TELFAR CLEMENS:
Wall Street, House of Ninja, and Nude Burial
Vice: When did you get into fashion?
Telfar: I started designing clothes in high school—I basically used to make everything I wore. Then my freshman year of college I started my first formal collection.
Weren’t you involved with the drag scene a while back?
Yes, I dressed the House of Ninja with Willy Ninja, who’s now passed away.
Do you still hang out with those people?
I go to balls occasionally, but they’re very different. They start at like 1 AM as opposed to 7 PM. It’s not the same houses, it’s not the same anything. It all changed so quickly.
What were some of the inspirations for your latest collection?
Most of it’s based on people I’d see when I went to school downtown. Mostly lawyers and Wall Street types. I took elements of their clothes and combined it with a more blue-collar style, especially in regard to the colors. I used that really bright orange that construction workers wear, the purple from FedEx uniforms, and then a bunch of other colors that look like concrete. Everything is supposed to resemble working society. It was my interpretation of 9 to 5—or what I would like it to look like. Mainly, though, it was what I would wear to work or how I would dress if I were a construction worker.
That makes sense. As weird as some of your stuff is it all seems really functional.
A lot of the pieces are just made for practical use. Some of the tops include turtlenecks that detach, and all my pieces have gloves built into them. It’s kind of like a uniform for working. I don’t make impractical, kitschy things. I feel like a lot of stores go for that these days. They don’t think about what you’re actually wearing, just what’s trendy—what’s hot.
You make jewelry, too. What’s it like?
This season’s pieces are earrings that look like nuts and bolts. It’s the whole mechanical theme again.
We wanted to ask you to draw your funeral outfit. So, what is it? What would you like to be wearing when you’re buried?
I want to be cremated.
Oh, OK then, what about for the viewing?
Just a choker. I wouldn’t wear clothes. I hardly wear clothes ever, except during winter in New York.
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KATY RODRIGUEZ:
Resurrection, Roxy Music, and Overalls
Vice: Tell me a little bit about how you got started making fashion.
Katy: I’d been designing clothing off and on since I was a teenager, just things for me and my friends, you know. And now I own Resurrection with my partner Mark Haddaway. So it was just sort of a natural progression.
What’s the vibe for your most recent collection?
I was in LA for a long time and drew a lot of inspiration from the environment around me—in particular the architecture and also these flowers called birds-of-paradise. So that stuff plus old Roxy Music album covers became the themes for my fall presentation.
What’s your take on the LA fashion scene? Do you think you’d ever show a collection on the West Coast?
I think it’d be really great if people focused more on fashion in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, you can’t get the same quality of models as you can in New York. You always want the right kind of girls to get your message across, and the bigger ones are all on the East Coast. So I’d love to eventually do a show out here, but it’ll take a while before Los Angeles is able to catch up with New York.
If you could dress anyone in your clothing, who would it be?
Well, one person I actually already dress is PJ Harvey. She’s been wearing my clothing for years and she’s amazing.
Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
[laughs] Everyone I’d like to collaborate with is kind of out of reach at this point and too high up on the ladder.
Hey, you never know!
That’s true. I guess I really love people like Vivienne Westwood, Prada, Hussein Chalayan—designers whose collection items can be worn years after they’ve been shown. It’s important to me that clothing is timeless. I want to one day hear stories about people hanging on to the items I make.
Do you wear your own designs?
I really only wear my husband’s clothing. I keep it pretty casual since I’m constantly working in my studio. I find myself in a lot of overalls and button-downs. So yeah, I have this closet filled with really great pieces but I don’t live in New York anymore, so I don’t have anywhere to wear that kind of shit. Going out in Vivienne Westwood on a regular day in LA doesn’t really work. |
