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Welcome to The Who What Wear Podcast. Think of it as your direct line to the designers, stylists, beauty experts, editors, and tastemakers who are shaping the fashion-and-beauty world. Subscribe to The Who What Wear Podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
For designer Christian Cowan, sometimes change is necessary. According to Cowan, when he first started out in the industry, his designs were “very, very campy and bright.”
Now, Cowan’s going in a different direction.
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“I decided to do a big shift with the brand’s aesthetic to really reflect what I [am] now,” Cowan said. “I stripped away a lot of the color, and you can really see in the previous two seasons I really doubled down on what I want to be.”
For the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Cowan shares how he got his start in the fashion industry, how his brand has evolved over the years, and more.
To read excerpts from the conversation, scroll below.
Can you tell me a little bit about how you first fell in love with fashion and what your early memories of fashion are like?
I was young. I was 12 or so when I decided I wanted to be a fashion designer.
I think I wanted to be an entomologist in the lead-up. I wanted to be someone who studied insects. I didn’t even know what fashion was.
I grew up in the middle of nowhere. It was not on my radar. I must have come across probably an [Alexander] McQueen picture that I was like, “What’s that?”
That looks like turning-humans-into-your-own-bugs type thing.
When I was 14, it was compounded by the debut of Lady Gaga.
Gaga was the first person who brought that type of fashion. Before, I thought fashion was being dragged around by your mum buying boring clothes. I hated going shopping.
Then Gaga came onto the scene. It really exposed me to Gareth Pugh and Nicola Formichetti and Anna Trevelyan and all these people who I’m so inspired by still to this day.
How do you feel like things have evolved as your business has grown?
Luckily for the ladies that I dress, things have changed because, you know, [I’m] now 32.
I guess when I made that first outfit, I was 17. It’s funny how when you start a brand so young, you don’t really know who you are.
You’re just so eager. You just desperately want to be out there doing stuff.
I was very, very campy and bright. I continued down that road because I found some initial success with that. It was attention grabbing, and I needed attention-grabbing clothes because the only way I could pay for my business was through corporate partnerships.
It needed to be viral. It needed to get attention in order to succeed and be able to continue to pay for it.
There was a point, probably only about two, two and a half years ago, where I was like, “This just is not representative of who I am anymore.”
Like, “I have grown way past this. I don’t think people know what my taste level is like.”
I listen to [Richard] Wagner and jazz, and I love interior design, and I’m just a very different human being.
I decided to do a big shift with the brand’s aesthetic to really reflect what I [am] now. I stripped away a lot of the color, and you can really see in the previous two seasons, I really doubled down on what I want to be.
It’s very Old Hollywood inspired. It’s, I think, quite refined.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)
As you continue to move forward, while obviously celebrity will always be a piece of it, when you think about the future, who is it that you really want to dress? Who are you designing for in these more recent collections? Where do you want your brand to go?
I’m greedy. I want to dress all types of women. There isn’t a specific type.
I want old, young, whoever. I’m not interested in just dressing the cool fashion girls. That’s not exciting to me.
I very much want to dress them, but I need also the people who are culturally important. People who are contributing in other ways.
I want to touch different industries, and I don’t want to name specific names, but just more people that I really admire.
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)
What piece from your latest collection is your favorite?
The sheer black chiffon one with the purple undergarments with the red flower. I think she’s it. She’s great.
Next week I’ll have a different one.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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