ALTU Debuts Collection Honoring NYC Photographer Alvin Baltrop

ALTU and Alvin Baltrop are partnering for their first ever capsule, a limited-edition collaboration memorializing the iconic work of the late Bronx-born photographer. Also partnering with Third Streaming, which is a global consultancy specializing in artist-centered initiatives and the steward of Baltrop’s Legacy projects, the main goal of this partnership is to raise awareness of and funding for The Alvin Baltrop Trust. Proceeds from the sale go towards the preservation of thousands of never-before-seen images.

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Sensuality, eroticism, and love are the main features of this collection, which pays tribute to Baltrop’s groundbreaking photography, which has been notably under-appreciated until recently. The photographer’s portraits were an essential portrayal of underground gay and queer culture in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. His Piers series (c.1975 to 1986), in which he captured the creative experimentation and sexual explorations that animated the neglected waterfront between Greenwich Village and Chelsea, being his most influential. 

This visionary ALTU x Baltrop capsule partnership highlights some of Baltrop’s more surprising and lesser known images, featuring quietly erotic nudes and subversive city scenes in black and white and little-before-seen color photography, where you can see hands with luminous lit fingertips, curved spines underneath red lights, and a lone motorcycle is mounted on the grill of a truck cruising the empty streets of the West Side amongst others.

A reflection of those images, the ALTU x Alvin Baltrop collection features many of the brand’s iconic staples including cropped leather jackets, oversized leather pants, hoodies, and soft crewnecks with the ultimate goal being to remain committed to its mission to celebrate LGBTQ+ artists and creatives through collaborations and special projects, ALTU brings Baltrop’s work to the forefront of contemporary conversation while making it available to all gender presentations and expressions.

Proceeds from the ALTU x Alvin Baltrop Collection will help fund the preservation and digitization of Baltrop’s brilliant archive, making the unseen seen, bringing the shadows to light. You can shop the collection exclusively at ALTU.world.