Tim Head

Palantir's merch feels like the endpoint in streetwear's evolution, which started with young kids in urban areas — mostly ethnic minorities from low-income families — creating their own style from the ground up. Over time, that aesthetic was co-opted by luxury brands seeking "authenticity." And now, by a surveillance company seeking cultural capital. Streetwear used to be an aesthetic defined by the ground-up by people were disempowered in political and economic life, but engaged in actual street culture. Now it's an aesthetic dictated from the top down by giant corporations with no conenction to such cultures. And used by political and economic elites who want to appear as outsiders.