Chrisian Joy

Christian Joy is a fashion designer and the brains behind the outlandish costumes worn by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  Her designs are the stuff of dreams.  Literally.


Chief Magazine: How did you come up with the name Christian Joy?

Christian Joy: Actually, Christiane Hultquist is my real name.  My parents are born again Christians and that’s the name they gave me.   I just take the ‘e’ off for the label name.  Joy is my middle name. 

Are they in ministry?

No, they’re not actually.  The thing is, my mom is a born again Christian but she’s not really fundamentalist, she’s a little more hippie.  She’s not freaky religious, she’s really pretty hilarious.

No judgment, my dad teaches Sunday School.  So if she’s kind of hippie, she must be pretty into what you’re doing.

Oh yeah, she totally is.  She’s always like, “Did you think of me when you did this?”  She’s very creative, very smart and we grew up doing a lot of craft projects.  My mom’s pretty DIY.

So you have no formal training, but it sounds like design is second nature to you.

Kind of, in a way.  When I was really young, my mom taught me to embroider, so I think it’s one of those things where growing up with that made it easier for me to learn how to do stuff myself and just go ahead and go for it, you know?

I think that’s the best way, especially living in a place like New York where necessity is truly the mother of invention…

Totally, exactly.

So what do the rest of the folks back in your hometown of Marion, Iowa think of your work?

Well I think my family is really down for it.  I think maybe they’re just a little bit confused sometimes, I don’t know if they get it.  I have four brothers and a sister and my brothers get really into it, they get really excited.  They’re pretty proud [laughs].  It’s funny.

Are they in the arts too?

Not really, but the whole family is really creative since we all grew up with it.  None of us went to school for it or anything, we’ve just kind of done it.

I read that you used to be a photographer before you started designing and styling.

Yeah, I was kind of.  I started doing it when I was about 22 and I decided to go to school for it for a year, cause I thought I should go to school.  But I just really did it for myself, like a hobby.  I never really made any money off of it [laughs]. For sure.

---

Ever dabble in that anymore?  Do you take pictures of Karen wearing your stuff or photograph your line?

I don’t, really.  I kind of wish that I would.  I think I’ve gotten more into painting instead.  The part I like most about photography is actually developing the photos and if you don’t really have the time to do that, it’s like… you’re just taking the picture.  I just really like the whole process of it.

So you met Karen O while working at the store Daryl K.  How’d everything unfold with you two?

I was working there and Karen used to come in all the time and we’d sit around and talk.  Then one day, she came in and said, “I just started a band, do you want to hear our CD?” [laughs] and I said, “Sure!”  It kind of went from there…

So you were the original fan?

Well the first time I saw her and Nick play was at the sidewalk café when they were in that band Unitard and I thought she was really funny then because she was wearing this square dancing dress [laughs]. That’s the first time I ever saw them play.  But she kept coming in and asked me to make an outfit for her.

So were you dressing really crazy and that’s why she asked you?

It’s actually funny because she was originally a film student and she asked me to make some costumes for some films that she did.  I used to redo prom dresses all the time and I think I had some with me at Daryl K and she really liked them.  She asked me to make her something like that for a show.  That’s basically how it began and then all of the sudden it just took off because they were getting photographed all the time!

You must have been pumped about how it all naturally unfolded.

Yeah, it’s pretty amazing.  It’s kind of mind boggling.  In some ways I feel like it’s a big joke [laughs].  It seems unreal.

I have to ask.  Do you watch "Project Runway"?

[Laughs] Last year I was out in L.A. and Karen was watching it all the time.  So yeah, I’ve seen it.  Pretty entertaining for sure.

You’d probably kill it if you went on that show.

I don’t know, I think they’d tell me it was creative but whatever, they’d probably boot me off on the first day [laughs].

---

Doubt it.  I love your hood-themed collection.  How did you come up with that?

Well I was making patterns for a cowl neck and I didn’t really know how.  I was just kind of fooling around and then I was like, “Oh, look at that!”  [Laughs]  It was kind of a happy accident.

Are you working on a collection right now?

I am, but it’s hard because I’m pretty much on my own, and Karen’s stuff takes up a lot of time.  But yeah, I am working on one.

So you design around your own clock, not just fashion week?

Yeah, it would be too difficult for me to do that right now.  I have people who want to buy, which is a great thing, but I’d like to be a proper designer, you know.  Figure it out and actually do it.  But for now, it seems like each of Karen’s costumes are getting more and more complicated, which is really time consuming.  But it’s definitely my favorite thing to do.

How do you come up with ideas for her costumes?  Do you two share your ideas?

For the most part, she doesn’t really give any input.  Basically, I just come up with the idea and she just… wears it!  It’s that simple, which is nice.

So she totally trusts you.

Oh absolutely, 100%.  It’s pretty amazing.  There was one piece that she didn’t really like, but she wore it anyway.  And I was in the audience dying laughing the entire time, thinking, “Oh my god, that’s the most absurdly ugly thing I’ve seen in my life!”  [laughs].  I think it’s that we’ve worked together for such a long time and it’s proved to be such a good thing that there’s nothing really to doubt.

---

Okay, so we know which costume you didn’t like...  Any favorites?

Yeah, I think my favorite is the skeleton costume.  It’s so over the top and intense and I had a lot of time to work on it.  The cool thing was that the next album was called Show Your Bones, so she wore it for all the encores on tour.

So she’ll wear things more than once? 

Yeah she’ll wear some over again.  But a lot of them are at her parents’ in wardrobe bags, thank God.  I walked in once and a dress I had made was lying on the floor and I think the cat had peed on it.

Not a happy accident!

[Laughs] No!

How would you describe your personal style?

Pretty simple, actually.  I would say classic American style.  A little minimalism thrown in there as well, thrift stores and vintage places.

So you have clothes for sale online, in Japan, and in The Good The Bad and The Ugly here in New York.  Ever think about opening the Christian Joy store?

Oh yeah, I would love to do that.  That’s definitely something I’d really like to do in the future.

You also are showing your costumes in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum until September 23rd.  That’s exciting.

It’s really exciting!  I just saw the book for it yesterday.  The opening is April 16th and we’ll stay for about a week.  My husband is a musician, so he’s playing a show in London and then we’re headed to Paris.  I’m really excited.  They wanted the skeleton costume for sure and then another costume that Karen hasn’t worn yet, which is the pasta dress.  And one more, so we’re showing the money dress. 

How did you come up with the idea for the pasta dress?

They asked me to come up with a costume for the exhibition and I wasn’t sure what to do.  Then I had this weird dream.  I woke up in the middle of the night and said to my husband, “I’m going to make a pasta dress.”   It was this weird dream with a scarecrow running around with dyed pasta hanging from it [laughs].

I’d expect some pasta endorsements.

I know!  I was thinking that.

Website

www.christianjoy.us

---