Nylon - October 2008 - (Page 60) M.I.A.’S WARDROBE IS AS KALEIDOSCOPIC AS HER WORLDLY SOUNDS. LUCKILY FOR US, THE MUSICIAN AND ARTIST HAS ADDED DESIGNER TO HER RÉSUMÉ. BY SAMANTHA GILEWICZ. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ELIZABETH WEINBERG 60 profile stylist: robyn victoria fernandes. hair: lauren white at workgroup-ltd.com using kiehl’s. makeup: antwan jones for artistsbytimothypriano.com. model: vika at ford. all clothing by m.i.a., shoes by costume national, bangles by yarborough. it’s the remix “I hate doing the hard sell,” confesses M.I.A. “From day one, everyone’s been sticking microphones in my face, but I want to build a community and a culture; it’s not about going, ‘Ohhh, this is my shit, you have to go get it.’” The way M.I.A., born Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, sees things, her fans are her extended family—a technicolorclad, dancehall-rocking clan that don’t get dizzy when they visit her chaotic website. So, it’s no surprise that news of the Sri Lankan’s new fashion line came to her fans via an offbeat video that she posted online. Entitled Real Pirates of the Caribbean, it follows Okley Leslie, a peroxide-fro’d local island kid as he traipses about in Day-Glo garb that looks as though he swiped it straight off of M.I.A.’s back, and the credits read: “Film and Clothes by M.I.A.” “It’s not really…like, a fashion line…as such,” she says gingerly, meditating on every syllable. “There were loads of homemade clothes in the “Galang” [Arular, 2005] music video, but a lot of that just went over peoples’ heads, or got ripped off by major labels…and that used to really piss me off!” Frustrated by hackneyed tour merchandisers censoring her innovative designs “because they’re still making T-shirts with a little logo in the center from 20 years ago,” she ventured out to do her own thing. Interscope gave M.I.A. a record label—under which the as-yet-eponymous fashion-line-that-isn’t-reallya-line falls—called NEET, for Not in Education, Employment, or Training. It’s also ‘teen’ spelled backwards. “I decided to name it after a bunch of teenagers because the clothes are definitely inspired by my personal style that I’m kind of inflicting on youth culture,” she says. “I wanted to make something that gives you a 360-degree experience: the video ties into the song, the clothes tie into the album artwork.” The result is a debut collection of bomber jackets and a jumpsuit with wild, pixilated prints (“That all-in-one thing is my favorite, but I haven’t been on the road for a while and I’d feel a bit podgy!”), T-shirts featuring watermelon stencils from the “Bird Flu” [Kala, 2007] video, and a sweater that has HOW MANY HOW MANY written on it with a cowhide-patterned lettering from the video single “Boyz.” “The artwork came from being everywhere,” says M.I.A. “I got inspiration from the paintings inside rickshaw taxis in India, these crappy bootleg Madonna stickers in Africa… It’s, like, this weird understanding of Western things but they get it all wrong—and it’s the getting it wrong part that I really like.” M.I.A., on the other hand, is on the right track. Under the umbrella of NEET, she is producing 17-year-old rap star Rye Rye’s debut album, as well as recording herself. “I know! Everyone is like, ‘She’s retired!’ she says, addressing her announcement this summer that the Bonnaroo music festival would be her last show. “I’m not retired; I actually feel like someone has given me shock treatment and brought me back to life! As for the fashion line, she adds with gravitas, “I don’t want to be like J-Lo and P. Diddy. I want to keep it underground.” http://www.workgroup-ltd.com http://www.artistsbytimothypriano.com
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