June Ambrose is an architect of culture-shifting looks. Any hip-hop artist that came up during the ‘90s likely has a music video with Ambrose’s touch, from Missy Elliott’s inflatable suit for 1997’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” to the futuristic silver armor Busta Rhymes dons in 1999’s "What's It Gonna Be?!”
In tandem with her role as JAY-Z’s personal stylist — a title she’s held since 1994 — Ambrose was instrumental in curating the fashion tastes of hip-hop’s golden era and pushed forward the concept of creating elaborate costumes for music videos.
In 2018, JAY-Z — who was helping PUMA re-launch its basketball line — introduced Ambrose to then-PUMA CEO Bjørn Gulden, proposing that she be brought on board to helm the company’s expansion into women’s basketball. Ambrose was tasked with carving out a space for the WNBA in sportswear at a time when female players were rarely represented with their own products. And as a partner rather than an in-house designer, Ambrose was given creative license to be a “little bit untraditional” with her designs. Her first collection, "High Court," drew inspiration from PUMA’s ‘90s archives and debuted with a campaign featuring Breanna Stewart, Katie Lou Samuelson, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Jackie Young. Two years later, Ambrose collaborated with Stewart once again for the Stewie 1, PUMA’s first signature shoe with a WNBA player and that fall, she helmed the brand’s momentous return to New York Fashion Week.
Ambrose revealed in December that she would be departing PUMA after four years, and looks back on it as the “perfect time” to begin a new chapter.
“When you're launching a category, you don't have a point of reference,” Ambrose says. “The only thing that you can do is to approach it in a very new and nuanced way.”
PUMA product was already celebrated for its performance capabilities but lacked gym-to-street versatility, so Ambrose dedicated herself to bridging a gap between sportswear and contemporary street culture. WNBA players served as the faces of the collection, but when it came to seeding products, she looked to influencers in the streetwear space. The 2022 NYFW runway show, entitled “Futrograde,” imitated styling techniques from street culture, such as voluminous pants and layered puffer vests, while nodding to PUMA’s heritage through striped tracksuits and textures like suede and velour. To further the synergy of Ambrose’s vision, AC Milan and Dapper Dan contributed designs to the runway, and Usain Bolt walked it. The show summed up the designer’s outlook for PUMA as a maker of timeless, high-fashion sportswear that looks ahead without entirely abandoning the brand’s heritage.
As her contract with PUMA approached its end, Ambrose opted to move on from the brand rather than renew, saying that she felt like she had “come full circle” with the goals she had set starting in the role. After launching her final collection for PUMA, a women’s motorsport line in collaboration with Scuderia Ferrari, the designer felt she had fulfilled her goal of thoughtfully moving PUMA into women’s sports.
“We did something that wasn't the norm and tapped into street culture in a way that was authentic and paid homage to its tradition,” Ambrose says. “I felt like it was time well served and I wanted to get back to some grassroots stuff.”
Ambrose always has a handful of projects underway at all times. She recently returned from a trip to Japan with JAY-Z, where she joined the rapper on a few press days for his champagne brand Ace of Spades and opted to stay 10 additional days to take meetings for her own work. Back in New York, where she grew up and keeps her main residence, Ambrose is far from resting – her hands are full with creative directing all of the costume design for Elliott's upcoming 'Out of this World’ tour. It’s the singer’s first-ever headlining tour (yes, really) and she’ll be joined by Ciara and Busta Rhymes, both of whom Ambrose is also dressing.
She’s worked with Elliott more than any other artist – having styled all but a handful of her videos – and the two have settled into a fluid, collaborative relationship. The designer may know the sort of outfits Elliott feels comfortable in but says she and the singer constantly push each other out of one another’s comfort zones.
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A poster for the tour previews layered leather with silver and bronze adornments, and Ambrose describes the aesthetic of the tour as “post-apocalyptic” mixed with “Afro-fusion.” While specific details on the tour are still under wraps, the design process harks back to some of Ambrose’s work for PUMA: she’s looking at how clothes look on the artists and their backup dancers as they move around the stage and continuously tweaking the designs, taking into account many of the same factors pertinent to performance wear.
Part of what makes an Ambrose-designed outfit so timeless is that her practice constantly builds on itself. In the “Juniverse,” as she calls it, hip-hop, sports and high-fashion and runway all inform one another. She’ll take a fashion in ‘90s or early aughts streetwear culture and swap out materials to turn into a piece of athletic gear or play with proportions to elevate it for the runway. Everything is treated as a potential source of inspiration – for instance, she also draws from anime, particularly when considering the dimensions of a garment.
“I’m working on the next chapter of my ‘book of June’ so I can look at my career another 30 years later and have all these projects represent different stages,” she notes.
Before the tour even commences, Ambrose will probably be in the throes of another project. She doesn’t want her legacy to be tied to one specific artist or brand and lately, is finding herself inspired by the new generation of rap artists.
As for if she would take on another creative director role at a brand, the designer said “absolutely,” as long as the deal could give her as much creative freedom as PUMA did.
“I have so much more steam. I feel like I'm in my 20s creatively and I’m just as enthusiastic and creative as I was back then,” Ambrose says. “I'm still a student. I'm still hungry.”
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