









How did you, the only American in the company's history, become a part of the Kekkon team? Why do you think you were the chosen one?

I think it has nothing to do with talent and ability, and everything in the WORLD to do with drive and my ability to do my personal best no matter what.







Where did you get the inspiration for the Maxi Tube Dress?

Well my mom is a marine biologist and she gave me a book about deep sea creatures, and I read about one called a Sea Tube-Worm, and I thought, well, that's interesting, and I explained the idea to my friend, and he said that he did think it was cool, so after that I pretty much knew we had an idea that was pretty cool on our hands.



We don't want to point out the obvious, but you left out armholes. Why did you decide to do so?

Ha yeah, I guess it's not really obvious since nobody had thought of it up to this point, right? [Laughs]. It's complicated, but I had fond memories of being a young child and having my father wrap me up in a carpet and carry me around the house on Sundays. I wanted to make a dress that was going to share that experience globally.







Take us through the design process for this dress. Was there anyone special you collaborated with?

Other than my cat "Sharlie," who occasionally walked all over the design and who clawed her way onto my shoulders on a few cold nights [laughs], I pretty much crapped this thing out by myself.



Are you prepared for the hundreds of knockoffs this design is going to spawn? How does that affect your identity as a designer?

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I for one have never particularly cared for either of them. If you imitate people, how do you know who you are? If you flatter people, who the hell do you think you are?







Where do you envision someone wearing this dress? Since it's so easily dressed up or down, it's probably a stylist's dream.

This was a dress I designed for the girls in the glitzy champagne-fueled poetry readings of our grandfather's nightmares, where everyone ends up at a Midtown chinese restaurant at 6 a.m., browned out and nursing a teacup of cold lo-mein.



We heard that this dress is going to be used in the next Michael Bay movie. As an underground artist, how does that make you feel?

Frankly I don't watch films so it doesn't really bother me. The only films I've seen are The Seventh Seal and The Seventh Seal: Part 2, so when you say Michael Bay you may as well be saying the name of your brother or aunt or some other person who I will never really know or care about.







Do you think fashion is dead?

If you're asking what I think you're asking, then no. But if you're not asking what I think you're asking, then yes and no.



We heard the original prototype of this dress was made out of a secret fabric that was unable to be sold in the US, so you ended changing it to spandex. What is this mystery fabric, and why isn't it allowed to be sold here? How did it make you feel to have to change it?

Yes, I made it out of a fabric that is actually synthesized from weed oil. [Laughs] It's very big in Japan. Yes, it looks and feels almost exactly like real skin, but we of course couldn't use it because it would only have been legal in certain states. I was bummed that we had to change it, I really wanted the dress to feel like skin :-)



Write a poem to describe your feelings about your dress:

I will never

ever

have time.





