NYLON - June 2008 - (Page 70) “I actually listen to a lot of hip-hop and ’80s music,” says Christian Joy. It’s not the punk-rock answer you’d expect from the designer behind Karen O’s cacophonous ensembles— lacerated prom dresses, hologram space suits, and spraypainted glittery Converse sneakers. Creating outfits to go along with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer’s visceral howls and stage antics, such as pouring beer down her bodice and simulating sex with her microphone, is no easy feat, but one that Joy says, “kind of happened by accident.” Joy moved from Marion, Iowa, to Manhattan in the late ’90s and began working at East Village boutique Daryl K. “A friend of mine and I were like, ‘We can make that!’” she laughs, thinking back. “And so I just started to remake old clothes, and in the midst of it Karen came in, saw one of my dresses and said, ‘Make me one of those!’” In addition to having an exhibition of her Karen O costumes at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, Joy spent the last year convincing the Klaxons to give up neon colored clothing in favor of her designs, collaborating with Topshop on a limited-edition collection, and putting the finishing touches on her own ready-to-wear label. “I thought that if I started to do costumes for anyone other than Karen it would get watered down, but since the Klaxons are boys, it’s different,” she says with a smile. There is nothing watered-down about Joy’s highly wearable spring line. “It was like an experiment to see if I could stay within the confines of this very simple idea,” she explains. “What I would want to wear, basically.” Structured T-shirt dresses silk-screened with bold Russian propaganda-inspired graphics, tanks with asymmetrical zippers and cutaway shoulders, and a raw silk kimono jumpsuit don’t stray from a palette of black, white, and licks of red. Karen O, of course, models in the look book. And for fall, Joy is attempting to do something a little bit crazier with exaggerated puff sleeve dresses and balloon pants. “People aren’t responding to fall as well as they did the spring collection,” says Joy. “I think women would rather go for something that is interesting within the piece and not all about the bells and whistles…you know what I’m saying?” We sure do. David Bowie Phyllis Diller and Granny from the Looney Tunes cartoons Reading a lot of books and dancing to ’80s music myspace.com : christianjoyshop / Check out more of Joy’s out-of-this-world creations. John Waters I use to be a cross-country champ. Purple and red stylist: angelica pieser-nelson. hair: anthony campbell using cutler. makeup: lisa aharon using stila cosmetics. model: alice at one. dress by christian joy, neckalce by crumley ny. CHRISTIAN JOY DRESSES ROCK STARS KAREN O AND THE KLAXONS, AND NOW SHE’S DESIGNED A READY-TO-WEAR COLLECTION FOR MERE MORTALS LIKE US. BY SAMANTHA GILEWICZ. PHOTOGRAPHED BY CAMERON KRONE JOY DIVISION http://myspace.com/christianjoyshop
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.