'House of Slay' Finds Their Power

With over 9,000 attacks on Asian and Pacific Islanders since the onset of COVID-19, five friends decided to band together to combat this growing trend, and combat they did. Kapow! PSSH! Blam! went the fists of designers Prabal Gurung and Phillip Lim, plus Laura Kim of Monse and Oscar de la Renta, influencer Tina Leung, and restaurateur Ezra William—all of whom have acquired magical powers in their comic series House of Slay. 

Through months of long walks on the West Side Highway of New York City, the friends who slay and happen to be proudly Asian (#Slaysians) developed a social media campaign to bring AAPI discrimination to the forefront of social discourse. It was a hit. 

After looking for a way to expand their outreach the campaign took a different turn: a comic book as an outlet for racism-induced outrage where fear turned into fearlessness. From there, the team partnered with Einhorn’s Epic Productions, a comic-book production company that focuses on “underserved fandoms,” to create old-school comic heroes meets digital metaverse for completing their mission. 

Now 10 issues in, with a new episode debuting on Thursdays via Tapas, the gang have acquired their powers, and are ready to take on the mysterious, evil man to defend against racism and bigotry. Each of their powers—Gurung is an empath, Williams controls the weather, Lim is impervious to attacks, Kim can teleport, and Leung is telekinetic—are stronger when they work together, of course, as they are caught in a dramatic showdown on the red carpet no less.

Here, L'OFFICIEL speaks with two House of Slay founders to expand on what power means to them, and the lessons you can learn all whilst serving absolute dynamite looks. 

L'O: What's a lesson that everyone can learn from House of Slay?

PRABAL GURUNG: Individually one can create noise, but collectively we can start a revolution. The first step of building a community of revolutionaries is to align people with intentions, purpose, and integrity that includes everyone who understands the world is stronger in color.

PHILLIP LIM: Everyone has their own unique, but equally important story.  What we have in common is the story about not fitting in, we can use this commonality as a way for us to understand and connect with one another.  So, separately we can be broken, but together we form a fist of unity and can build a house that welcomes all.

L'O: Can you share about your characters' superpowers? What are they, and how did you choose them?

PL: My superpower is [being] bullet-proof in order to protect and shield me from harm—like the canopy of a forest. I chose it because of my natural personality trait of being the "protector,"  the one that friends and family seek advice from, a safe place to talk/ listen, and solace.  Also the translation of my name in Chinese means "Peaceful Mighty Forest"—it felt like a natural fit.

PG: I have the power of telepathy with the ability to control and read others' emotions and minds. My cape can change colors to match my powers. One thing that fascinates me the most about human beings is the choice. Why do people choose certain things? Be it people, place, action, intention, employing empathy or not, to go to war or amass extreme wealth for themselves at the cost of so many human lives? These are all the things that fascinate me. Why do we choose to become who we are today? And, one thing that I have always dreamed of is being invisible and reading people's minds so that I can influence them to do good rather than harm. All these leaders of the world, political or not, who have made our world a divisive world to live in, my dream is to read their minds, whisper in their ears, and change their minds to do good. Make them feel that the right decision they took was their ideas. That is the way to get things done with megalomaniacs. Make them think that all the adulation and applause resulting from their "good work" is their own idea.