"I’ve been really into 42nd Street recently. The style there is off the wall," said Telfar Clemens when I asked him about his current fashion heroes. Telfar's fall collection (his first at OC) takes what he calls a "deconstructionist" approach to American sportswear, reworking jean jackets and sweats in multi-wear jersey. Based in the NYC, Telfar has been designing his line for fifteen seasons now, teaming up along the way with his friends at DIS, and long-term collaborators artists Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch.
To celebrate the arrival of the fall pieces at OC, Telfar took me to his favorite Vietnamese coffee shop on Broome Street, where we talked about Real Housewives, real fashion, and his plans to take Telfar global.
Shop all Telfar here.
Alice Newell-Hanson: So, I’ve been told to ask you about reality TV. If you made a show what would it be like?
Telfar Clemens: All I do is watch reality TV. I’m obsessed with fake reality. So I would want it to be really fake: completely edited, really scripted, and starring everybody that I know. But I wouldn’t want to be that star. I think it should be more Melrose Place-ish, where all of a sudden people are written off.
ANH: You could have a cameo somewhere.
TC: Yeah, I’d have a cameo and just be kind of judging from the sidelines.
ANH: What are your favorite shows this season?
TC: Right now, Love & Hip Hop is top of my list but I watch all of the Housewives. I love the VH1 shows. They set the tone for how a lot of people conduct their lives or think they conduct their lives. I’m really interested in the effect that that’s having on people, and on fashion and what people think is "in" or "out." It is hilarious and really, really important. It’s one of my big influences.
ANH: You've created a video with Ryan Trecartin to accompany nearly all of your collections. How did you guys meet?
TC: I used to DJ a party called “Something Tight.” We met there and it was an instant friendship. He could do the splits, so that was really fun. We also have a lot of friends in common, like the people from DIS. It’s really funny, all of us know each other from different places—it’s like a community and we all work together.
ANH: Do you think about your collections as art?
TC: I do consider myself an artist. I’m having two exhibitions this season and I’m now represented in that context. Each time I make a collection there are video projects to explain the vision behind it.
I always want to present my work in a different way. For the last two years or so I’ve been hosting SHOP-MOBILE, a moving display of my collection. Ryan’s collaborator Lizzie Fitch designed the shop for me and it moves each time that I release a new collection. It’s a hybrid between a clothing rack and a shop—but you have to see it!
ANH: Where is it right now?
TC: It’s in Queens until the new collection launches, then it’ll be open in New York in September, and in Paris in January. I plan for it to go worldwide. It’s a Canal Street model of business. It’s like I’m on the street and I&rsquo
To celebrate the arrival of the fall pieces at OC, Telfar took me to his favorite Vietnamese coffee shop on Broome Street, where we talked about Real Housewives, real fashion, and his plans to take Telfar global.
Shop all Telfar here.
Alice Newell-Hanson: So, I’ve been told to ask you about reality TV. If you made a show what would it be like?
Telfar Clemens: All I do is watch reality TV. I’m obsessed with fake reality. So I would want it to be really fake: completely edited, really scripted, and starring everybody that I know. But I wouldn’t want to be that star. I think it should be more Melrose Place-ish, where all of a sudden people are written off.
ANH: You could have a cameo somewhere.
TC: Yeah, I’d have a cameo and just be kind of judging from the sidelines.
ANH: What are your favorite shows this season?
TC: Right now, Love & Hip Hop is top of my list but I watch all of the Housewives. I love the VH1 shows. They set the tone for how a lot of people conduct their lives or think they conduct their lives. I’m really interested in the effect that that’s having on people, and on fashion and what people think is "in" or "out." It is hilarious and really, really important. It’s one of my big influences.
ANH: You've created a video with Ryan Trecartin to accompany nearly all of your collections. How did you guys meet?
TC: I used to DJ a party called “Something Tight.” We met there and it was an instant friendship. He could do the splits, so that was really fun. We also have a lot of friends in common, like the people from DIS. It’s really funny, all of us know each other from different places—it’s like a community and we all work together.
ANH: Do you think about your collections as art?
TC: I do consider myself an artist. I’m having two exhibitions this season and I’m now represented in that context. Each time I make a collection there are video projects to explain the vision behind it.
I always want to present my work in a different way. For the last two years or so I’ve been hosting SHOP-MOBILE, a moving display of my collection. Ryan’s collaborator Lizzie Fitch designed the shop for me and it moves each time that I release a new collection. It’s a hybrid between a clothing rack and a shop—but you have to see it!
ANH: Where is it right now?
TC: It’s in Queens until the new collection launches, then it’ll be open in New York in September, and in Paris in January. I plan for it to go worldwide. It’s a Canal Street model of business. It’s like I’m on the street and I&rsquo