The walking embodiment of a third culture kid, Yannick Ilunga was born in Brussels to an Angolan mother and a Congolese father, grew up in Cape Town and he now spends most of his time between Joburg and London. Ilunga’s boundary-breaking music as Petite Noir similarly borrows influences from across the globe and the Noirwave aesthetic pioneered by him and his creative director wife, Rochelle Nembhard, is so revolutionary to be almost other worldly. Now they launch No Borders, which isn’t just the name of this clothing brand, or another slogan, it’s the way that these polymaths live. Dedicated to ‘a generation without limits’, here Ilunga talks us through the debut collection.

Tell us a little bit about No Borders.

No Borders is a brand that focuses on the extreme sides of life and what it’s like living without borders. It uses fashion and apparel as a way to explore the things that I love - art, music, extreme sports and spirituality… Ever since I was a child, I’ve been interested in the spiritual relationship between the light and the dark. This is life. You can’t get one without the other, so you might as well learn how to process them. So, with the label, I am going back to my youth and using a lot of that energy.

What makes up the debut collection?

It’s split into parts. I started with some black combed cotton t-shirts printed with ‘Marching to Heavens Gates’ and hats - these are foundational pieces of the collection. Kind of like Supreme’s ‘Box Logo’ T-shirt, they’re vital to No Borders and to building its culture. The next few items of the collection will launch next month. Very exciting!

What’s the ethos behind it?

No Borders believes in breaking the rules and was created to hold space for those that feel like they can’t. Most people can’t say things that artists and brands have the freedom to say - good or bad – so we’re here to motivate those that feel like the system is draining or taking advantage of them.

All of the pieces are made with some kind of resistance in mind. Whether it’s taking a stand against hate, racism, or abuse of any kind, that energy is put into the creation of the garments. Because we’ve all been on the receiving end of that negativity, I transmute it and turn it into something positive!

Being from the DRC, but never really living there, has also been an entire experience that is basically the main influence for No Borders. You can’t let other people’s opinions get to you too much because people have a lot to say.

Can you tell us a little about your design process?

Designing for me has been a lifelong journey. I’ve always been into fashion but never knew how to focus on it properly and didn’t really have the time to do so, so it ended up coming second to music. But I enjoy putting meaning into things that are kind of losing it. I hand draw a lot of the graphic t-shirts as I feel like that is the best way to really get a humanised and natural vibe. I love computers but they often give a very perfect depiction of whatever it is that you are creating. The process has been very fun so far.

What was on your moodboard for this collection in particular?

I’ve taken things that I used to be into, or things that I loved in my youth, and that still bring me so much joy to this day - like certain artists or images but also just vibes. I love using my intuition, it can be like taking a risk and that’s really exciting to me but there is also the element of “surity” and that is what I want to build on whether that’s as a musician, a designer or an artist.

Read our interview with Petite Noir from Issue 1 here.

Photography Gemma Shephard
Creative direction Rochelle Nembhard
Model Tamara Moeng
Words Miriam Bouteba

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Published on 14/05/2021