The OG HommeGirl is launching a collection with skatewear brand FA. Chloë stops by to talk shop with creative director and friend Jen Brill before the drop.
Jen: How did the collaboration come about? How did you meet [Jason] Dill?
Chlöe: I met through our friend Lesley Arfin, who was dating Bill Strobeck. How did I meet Lesley? Unsure. Can't remember. But we were friends. Just made sense. Dill – we met in Tompkins Square Park with Bill and I was immediately taken by him. You know him, he's very dynamic. We went to Oz Fest together with PJ Ransone.
J: We have the same birthday, Ozzy Osbourne and I.
C: Dill was also very close with Dash Snow, another friend of ours. And I was just always taken by his style. He had a very distinct style. I would go over to his apartment and he'd have all these clippings and be making these collages. When I heard he was doing a skate company, I was like, I know this brand is gonna to be insane. And then he called it Fucking Awesome, which is so disruptive and cool and like everything that, as a child, I loved about skateboarding. The rebellious nature of it. I feel like after the 90s Supreme, Hip Hop, glossification of skateboarding, I was like this is getting back to something that we need, something that I really believe in and why I really fell in love with skateboarders. They were doing these decks with class portrait photos. It’s such a smart idea because everybody has so many memories and nostalgia attached to their own class photos. And just seeing The Kids when they were even younger kids… I just thought there was something so sweet of having this sweet kid and then saying, “Fucking Awesome” underneath. Such a genius idea. I think Bill Strobeck went to Dill and said, “Have you seen Chloë’s senior portrait? You have to do a skateboard [with her portrait].” So, he called me, “We want to put you on the skateboard.” I was like, “Well, I'm obviously not a skater, but, you know, I'll be an honorary team member.”
J: Skate Betty for life.
C: And then I go, I wanna do it pink. Like, “let's put as much pink into that hetero world as we can.” Pre-Barbie pink, which is really annoying. Now it's really been co-opted. It's very hard. We actually had a lot more pink items in the line, which we struck after Barbie, because I'm like, people are just sick of pink.
J: What's the new girly color? What colors are in the collection?
C: We did a lot of black and white with a pink bow. It’s just a hint of pink.
J: Very Chloë.
C: I don't know what the new girly color is. Baby blue? What do you think?
J: I don't know. We have to rebel. We have to push back.
C: I'm really liking pale yellow. I've been buying a lot of pale yellow. This is the Bernadette Corporation for Supreme. I always had yellow bedroom walls when I was little.
J: What was the inspiration for the collection?
C: Well, first was the skateboard. They're going to reissue. We're not going to do the regular pink. The background is this glitter pink now. And they wanted to do the portrait shirt again so I talked to Haley [Wollens]. Haley was like, remember Astro Boy with a lenticular patch. She came up with the idea to do the lenticular patch. She's brilliant obviously. Anything she thinks of is genius. We did that with a younger portrait of myself. And then I was thinking, what does Fucking Awesome do well? They do knits really well. So then we were thinking about sweater vests. Or, we have to do a skirt. It became this back-to-school, kind of hard-core girl, skinhead girl style, which is just… classic. There's nowhere in this space where they do a baby tee, you know, so we also had to do a classic baby tee with just Fucking Awesome across the front. It doesn't need anything else, it doesn't need my name. It doesn't need any bows. That alone is strong enough to stand on its own.
J: Amazing. The price point is incredible.
C: Yeah. I'm only hoping they produced enough.
J: I love that all the kiddos are going to be able to actually buy.
C: They're having Humberto [Leon] help them a lot. It’s made it really familial to have him kind of, holding their hands a little bit, helping them grow.
J: How was it working with your best friend Lizzi [Bougatsos] on the photos?
C: It was pretty funny.
J: They're so good! They're so naughty.
C: She takes really good photos of me.
J: She does.
C: I was like, let's ask Lizzi to do it. We can't ask Bill Strobeck anymore. He's got his own skate company.
J: You're definitely in your comfort zone with Lizzi, and you look incredible.
C: Thank you. I met this young girl when I was upstate, she was with her parents, and I thought this girl is the next Brooke Shields. She's insane looking, I was like, we have to have her model for us. She's the one with the bangs. Big brows.
J: So…the fucking awesome ass shorts. Talk to me about them.
C: The fucking awesome ass shorts. When I went to Montauk, one of the first things I did was buy the And1s. I always loved them, I just thought it was so funny. I want the gay boys to want to covet the fucking awesome ass shorts. I'm making this for them.
J: Who were your favorite skaters when you were a teenager, when you discovered skateboarding?
C: Well, my brother was really into skateboarding. I mean, it was Tony Hawk, of course. I liked Lance Mountain.
J: What about when you moved to New York City?
C: I think I had a picture of Jason Lee on my wall. I was also really into Jefferson Pang. All those guys, like Peter Bici, all the hot Supreme guys that were way too cool. He was hot back in the day. Ryan Hickey. I dated this kid John Carter, and I was really into Steven Cales and all the Polo boys, like that precursor to Supreme, the lo lifes.
J: What about now?
C: My favorite skaters now? Efron.
J: Exactly. Efron, Akobi, Beatrice…
C: Exactly.
FA’s first-ever womenswear line is available September 6th exclusively on faworldentertainment.com as well as their stores in Hollywood, New York and Seoul.