It’s hard to imagine the American fashion world existing without the enigmatic, and hugely influential, Rodarte; an LA-based fashion label that, since launching in 2005, has single-handedly invested the commercially-driven New York Fashion Week with an inspiring, and very necessary, measure of the artistic and conceptual. In a cosy hotel restaurant in Pasadena LA, near their California cottage home, the inspired designers talked road-trips and dream-states, otherworldly landscapes, and horror film obsessions with Indigo Clarke.
MIKE GALLAGHER: Sartorial Fix
The chains-smoking, fast-talking, lady-loving rapscallion, otherwise known as Mike Gallagher, is the absolute embodiment of old New York, and a living reminder of what this ever-evolving metropolis once was. Renowned the world over for his endlessly expanding archive of Twentieth Century art and fashion photography, magazines and paraphernalia, Gallagher has since 1991 supplied the biggest names in fashion, including Marc Jacobs, Steven Meisel, John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier, with inspiration material.
RAIN PHOENIX: On the Art of Sharing
Rain Phoenix, the singer and songwriter behind papercranes, an LA-based “project” with an ever-evolving roster of collaborators including her sisters Summer and Liberty, grew up in an unorthodox and thoroughly creative family, learning the ropes performing “uplifting songs” on street-corners to make ends meet. Inspired by these humble beginnings, Phoenix has continued to not only compose ‘uplifting’ songs, but to concretely “give back” through high-profile charitable projects including the famed 30-member-plus political cabaret act, Citizens Band.
RICHARD NICOLL: The value of collaboration
London-based designer Richard Nicoll, synonymous with a resolutely clean, understated aesthetic and conceptually-focused approach, has come on board as Creative Director at French fashion house Cerruti. Inspired by his successful, and ongoing, collaboration with iconic punk artist Linder Sterling, Richard talks to Bon about the positive effects of idea sharing, creating menswear-inspired womenswear, and taking Cerruti back to it’s heyday.
LUNA & CURIOUS
A space brimming with peculiarly British quaint and quirky objects, East London’s most eccentric select store, Luna & Curious, fast became the go-to for intriguing locally-produced wares.