In I Love Boosters, fashion is political, retail workers revolt & capitalism is the enemy. Here, the cast talks about Boots Riley's wildly stylish recession-era fever dream.
with a playlist of ‘00s surf-rock remixes, suffocating scents, and proximity to a very specific kind of teenage cool. Picture posters of laidback beach bonfires, the myth of effortless West Coast beauty standards, and sun-drenched exclusivity.
My manager used to openly chastise me and my fellow desperate-for-approval-and-extra-shifts colleagues for not wearing the latest denim mini, layered tanks, or “SoCal, so low” jeans. One day, she berated me in front of the rest of the staff for wearing “last season’s lace cami like a loser. ” So, during my next shift when she wasn’t looking, I boosted one.
It was my revenge for the psychological warfare of existing as a Black girl within a retail era obsessed with centering whiteness, upholding social hierarchies among the few employees of color, and the pressure to pour what little money we earned back into the problematic company. Boosting was a retail worker’s quiet rebellion — and all of these memories hit me like the cologne we had to spritz around the store every 15 minutes like clockwork when I was watchingis many things: absurdist comedy, magical realist drama, action heist adventure, and searing anti-capitalist satire.
It’s funny, bright, weird andfun. But at its core, it’s a Robin-Hood tale of a group of young women who boost from a chain of high-end retailers in Oakland called Metro Designers and sell the goods for less back to their community.
When I got to sit down with the gang, played by, I told them how triggering the movie was as a former retail worker and when I asked what advice they had for current employees dealing with a bad boss and low pay, they were quick to give advice to the girls presently going throughThe thing about fashion is that it’s a microcosm of something bigger... how many people it exploits ... to how much it costs.. to who’s making it and what the conditions are like for them.
“Get some arch support, you’re on your feet a little too long,” Paige offered, for practicality. “Hydrate,” Ackie chimed in. “For the girlies who aren’t seen on the floor, we see you too,” Liu said, referring to her days working in the back room atfolding jeans while González nodded along in solidarity. And Palmer gave the last word of advice: “Get your next job lined up.
”The five actresses’ distinct personalities were on display during our sitdown in Los Angeles, and on screen, they are uniquely electric. Palmer’s Corvette is the ringleader of the gang, grounded its antics with a genuine obsession with Metro Designers’ CEO, Christie Smith, a deliciously villainous. Corvette is a designer herself and her love of fashion is what drives her boosting business. That, and necessity.
Sade and Mariah are her ride or dies, tagging along for the mess and the felonies with unwavering loyalty. Jianhu and Violeta join the gang with their own motivations. Jianhu is a Chinese factory worker whose entire family has been exploited by the conditions in Metro Designers’ facilities. And Violeta works in the store long before Sade, Mariah, and Corvette show up, toiling away for pennies as the company skims off her paycheck.
Fed up, Violeta leads her colleagues in an attempt to unionize. Each woman represents how fashion and capitalism can pillage from cultures , but to me, that’s a perfect description of the movie’s strengths. Sure, it’s a bit sloppy and feels like an unfinished thought at times, but the push for a more socialist society in the midst of a system so ingrained in our lives isn’t tidy or perfect.
Maybe it is closer to a surrealist sketch of a figure of revolution than an accurate depiction of real life. So what?
I’d rather watch a funny takedown of the unfair conditions we’ve been forced to work under that oozes with childlike wonder and unhinged subplots than another unoriginal blockbuster made to prop up the same society structures“Fashion can also be used to rebel against the system,” González said in our conversation.
“Whatever you want to say, whether that is cutting all your hair off or putting whatever clothes you want on, it’s a real expression of self. ” Paige agreed: “That’s what hip-hop is, that’s what punk is. ” That’s also what film can be. Movies like this one, with a clear message that uplifts the marginalized as its heroes and eviscerates the uber-rich as the villains they are, can act as a gateway to larger conversations.
Ultimately, I think that’s a great thing. , I asked the cast and other stars walking the red carpet to name the most annoying thing about capitalism. Their answers were funny, irreverent, and real. Liu launched into a 3-minute long diatribe about all the ways in which capitalism harms us all whileThis compilation has over 600,000 views and 1,300 comments.
There are the positive ones, about how refreshing it is to see a question of substance being asked on a red carpet and others that think it’s hypocritical for people with money to comment on a system they benefit from . Once again, it’s in the dichotomy of these responses that makes what Boots Riley does in his work so important.
First of all, most of the people I spoke to don’t have the kind of money people think they do and furthermore, it’s going to take people at every class level to reject the system before we can dismantle it.. On May 12, Palmer and Stanfield hosted a gas giveaway at the Shell gas station on West Pico Boulevard where they took turns at the pump while drivers drove away with full tanks and movie swag.
The exorbitant price of gas is just one of the many real ways in which capitalism continues to create divides. What Boots Riley’s anti-capitalist fever dream understands is that in 2026, survival itself has become aestheticized: debt has a look, burnout has a uniform, and class anxiety arrives dressed head-to-toe in designer labels bought on Klarna. What makes the film sting isn’t simply its satire of wealth, but the way it positions fashion as both aspiration and ammunition.
The Velvet Gang aren’t stealing clothes because they’re shallow, they’re reclaiming access to beauty in a world where luxury has become a gatekeeping mechanism. That tension — between consumption and resistance — is wherefinds its smartest ideas. Riley understands that fashion has long functioned as a language for marginalized communities: a way to signal joy, status, rebellion, and solidarity all at once. The film’s maximalist costumes decorate the story and underpin its thesis.
As corporations borrow the language of activism while union-busting behind the scenes, Riley offers a messy, loud, honest vision of resistance. The film argues that wanting beautiful things under capitalism isn’t necessarily a moral failure; the real failure is a system that rations dignity through price tags.
“Theft is not outside of capitalism; it’s what capitalism was built on – and not even, like, metaphorically,” Riley said in an. “The bourgeoisie was no different in that they stole land, stole minerals, stole labor. But that theft is thought of as legal. ” Riley is making me feel a lot better about boosting tank tops from Hollister.
But he’s not wrong. Theft and capitalism go together like, fashion is political and the enemy is capitalism itself, not just Demi Moore in a blonde wig. A pair of platform boots or an oversized faux-fur coat can carry the same symbolic weight as a protest sign, particularly when worn by the women capitalism usually renders invisible except as consumers.
And I think it’s OK if that message comes from people who may be considered as “doing well” under this system. We were all sold a dream that doesn't exist.if I was fired from my job shilling “So Cal, so low” jeans at the mall. I was also a worker being paid minimum wage, facing microaggressions and forced to dress the part or pack it up.
When Hollister’s parent company,, they promoted me and my other colleagues of color to be the front-of-house greeters. We smiled, said the taglines, and made the company feel better about its blatant racism and exploitation.is for retail workers who never got to express their rage, for the boosters just trying to make a buck, and for everyone whose lives have been made worse by billionaires just getting richer by the day.
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Review: Fashion and politics get a radical makeover in the riotous 'I Love Boosters'Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie and Taylour Paige play shoplifters undermining the powers that be in a zany, visually uninhibited comedy written and directed by Boots Riley.
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Keke Palmer’s Alevì Milano Heels Add Subtle Sparkle to ‘I Love Boosters’ Screening LookKeke Palmer wore all white with Alevi heels to the 'I Love Boosters' special screening at Williamsburg Cinemas on Wednesday in New York.
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I Love Boosters Struggles Between Community and Personal DesiresThe central conflict of 'I Love Boosters' is the trio of 'Boosters' versus high-fashion designer Christie Smith. The film explores how their initial efforts to make money spiral into a more personal struggle when Corvette discovers Christie has stolen her designs. The Boosters team up with Jianhu, who has stolen tech from Christie's factory. The thief uses teleportation, deconstruction, and acceleration to mess around with Christie's show. The foursome's struggle brings about Corvette's realization of community and the importance of unions.
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In the neon-drenched world of ‘I Love Boosters,’ fashion is for the peopleIn Boots Riley’s “I Love Boosters,” color serves as its own character, fueling the full-throttle chaos of his latest eccentric comedy about a group of girlfriends who steal and resell (or “boost”) clothes to make ends meet.
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