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Jonas Bevacqua, the co-founder and creative director of popular urban clothing company LRG, was found dead in his California home today. He was 34.
LRG was favored by ambassadors of hip hop culture like Kanye West, Cee Lo, Young Jeezy and The Roots.
In an interview with Hypebeast earlier this month, Bevacqua discussed his advice for upstarts fashion brands:
My advice to any upstart brand… is to have a partner with a lot of money, but make sure it’s smart, vested-interest money. There’s a big difference between smart money and regular money. I was lucky enough to have two business-savvy math whiz kids as partners. Know your part – if you’re the creative guy then be the creative guy, if you’re the business guy then be that guy. A lot of times people try to wear all the hats and end up doing nothing at all because they take on too many projects and nothing gets finished. Part of growing is delegating. Keep it fun. If you have to call it work then you probably shouldn’t be doing it. Don’t take it so serious, fashion is an expression. It’s an art, it’s a reflection of how you feel, it’s supposed to be fun. We’re not curing cancer, even though that would be nice. Most importantly always stay inspired or else you can get bored very easily. I’m constantly looking for new hobbies and interests to stay inspired. Source
Update I:
No official cause of death has been reported, but according to online reports Bevacqua died in his sleep yesterday (May 30) at his home in Laguna Beach, California.
Oh no! How did he die?
Don’t know him but that’s flucked up.
Yes the mobile site is back up :woot:
RIP
Mobile! I like.. Makes it alot easier to view and post.
Sounds like some good advice.
Wow.. The Good Die Young RIP!
I hate to say it, .. But I bet it was a drug overdose. Being young with all that money can always prove fatal.
Wow! So much tragedy this weekend.
He gave great sound advice.
RIP.
RIP Jonas
That was good advice.
So was it a Mysterious Death since NO DETAILS were provided
LOS ANGELES — Jonas Bevacqua, who co-founded the popular street clothing brand LRG in 1999 and presided over its rapid rise as a major fashion force among young people, was found dead Tuesday. He was 34.
Orange County sheriff’s officials said Bevacqua’s body was found in his Laguna Beach home.
“There were no obvious signs of the cause of death,” sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino told The Associated Press. He added that the county coroner would conduct an autopsy Wednesday.
Calls to LRG’s headquarters in Irvine rang unanswered.
According to the company’s Facebook page, Bevacqua and his business partner, Robert Wright, founded Lifted Research Group, known to patrons as LRG, with start-up capital raised in part from friends of Bevacqua’s adoptive father.
Bevacqua had dropped out of college and moved back home with his parents when he met Wright while working as a DJ at Southern California clubs. The two sketched out some of their earliest fashion ideas in his bedroom.
Deeply influenced by Southern California’s skateboard, surfing and hip hop culture, he said he and Wright began making clothes that reflected their interests but that no one else seemed to be providing.
“I grew up in a pretty unique environment and was exposed to a lot of different things,” he said in a 2009 interview with the Orange County Register. “I didn’t feel there was a clothing company to bridge the gap between all these different things that we were into – that spoke for that melting pot of what was going on. That’s what LRG was all about.”
By 2006, LRG had annual sales of $150 million and was named by Entrepreneur magazine as No. 5 on its list of that year’s 500 fastest growing companies. Among its popular clothing lines are Luxirie, which targets 18- to 30-year-old women, offering clothing with Western and military themes, and items such as crystal-covered jeans.
Initially a clothing company, LRG has since branched out to include sales of electronic devices, music and other items. It described itself as a “creative lifestyle” company that attempts to reflect its founders’ interests, not only in fashion but also environmental causes and other activities.
“The company is also involved in the promotion of underground recording artists and sponsors a skateboarding team,” according to its website.
In the 2009 Register interview, Bevacqua described a passionate but casual work ethic that he said drives LRG, whose headquarters includes a basketball court and skateboard half-bowl and ramp.
“No one is really a suit-and-tie-guy,” he said of LRG’s employees. “If anybody wears a suit, it’s because he wants to, not because he has to.”
Information on survivors was not immediately available for Bevacqua, who grew up in a family of eight children, seven of them adopted.
Hey Sandra I noticed you didn’t say at the end of this “wrap it up guys” like you did for Maurice last week SMH be equal to all ppl when give your opinion when ppl pass to be with the lord I had mad respect for you until your past comments I will continue to get info from this site but the like ppl in the entertainment business I respect their body of work but as ppl with motives outside of their body of work ill won’t tolerate so next time when male or female pass from unknown causes or when its not reported wait for the till your facts are gathered then when its public knowledge of their death then make ur “SHOT” of giving the public your opinion of who dies from AIDS,Cancer or any terminal diease so Sandra watch your words and you get tested also
Wow may he rest in peace at least he didn’t suffer…
WOW! That’s sad & crazy! May he Rest In Peace & his fam finds peace & comfort in this time!
Very unfortunate. R.I.P. Jonas.
I met Jonas when we were in 7th Grade at Hughes Middle School in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach, CA…we grew up together, and he was my dancing partner…we all used to dance after school B-boy, hip-hop style! (we were the ORIGINAL america’s best dance crew – me, him, T.H. C.W – the good old days) He came from a very nice family, he was one of the adopted ones of the Bevacqua clan. His parents adopted various children from different ethnic backgrounds, and they lived a few blocks over from my childhood home (where my parents still live). Jonas was an awesome friend, and his whole family was AMAZING! He did indeed pass in his sleep, and my prayers go out to the family and especially to his brother Josh. I’ll miss you Jonas.