Mark Stefanos
ComplexCon marked a decade of sneakers, streetwear and hip-hop by staging its 10th edition in downtown Los Angeles on Oct. 3 and 4, after two years in Las Vegas and an early run in Long Beach. Shoppers packed the Los Angeles Convention Center by day, and at night, the crowds moved next door to Crypto.com Arena for the live show.
“When we created ComplexCon 10 years ago, the idea was simple: take everything people were discovering and obsessing over online and bring it IRL,” Complex CEO and ComplexCon Co-Founder Aaron Levant tells us. “A decade later, that idea has grown into something much bigger — a global meeting place for the people, brands, artists and communities shaping what’s next.
“ComplexCon has become this generation’s World’s Fair, bringing together music, style, art, food and ideas in a way that lets us see, in real time, what people are connecting with and where things are headed. Bringing it back to California for our 10th anniversary, and to Los Angeles for the first time, felt like the perfect way to mark this milestone. LA is foundational to Complex’s DNA, and this weekend was both a celebration of the last 10 years and a glimpse at where we’re going next.”
Playboi Carti and Fragment Design founder Hiroshi Fujiwara were co-artistic directors, and Carti’s Opium label took over the music bill. Ken Carson headlined Saturday and pulled Carti out for an unannounced cameo. Sunday belonged to Carti — Ye opened the set with him, joining for the first three songs, including “Carnival.” Destroy Lonely and Carson came out later, and North West appeared onstage too. That afternoon, Ye and Bianca Censori had already walked the marketplace with Carti.
Limited drops ran all weekend: Fragment collaborations with the Dodgers, Pokémon and Disney, a small release of Lil Yachty’s Concrete Boys Air Force 1s, and a Foot Locker and Timberland booth built out as a New York subway car.
The weekend didn’t go off without a hitch — on Saturday afternoon, a fight broke out on a street near the convention center and four people were injured, Chicago rapper Lucki among them. LAPD is investigating the case as an attempted murder. No arrests have been announced. ComplexCon said the incident happened outside the event.
Aside from that, ComplexCon proved to be the cultural center of the weekend for LA’s urban community, with conversations stemming from the weekend continuing to today. Housing it in LA’s core felt like the natural fit.