Words by Kimberly Haddad
BASIC: Tell us about the meaning behind this collection and what inspired you to bring it to life?
LITTLE SHILPA: In 1975, Albert and David Maysles filmed a documentary called Grey Gardens. Part Miss Havisham, part Warhol superstars, the mother-daughter duo Edith “Little Edie” Beale and Edith “Big Edie” Bouvier Beale—cousin and aunt of Jackie O Kennedy—lived alone and in a crumbling Long Island mansion. This is their story, a love story, sort of. The pair—more like competitive sisters than mother and daughter—bicker and squabble, reconcile, sing old show tunes and most of all, dwell on the vanished Atlantis of their glory days, a time of cotillions, debutante balls, summer estates, swimming parties and splendid wealth. Eventually, they set about capturing their strange little castaway universe of ecstatic nostalgia and present-day ruination.
BASIC: If your collection was music, what song would we hear?
LITTLE SHILPA: “When Love Feels Like Crying” by Mathew Jonson.
BASIC: What fashion fads did you like most as a child?
LITTLE SHILPA: Kaftans and huge sunglasses.
BASIC: What quote represents your attitude for life?
LITTLE SHILPA: “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” —William Arthur Ward.
BASIC: What kinds of emotions or reactions do you hope people will have when wearing your collection?
LITTLE SHILPA: A melancholic decadence, a feeling of belonging to a society of science and De l’amour.
BASIC: If you could hide a secret message inside one of your pieces, what would it be and why?
LITTLE SHILPA: What you waiting for? The time is NOW.
BASIC: If you had the opportunity to redesign the wardrobe for a film or television series, which one would you choose and why?
LITTLE SHILPA: I would love to redesign the wardrobe for Eyes Wide Shutbecause when you have a film with a title like that, the costumes have to be a lot more surreal. They have to make you gape, keep your eyes wide open.
BASIC: Tell us about a collection or design you’ve always wanted to create, but still hasn’t become a reality.
LITTLE SHILPA: I endeavor to do a visual walk-through inspired by Charles Baudelaire’sFleurs Du Malbook of poems.
