This is Mandy Coon. She often sits with her feet pulled in under her dress and her bangs fall down over her face. She is from Texas*, but she lives in East Village*, New York's*. She has a French Bulldog named Petunia but she calls her Stinky. She was a DJ and a model; did some art, her own clothes, studied at FIT, worked for Camilla Staerk. Then she stopped and made her first fashion collection. This is what's on her mood-board:
E: Texas?
M: "When I lived in Texas I was this long hair blonde, and tried to be this girly girl. [laughs].
E: East Village?
M: It's still retains a lot of the character it always had. You still have total freaks and weirdoes.
E: New York?
M: "New York is home. I lived in Paris and London and Tokyo; this is home for sure. I could live somewhere else. But New York really pushes you and the speed of it is somehow comforting.
E: Stinky?
M: "I might end up with 16 dogs. I'd be so happy if I had 16 dogs. Don't know about Stinky... but I'd be happy."
E: Camilla Staerk?
M: One of my favorite people. She pushed me to do my own thing.
Kaleidoscopes with their beautiful shapes and images that always change Seashells which she collected as a child
Snarling Foxes: a painting of one red and one yellow fox on a green field. They are two blurry foxes, with perfectly detailed little mouths, fluffy tails, and straight little stick legs. "It was the feeling of this picture. With the fangs out; scary but endearing. I saw a picture of this painting and had to have it."
E: Tell me a word you like:
M: I have a favorite word from when I was a kid. Jammies. I don't know why. It was always my favorite word.
E: Another word:
M: Androgynous. "You design for what you know. What you want to wear."
E: Shapeshifting?
M: "I love to make and wear clothes that you can wear in many different ways."
E: Black?
M: "It's going to be a lot of black. A lot of things just work best in black. But there'll be color too."
Louise Bourgeois. Deborah Turbeville (The Bath House series.) Charlotte Rampling in the Night Porter.
A vintage little boy's jacket. A white organza ruffle (which inspired a leather ruffle in the collection) Tiger heads on sheer white organza.
[Mandy shows a drawing.] The instructions read: "Tiger dress" - More Volume. - Much more volume!
E: Beautiful body part?
M: "Back, shoulders."
E: Flower?
M: "Black Calla lilies. There's a florist down the street that always has these dark burgundy Calla lilies, black or dark purple. "
E: Song?
M:"Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy. It's one of the best videos ever. And Your Love with Frankie Knuckles.
E: Book?
M:"Frannie and Zooey."
E: Sound?
M: "I really love the sound of commercial Juki sewing machines, they make this lovely tinkling little sound."
E: Smell?
M: "Baking. And bacon."
E: Film?
M: "The Night Porter."
E: Piece of clothing?
M: "This. By Bernhard Willhelm. "It's an amazing giant dress! I love giant things. I could fit four people in here!"
E: When do you wear it?
M: "Any day. I'll wear something like that to the dog park."
E: What do you think Spring and Summer in 2010 will be like?
M: "Very different from now. Things change a lot. Especially in New York."