Kim Gordon, Fashion Designer (YEESSSSS!!!)
 

Kim Gordon, Fashion Designer (YEESSSSS!!!)

As a So-Cal suburban teen, I was a die-hard Sonic Youth lover. So when Kim Gordon launched X-Girl clothing in 1994 I became an insta-fan. My favorite T-shirt was electric blue and said X-Girl in neon orange and pink and wearing it immediately helped me separate the kids I’d like to know from the ones I wouldn’t: every jock would say ‘X-Girl, does that mean you’re a dude now?’ while every music nerd would give a knowing nod of alliance. I still mourn its American demise so I’m thrilled that Kim Gordon is back in the fashion game with a new line called Mirror/Dash, coming out February 16 at Urban Outfitters. The collection has a feminine, tomboy feel much like Kim herself and features a slouchy pocket T-shirt dress, a casually sexy wrap dress, and the necessary blazer staple, among other items I’m sure I’ll absolutely need. Whether she’s rocking out with Thurston in SY, making art, or jamming with her other band Free Kitten, Kim Gordon continues to epitomize cool. And I have no doubt each piece in her collection will too. Read on for a Q and A in which the perennially awesome Kim gives BUST the exclusive low-down.
I’m stoked that you’re back in the designing business. Is it exciting to be creating clothes again?
It is exciting. There is so much more in downtown fashion since X-Girl that its a bit daunting but we’re not trying to remake the wheel or anything.

Wearing my X-Girl T-shirt always made me feel like the coolest girl in school. Did you ever have a connection to fashion like that?
When I was in High School I basically couldn’t afford to buy new clothes so I shopped in thrift stores. When I was 12 though, I bought a pair of red corduroy hip-hugger bellbottoms from a hip English clothes store where we lived in Hong Kong. I saved up for them for a really long time and I felt very cool wearing them. That was my first store obsession. I used to go there all the time just to look.
Did you expect X-Girl to have that sort of effect?
We didn’t know what to expect with X-Girl. We pretty much didn’t know what we were doing. We were lucky to connect with Mike Mills, his graphics really made the whole thing work I think.

Your new line debuts exclusively at Urban Outfitters on Feb. 16. How did you hook up with them?
A couple summers ago Sonic Youth was asked to play in a store as part of a radio promo effort. They did a great job with the whole thing. When Mel Wansbrough, my partner, and I were looking for backing for Mirror/Dash we ran into a friend of hers who designs at Urban and she suggested we contact them.

Who did you work with to create the line?
Mel and I work with Jeffrey Monteiro, who used to work with Jane Mayle and was head designer at Derek Lam, and Sari Gueron. The challenge for us is doing something that’s not strictly Urban in that we want it to appeal to someone a little older than a teenager or college student, but still have enough youth appeal to belong in the store.
What was your inspiration for this line?
I constantly go back to Francoise Hardy as someone who always looks very cool no matter what her age is. She wasn’t overstylized in the ’60s or too girly. It’s that French thing I guess.

Can you give me a brief description of the line?
It’s somewhat basics oriented, in that the pieces are meant to be more classic, in the way that A.P.C. has basics, but a bit more flattering and sexy, less androgynous.

I read that your mother was a seamstress. Was that your first influence in terms of design?
Yes. My Mom used to make clothes and have an ‘open house’ to sell them. She used beautiful silk and velvet fabrics and made mostly caftans and these simple shapes called Abbas. Her sewing room was a jungle of fabrics. I hated sewing, but sort of learned how. I guess it all sort of comes back around.

Since this line is aimed at a younger audience, did you bounce any ideas off of your daughter Coco? Is she into fashion?
She’s into fashion but on a very cool level, like wearing her old red Converse and my old T-shirts. She likes to shop at Urban but doesn’t want to look like everybody else. Which is kind of a cool thing about UO–it’s easy to blend their items into your own look.
What else are you working on these days?
Sonic Youth is just finishing a new record which will be out in June, on Matador. I’m working on an art book for Rizzoli, and I have a booth at the Armory Art show in March.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
I’m anxious to see the clothes.
So are we!

^^^
hahahahahaha
some fields are just hilarious and makes me wanna go to an american wal mart

Hahahahhahahahahahhaahhaa

Bahahahahahahahaha.

Score.

Hey Kool Thing come'ere, sit down beside me

 

Awesome printed tees by Kim Gordon for Marni. I cannot WAIT for these to hit the stores and I will pay whatever ridiculous amounts of money they cost because if there is one woman that I just ADORE, it is Ms. Kim Gordon. Also, I love her illustrations. I'm thinking about buying another copy of Free Kitten's Sentimental Education (as seen below), so I can frame it in one of those "record frames" they sell at Urban, just 'cause I love it so much.

uh oh. Female white corporate oppression

I must say he painting on Flipped Out Bride is evocative

thanks for the info Moshe, always appreciated, and love reading about fashion news

yes
very:


^i like this

but i don't think it looks great on a T shirt though.

I bet men only will buy this. Especially the female wear.

First Look: Kim Gordon’s Mirror/Dash for Urban Outfitters

By Alisa Gould-Simon


February 04, 2009



It was back during last fashion week that I first made note of Kim Gordon’s latest non-musical endeavor: a clothing line called Mirror/Dash. The brand is likewise the brainchild of Gordon’s friends Melina Wansbrough (who honed her sartorial skills at Mayle and Sari Gueron) and Jeffrey Monteiro (an alum of Derek Lam); meaning, the singer and artist is in good company. Inspired by French chanteuse Francois Hardy, Gordon had, at the time, crafted just one look -- a slim-fitting, military-inspired wool coat. Well, come February 16, fans of Gordon’s can peruse her latest collection of Mirror/Dash looks, which hit Urban Outfitters that day.
In an interview with the New York Times, Gordon explains the intentions of the line: “We’re actually trying to do something a little less trend oriented, a little more classic, that might appeal to someone say who used to shop at Urban [Outfitters] but wants something slightly less young looking.” Hint mag called the collection “edgy” and “feminine,” adding that the line includes “minimal, wearable and with organic materials, featuring slouchy T-shirt dresses and smart cropped blazers.” From the looks of the one dress I’ve come across via the NYT, the line should be a hit regardless of its rock ‘n’ roll pedigree.

Indie Frock | Kim Gordon’s New Line

By Bee-Shyuan Chang

 

Photos courtesy of Urban Outfitters The artist-musician-designer Kim Gordon.
Youth may be fleeting, but Urban Outfitters is intent on keeping its customers. Long a teenage and college wallet mainstay, Urban Outfitters has been keeping up with the H&M’s, Targets and Uniqlos with a series of innovative collaborations, Steven Alan, Grey Ant, Paul & Joe and Neal Sperling among them. The latest is with the artist-musician-designer Kim Gordon, best known as a member of Sonic Youth, and her friends Melinda Wansbrough (a Mayle and Sari Gueron alum) and Jeffrey Monteiro (formerly at Derek Lam). Called Mirror/Dash, it hits stores Feb. 16. The Moment caught up with Kim Gordon between rehearsal sessions in Berlin.


Most people know you best as a musician, but you’re also an accomplished artist as well. Starting out, did you ever feel like you had to choose between art and music?

I always wanted to be an artist since I was little, and I just sort of fell into playing music. I was writing about music and male bonding and thought it would be more beneficial for the writing if I had an inside view of it, sort of a roundabout way to find out. It’s more complicated but also another opportunity for expression.
More recently, you’ve crossed over into the fashion world. Your first line was X-Girl out of Los Angeles, and now Mirror/Dash with Urban Outfitters. Has music or art influenced your design aesthetics?
Only in the female icons I admire for their style, like Françoise Hardy.
What were you thinking when you were sitting down at the drawing board for the line? Did you do sketches or were you bouncing ideas around with your design collaborators?
I don’t sketch. I work with Jeffrey Monteiro and my partner Melinda Wandsbrough, who has a lot of experience in sales and dealing with stores. We discuss ideas and fabric ideas, and then he [Jeffrey] does drawings. Then we present them to a production house that works with Urban Outfitters, and they make samples.
Mirror/Dash at Urban Outfitters.
Now that you are a mother, did you consider your daughter and her tastes when you were designing Mirror/Dash?
We’re actually trying to do something a little less trend oriented, a little more classic, that might appeal to someone say who used to shop at Urban [Outfitters] but wants something slightly less young looking. And we would like to appeal also to the usual Urban customer as well.
You no longer live in New York, but this is where you were an integral part of the downtown music and art scene in the ’80s. Do you miss it?
I totally miss many aspects of it. Where I live there’s a pretty happening underground music scene, but I really miss being able to go to openings and the multicultural street life — the in-your-face thing. Of course, great food and getting a good haircut are also New York experiences. I don’t miss the “Sex and the City” feel that my [old] neighborhood seems to have acquired. And I sometimes have to remind myself that being a cool, sophisticated urban person is a good thing. I love Northampton. As exciting and glamorous as New York can be I’m always really relieved to get back there.
Do you think the creative community has changed in New York since you left?
It will always be creative — it seems to shift around neighborhoods — but the same people that have been doing interesting things in the city, and the genetics of New York for that, will probably never change.
What advice would you give a young creative type who wants to do it all — music, art and fashion?
I think it’s easier to pick one thing. Just make sure that’s what you really want because you can get it.

but is it going to be a bunch of expensive, egotistical, exploitative corporate fashion gear, or will it be more independent minded?

are we talking boutique prices or prices people like us would fuck with? I would hope this fashion stint holds itself to sonic standards..

I feel like Kim would be more socio-economically aware than most, but that doesn't mean it will be cheap. Not a fan of her voice, but she's a great person. I trust it will be as independent-minded as she can make it.

its not necessarily about it being cheap as much as it not being exploitative and disgustingly commercial.

Then I would imagine so. There's nothing stylistically wrong with "commercial," unless you mean economically. Urban Outfitters is a weird fucking chain, so I don't know what that says about the decision, but I doubt she'd jump into something too sketchy.

by disgustingly commercial I meant things like this:

 

"everybody should a know.. everybody shoulda know.. but everybody couldn't know.. who Selassie I is..."

urban outfitters' prices have never been cheap but if she were to sell these pieces through various boutiques, the pricetags would be much much higher. i can't go into urban outfitters, too many hipsters wearing stupid hats and 56$ paper-thin shirts that are so not worth the money. i think her designs are cute and i'm curious to see how well-made they'll be...

also - that walmart bingo card is the greatest thing i've ever seen. they should make one for urban outfitters too

its not necessarily about it being cheap as much as it not being exploitative and disgustingly commercial.

Amen