What is rebranding so important for you? What does it mean for you?
It means so many different things, and what it means is always changing. Stagnancy is unnecessary. You can always edit something to fit yourself better. [Rebranding] is a lot about sustainability, self expression, and fluidity. I’ve always hoarded stuff because I wanted to change into something else so it’s just a natural arrival of what my artistic process was moving towards.
Is there a particular reason why the paint you deploy is so thick? Do you ever try to rebrand things with more delicate compositions? Looking at your outfit now, I’m noticing more delicate lines.
I think thick lines are really impactful. But, for these kinds of pieces, I painted in sharpie so the ink would fuck up and bleed out. Then that creates a whole other effect. Stains will become part of the piece and the ink will take on a life of its own. With my lines I like to do a line in pen, then in marker, then another in paint. Having the different iterations all be visible to show the process.
You rebranding often features fruits, faces, and abstract renderings. Is there something right now that you’re particularly into rebranding on clothes?
For my new collection, Age of Desire, [I confront] how we are physically tied to things that we want to consume, [such as] wellness culture. Wellness culture is now a market that is dependent on us buying more stuff and telling us if we buy more things, we’ll be purified. That is just so counter-intuitive. To be purified you need to pair down and yet you can buy a million serums and tinctures. So, plants are something I use as a metaphor for that wellness. I personally like having plants around because they make me feel like my air is cleaner and that I’m more connected to nature while being in the city.
A lot of people on the East Coast like to remark on Southern California’s foliage, how it overgrows into the environment, into the concrete. I am curious if you’ve been inspired by that while you’re out here.
Yes! Just being here and seeing different plants on the street and how those interact with the architecture, I’m just eye-feasting on it. I’m thinking how, on my street in New York, trash is the only foliage, and dying plants—which I’m trying to revive but its not going well. I love plants, and I incorporated some of those into the shoot I did today.
Tell me about that shoot, where was it?
The main model was Cat—her music monaker is Madge. I found them on Instagram along with the photographer, Simone.. I feel like Instagram can be really alienating but when you actually meet people in real life it can render a great connection. We wouldn’t have known each other well without Instagram, so in a way it’s stressful, but also a great way to meet like-minded people with like-minded aesthetics. Simone and I had been discussing shooting for a while now. Cat and I discussed it. Last night we all decided to do it.