Chris Brown Jacket Designer Speaks: “That Guy Doesn’t F*ckin’ Know Who Cro-Mags Are”

We were shocked but mildly amused to see Chris Brown — and then Rihanna — wearing a spikey leather jacket adorned with Municipal Waste, Cro-Mags and Suicidal Tendencies patches. Turns out we weren’t the only ones: the jacket’s designer, Noel Austin of DNA Fashion Designs, was just as surprised as we were.

The intrepid journalists at Metal Insider decided to reach out to Austin to get his scoop on the brouhaha. And here’s what he said:

I about shit myself when I saw Chris Brown with my jacket that said “Cro-Mags” on it. That guy doesn’t fuckin’ know who Cro-Mags are.

I didn’t sell [the jacket] to him! Do you really think Chris Brown goes online and buys his own clothes? He doesn’t even write his own music.

BURN.

Austin’s own personal story is a helluva lot more interesting than Brown’s. Austin used to make his living mutilating his body for the public eye with suspension, beds of nails, eating lightbulbs and that sort of thing in the Jim Rose Sideshow Circus sideshow. He says he wound up in fashion by accident:

I’m 40 years old, an old punk rocker, a single parent, and with not much of an education. I’d always made everyone’s costumes onstage and made my own clothes, and I had a couple people offer to buy jackets off my back. At first, I was like “fuck you, you’re not punk rock, I’m not selling you my jacket.’ But when I almost lost my place to live, the next time someone offered to buy my jacket, I sold it to them, and a light bulb went off over my head and I realized I could stay home and take care of my family and do what I love doing. An opportunity came along, I jumped on it, and the next thing I know, celebrities are buying my shit!

Austin continues to tell Metal Insider how he feels about celebrities wearing patches of bands they’ve never heard of, his own punk rock background and more. Read the full interview here.