan Single has opened up about his near-fatal fall from a Paris hotel balcony in March 2017.
The 2017 accident saw Single, the Australian fashion designer renowned for co-founding the streetwear label Ksubi, plummet four storeys, landing feet-first.
Single said he “died for ten minutes” in the accident, and his miraculous survival caused him to re-evaluate his life.
The designer told the story at Australian Fashion Week, with his friend Jack Manning Bancroft from AIME Mentoring reading his first person account of the accident to the group of stunned VIPs.
“In 2017 I fell out of a four storey building in Paris and I died for 10 minutes,” Manning Bancroft said on Single’s behalf as the creative sat nearby.
“It made me stop, slow down and think about what I want in my life,” Single told Confidential.
“I had a chance to start fresh and I have used that second chance to be of service and help to inspire.”
In what has already been touted as the coolest Fashion Week experience, Single launched his new book – The Diary of a Naughtie Kid – in front of hundreds of his closest friends and family at Carriageworks on Tuesday.
“This is about a little snapshot in time when it was a magical moment to be alive, a time when it felt like there were no rules,” Single said.
“I was lucky enough to travel and meet some fantastic and inspiring people and this is about them. I had a camera with me all the time. So I had 90,000 photos on a hard drive and a box of pictures. Love letters, fan letters, hate mail, newspaper clippings and I thought, ‘why have I been carrying this stuff around the world with me for 20 years? Then, it all made sense.
“I made this book for my son, Justice, who is way too big now and for the next generation to show them you don’t need permission or training to create.”
The book launch coincided with Ksubi’s 25th anniversary. The label was actually called Tsubi when it launched.
“Twenty five year ago we had a stall at Fashion Week with four pairs of jeans,” he said.
“Then 24 years ago were about to do our rat show. It was George’s (fellow co-founder George Gorrow) idea. We were at Revolver one night late at night and I said, ‘what model are we going to send out first?’ He said, ‘we should send down rats’.”
“Benny my brother, he got on the phone and spent months finding rats and we found 169 rats that were bred for snake food.”
“One of them died on the runway after having the best day of his rat life ever.”
Single remains one of the country’s most cult creatives and currently works in the realms of music, art and fashion.
“I have always been mad curious,” he said.
“I want to experience all of the experiences and feel all the feelings. This curiosity has led me to be a part of some magical moments, in magical places with magical people.”
“I like to think of myself and my crew as a bunch of beautiful weirdos and this book is for them.
“It is not a life story, it is not even close … this captures a brief moment in time, the noughties. A moment in time when everything felt new, like there were no rules.”
Kellie Hush CEO AFC Australian Fashion Week said she was excited Single chose this year to make his return to AFW.
“When Dan called me a few months ago I was really excited to hear that he was planning to come back to Australian Fashion Week,” she said.
“Dan and the Ksubi team were absolute groundbreaking creatives.
“He told me about his incredible archive and how he was publishing a book and how his vision was to bring that all to life at AFW in a Dan Single-way.”
“I was on board immediately. And so was the Powerhouse who worked with Dan to create the film.
“Tsubi/Ksubi changed the tone of Australian Fashion Week and our industry so to be able to celebrate that was an incredible opportunity we couldn’t miss.”
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Originally published as Australian Fashion Week: Dan Single opens up about near-fatal fall
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