NSFW: Malcolm Bracey of Pornhoodies
Photo by Alex Kiander
I remember the first time I saw a homie wearing a Pornhoodie and asking, “Wait, does that say ‘porn’?” Last year, I met Malcolm Bracey, the founder of Pornhoodies, at a music video shoot he styled, where I ended up wearing much more explicit merchandise than the hoodie with the word. Despite being in the age of OnlyFans and sex work advocation, seeing porn on clothing is exciting to some but shocking to others, which is what makes the brand so enticing. Established in 2014, in the Instagram’s bio, Malcolm brands himself as “THE PERSON WHO MADE PUTTING PORN ON CLOTHES A THING.™️” Since then, numerous brands including Dollskill have mimicked the concept in their own clothing.
But Malcolm has even more to offer than the clothes alone. With a background in painting, DJing, and photography, the multidisciplinary artist combines elements of art galleries, live music, sex work, and fashion to create his iconic Pornhoodies fashion shows. Now with a share in a new warehouse and venue in Los Angeles, his shows are bound to make an appearance again soon.
I was able to sit down with Malcolm and discuss the brand’s creation despite his devout religious upbringing, how he made a name for himself in Los Angeles, and how the workings of the underground scene led to the legendary Rico Nasty, sporting a hoodie.
You can find Malcolm on Instagram on his personal account or the Pornhoodies account, whichever hasn’t been deleted yet (thanks Zuckerberg!) or shop the site.
Why porn?
I don't know. It’s just something that happened. There’s a lot of art that went on in my family, like my dad painting naked women, that somehow sank into the head without me knowing. But there wasn’t any initial reason besides that I like naked people, I guess.
When was the brand established?
2014, that's when I made the first Pornhoodie.
And you sew all of them?
Yeah, I used to. I don't anymore but every once in a while. I sewed one last night because I had an idea I had to get out and nobody else was around.
As of right now you're a one man business. So what are the pros and cons to that so far?
I essentially do everything myself. But I have a lot more help than I used to now, a lot of my friends help me out. The pros of that is I get to have complete control over what I'm doing. The cons are that things are always late. I don’t get people's orders out on time. But it's getting better.
You have a variety of body types in your shoots and on merch. Is it intentional to make it inclusive for all body types?
Yeah, it's intentional now, but wasn't before, just something that happened. I have to take note of things that I do now, but I just believe that most of the things that I do are coming from a good place. I have to put my faith in that first. I don't want to have to depend on what I'm supposed to be doing for my brand, just because I don't want to have to keep up with people. ‘Cause then they get disappointed.
Has the popularization of OnlyFans influenced the brand at all?
Yeah, I think so, because everybody's a little less scared to do explicit content, when in 2014 when I had porn on a sweatshirt, it was like I was the craziest person in the world. And now I seem a little less crazy.
Photography by John Greer
There's controversy around porn and the ethicality of it. Would you say that Pornhoodies is fairly ethical?
There's always gonna be, I feel like, “good and bad” views with sex work. Because with sex, it's such a deep thing. Especially having a very religious upbringing, I really have a skewed perception on sex. Which is really funny since I do what I do. But yeah, it's kind of embedded in me. And there's certain things that I have to do to try to erase a lot of what I was taught in order to do what I think is going to be better for mankind eventually.
You were raised religious?
Yeah, super. My dad was Muslim. My mom started off as a Jehovah's Witness then ended up being a Christian. So I was in church every Sunday and at the mosque every Friday, and every Tuesday I had Bible study. Yeah, it was a lot.
So is this shocking for your family?
You know, it should have been because of how religious they are, but they also just knew me as a person that I think they, they just allowed me to do what I wanted to, because I think they just had faith in me enough to be like, “Alright, I guess if this is the path you got to be great on then you better fucking do good at this shit.”
I remember the first time we met, you said you were from Wisconsin. Did you move to LA to pursue your artistic venture?
I guess so. There wasn't anything in Wisconsin to do. I already had art shows and kind of was as big as I could be in Wisconsin. So I figured if I could do it there, then that's not really that much of an accomplishment because it was just in Wisconsin. I wanted to see if I could do it here. And I guess it's working out here too.
Definitely. I saw Rico Nasty wearing the hoodie. How did you achieve that?
I don't know. Everybody who has a hoodie now, I kind of just talked about. I listened to Rico Nasty, a lot. Then she just happened to pop up in my life. And that's how everybody who's in my life has come up. It's just really organic and really weird at the same time. When I first came to LA I had an art show, like all paintings. I wasn't even focused on Pornhoodies like that. I was DJing and some girl came up to me and was like, “Play this Rico Nasty song.” And I was like, “Who the fuck is Rico Nasty?” I fucking played it and fell in love with her music. Then the next year, she ended up finding me through her makeup artist who bought a hoodie from me. And she wanted a hoodie.
Photo by Lexi
How did you find the art scene in LA?
I was kind of already a part of it, because I was coming back and forth. I was staying at my friend Tara's house, sleeping on her floor. She's really a part of the art and shit here since she was a photographer for Odd Future, in the early days. She just knew everybody that I needed to know, essentially. She introduced me and everybody that I know here.
There's an aspect of shock value of putting porn on a hoodie. What's the biggest criticism that you’ve faced?
Not much for the most part. The one I always remember is in New York, some lady yelled at me on the train. That was pretty funny but really intense because that was the first time that anybody ever expressed their disgust like that. I'm sure people are disgusted but most people don't say anything, they kind of just either give you a look or they really love it. There's a controversy about it for sure. It's a really private thing out in public so I think people get offended by that.
You said you were unlearning certain religious views. Has shooting porn and making the art helped you unlearn certain ideals?
Yes. At the end of the day, you gotta do what you want in life. And I think if a religion is stopping you from being yourself, then there might be a flaw in it, honestly.
Photography by John Greer
The next issue I wanted to touch on is censorship on social media, which is the biggest tool for small businesses. How have you dealt with censorship on Instagram, that's now deleting sex work accounts?
It's an ongoing fight for my Instagram. I've had it deleted, I think five times or so now. But it really fucks it up for me. That's why I created the hoodies with the letters porn on them, so that I can advertise the business on Instagram without directly showing it. It's been pretty successful because I think people like being able to support me without having an asshole on their chest.
I have the lettered porn sweatshirt and shorts. It's funny, my friends are like, does that say porn?
Yeah, it's kinda the same impact, having an asshole on your chest as having the words, which really amazes me.
So you've hosted fashion shows for the brand, but they look much bigger than a fashion show. For people who have never seen your events, how would you describe what it is, and the experience?
I don't know, it’s chaotic. Every show is different, but they're all the same in a way. I started off hosting parties and stuff. Then once I was painting, I was having art galleries. Then once I had hoodies, I was having pop ups. I was like, I need to put all of this stuff together into one. Because regular art shows are boring as fuck. People just stand around but there's a good sense of like, admiring the art, which is good. So I just took my favorite elements from each event and put it into one.
Do you have a single event where you're like, that was the best one?
I don't know, I feel like every single one, I like it more and more. But probably the first one I threw when I came [to LA] was the favorite just because I feel like it just broke the barriers, like so much shit that was going on at the time. People's minds were blown. People still come up to me and say that they've been to the first show and stuff like that.
You're now opening a space. How did you manage that? What do you envision coming out of it?
It's really crazy, ‘cause it's not exactly how I imagined it would be like. I don't own the space completely either, I own it with a group of people. It's a warehouse with a storefront. We're breaking it down into sections, because it's fucking huge. We’re putting in studios, like recording studios, green screens and all types of stuff. So we can make money there virtually, through streaming and stuff, since we're not allowed to have shows. Both me and the other people who own the space were really big on underground shows in LA. So that was like our bread and butter. Now we're just trying to maneuver through streaming and stuff and trying to figure out how to utilize it to make money and stuff. But it's gonna be really good. I think, if anything it’s gonna help us because we're gonna have streaming and everything on lock, as well as like astral shows when they're able to happen.
What's your end goal with the brand and your art in general? I know you talked about it being backed by Coca Cola. Is your goal to become an established business that partners with other businesses?
Yeah, I pretty much just want to make it as big as Coca Cola. If you hear it, you know it right away. I want to be known for not just hoodies and stuff, I want to create as much as I can. Making clothes obviously isn't even all I do. It's just something that caught on. I don't know, I just want to create and have the porn as an umbrella of things.
What are your goals for 2021?
It's hard setting goals nowadays, because I never know what's gonna happen. I just want to make the space a lot more interesting to look at. That's one of them. I want to make a lot of money. That’s the second one. Because I'm also doing all this shit broke. All my money that I make goes right back into the business and to be able to fucking live in LA. To be stable financially would be my number one goal in life.
What would you say to people just starting to pursue their creative goals?
I don't know, I'm really bad at advice. Like, kids write to me almost every day on Instagram and ask me things like that, but I never have anything to say. Sticking with something is the most important thing I know, never giving up on something. Because I mean, when I first started my shit, the people who I was around were like, “Yo, don't fucking walk around me with that shit on.” I guess if you have an idea, sticking with it is the best thing you can do, not giving up on what you believe in, as cliche as it sounds.
Buy a Pornhoodie. Make sure to follow and support the photographers offering their work: Alex Kiander, John Greer, Lexi, and Morgan. And advocate for your local sex workers!
