Sonic Youth Gossip - Kim in short film by Alia Raza

http://www.style.com/stylefile/2011/...tess-giberson/

Tess Giberson has been riding high since she relaunched her eponymous collection (after a three-year hiatus during which she was design director of TSE) for Spring 2010. Earlier this year, she opened her first boutique on New York’s Crosby Street, and to launch her Fall ‘11 collection, she nabbed Sonic Youth frontwoman Kim Gordon to star in a video directed by artist Alia Raza.

“Kim was the first person that came to mind,” Giberson says of the rocker. “I am a huge fan of hers, both as a musician and now as an artist. I chose her for her strength and great style. She embodies the characteristics of the woman I imagine when designing: strong, creative, beautiful, and cool.”

The video marks Giberson’s second collaboration with Raza, who also created a short for her Spring ‘11 collection. (It was screened at the collection’s presentation.) For the new piece, Raza shot Gordon in the woods near her Northampton, Mass., home. Although she enjoys nature, Gordon admits, “I was never into goth; it’s far from my persona and music to play a forest, witchy person.”

There’s no plot, per se, but the mood is ominous; as Giberson puts it, “the attention to detail and tension that [Raza] builds up in her characters is really intriguing.” So, according to the designer, is the medium. “Video is a very exciting format to work with,” Giberson explains. “It’s a less seasonal format, and there is also a different type of emotional connection to the clothing itself by showing it through video, so I’m finding it is becoming one of my most valuable tools for reaching out to a wider audience.” She’ll broaden it still further when she screens the two-minute film at the Lexington W in New York tomorrow night. Before then, you can catch it above.