Can You Show Me Your Favorite Item Of Clothing?

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY AMY KELLNER

Angela DiCarlo
Makeup artist

I found this dress downstairs in the fat-girls department of Rainbow on Delancey Street in New York. Wear a black vintage slip underneath, put on some false eyelashes and some control-top pantyhose and you got yourself a cute look! I was wearing it in L.A. when I was on tour with Fischerspooner, and Simon Le Bon came to the show. I was such a big Duran Duran fan growing up. I asked him to sing me “Last Chance on the Stairway” and he didn’t remember the lyrics!

Ian Reid
Pro skater

This is a shirt made by my man Ace Boon Kunle. It’s IRAK, but IRAK really stands for Ian Reid Always Kills. This shirt represents the way I feel about kids I see in the streets right now. They’ll buy anything just because some asshole on the internet said, “Buy this shit, it’s cool.” The shirt has the black dude coming up with the idea, the Jewish dude financing it, the Asian dude has a factory, and then there’s the kid who buys it just because. Does it get any simpler than that? Fuck no, that’s it right there.

Chrissie Miller
Fashion designer/club owner

This is my favorite jean jacket. I’ve had it since I was maybe 18. I’ve even lost it a few times and gotten it back. I don’t think I’ve ever washed it or anything. It’s just faded from wearing it so much. It used to be dark blue. If you look through my photo album, I’m wearing it in most pictures. I take it everywhere. It’s been to Paris, to Miami… Um, Staten Island. Man, if this jacket could talk!

Jessy Brodsky
Student/painter/cocktail waitress

This is my mother’s dress. I stole it out of her closet a couple of years ago. I don’t know where she got it. Maybe it’s vintage, but it’s probably just some 90s thing. But this is what I wear on dates and when I want to feel feminine because it’s very simple and girly. You don’t have to think about it much and then you’re ready to go! I’ve had good luck in it. It’s pretty much my lucky dress.

Ramona Bean Sidlo
Model agent

This is my navy-blue cloak with gold buttons. Three years ago I envisioned this cloak in my mind. I looked in every thrift store and couldn’t find it. Then, this past September I was walking down 10th Street and there was a random sidewalk sale on the street and there it was. I was like, “Oh my god, this is it! This is THE cloak.” I was so excited. It was exactly how I envisioned it to be. And it was only $10! Best thrifting score ever. It’s everything that I ever wanted in my wardrobe.

Simon Curtis
Graphic designer/DJ

This is my bootleg Flavor Flav sweatshirt, circa 1988. I got it at a flea market in Jersey. Public Enemy used to be my favorite band. They changed my life. Flavor Flav was the man—I mean, before all his new fame now. Pre-Betty Ford. I like the wonderful production quality of this shirt. It has that vintage bootleg quality. Like remember those Mickey and Minnie Mouse shirts where they’re a homeboy and homegirl? That level of quality.

Melinda Alushaj
Exo Records, Melbourne

These new D&G shoes I got on eBay are hot. I’d have to say that D&G tends to be my least favourite designer and they really take that whole euro trash thing a bit too seriously for my liking, but I would have bought these shoes whether they were super cheap or super expensive. These are the kind of shoes that you could imagine wearing in a movie like Casino, without coming off as a sleazy bitch with a vicious coke habit.

Will Bond
www.opulentmagazine.com/
Favela Rock, Melbourne

I pre-ordered this hoodie over the internet from Mishka NYC in winter but it didn’t arrive till the end of November and it’s way too hot to wear it now. I can only really put it on for show at the moment. The guy who runs the label collects Mr T paraphernalia and strangely he and Diplo used to live in a hippy commune together. Also, this is a Nintendo watch that I always wanted when I was a kid and then found one day on eBay. It works and you can plug your headphones in and play Tetrus and everything..

Des
Graffiti Bomber—Koc/Mrs Crew, Sydney

I got this ‘Drunk on the Popes Blood’ Birthday Party t-shirt in 96, on permanent loan from a girl who shortly became my ex. Since then there have been numerous attempts at acquisition by other people—both through purchase and theft. The exact origin of the t-shirt is unknown, but the artwork represents the live recording that is described as “16 minutes of sheer hell!”

Helen Neville
Graphic Artist, Sydney

This is a pair of Keith Haring board shorts which I got for $3 at an op shop. They’re a great find because I collect Keith Haring gear and they’re worth $150 on eBay. I’m about to get matching Keith Haring tattoos with my best friend.

Brett Chan
Extreme Sportsman, Sydney

I don’t really have a favourite thing. I don’t have much at all. Everything I own fits in this one bag. The stack of plain tees is because I’m over being a cotton billboard. These shoes have helped me traverse Crystal Caverns like Cinderella’s glass slippers allowed her access to the ball.

Damien (Nuts) Kelly
Skateboarder/Commercial Painter, Adelaide

This is my favourite shirt. It’s a white long-sleeved button-up with roses embroidered down the sides and across the back. My old man used to wear it on stage back in the 80s. He fronted for a metal band called Almost Human who opened for bands like AC/DC, Whitesnake, and Cheap Trick. Since I got the shirt off him I’ve worn it out so much that it has a bunch of stains and all the buttons have fallen off apart from the top two.

Brett Davis
Musician/DJ/Screenprinter, Adelaide

I recently got this t-shirt from a little store in Chinatown in Adelaide. It’s the kind of store that I think you’d find in every Chinatown in Australia—the kind that would try and sell you a coin purse made out of a Kangaroo’s scrotum or moisturiser made from Goanna tears. Anyway, this shit was an amazing find. It’s timeless on so many levels and I very much feel that it’s finally made skulls cool again!

Jessie Van Dammen
Artist/Jewellery Designer, Auckland

So, what I found in my closet was this overly bedazzled jumper. I imagine a small Jewish woman from Queens with a mop of black hair spent hours glueing and stitching the gold rope, beads and jewels onto this bat-winged marvel while chain smoking Holidays. I’m a huge fan of home made shit especially clothes that have had a bit too much attention in the craft department. Fuck I love this jumper.

Sarah Garlick
Good as Gold employee, Wellington

This is a cat mask that I got it in Venice last July. I have a real thing for cats and collect cat related toys, books and DVDs. I went to a cat show in the UK that took me five hours to get to by train, which was awesome and I got my photo in a big UK cat fancy magazine. Whenever there is a dress up party I wear my cat mask and adopt feline characteristics. When I’m not wearing my mask I pin it up above my bed and it keeps an eye on me. I know I am eccentric.

Andrew Peters
Skateboard Photographer, Sydney

This Pink Floyd shirt is definitely one of my favourite items in my wardrobe. When my sister found out I was listening to a heaps of Floyd around the house she stumbled across this shirt at Savers for $3 on a trip to Melbourne. Since then I am offered money for it almost every time I wear it out. I guess it was just a lucky find.

Dan Buckly
Huffer Clothing, Auckland

I was looking around the house for my girlfriend, Louie because she always knows where my clothes are but she seemed to have disappeared. I looked in the closet for her but she wasn’t in there—just Barry and Bibi, my little meow monsters.

Kristy Ryan
Commercial Agent—Big Day Out, Splendour In The Grass, Sydney

Last week I was offered a sweet deal of US$100 plus free drinks for life at Max Fish in New York for my favourite tiger hat by my friend Mark who fell in love with it when he was on E. While I know that falling for a tiger hat is stupid, I do share his enthusiasm. My sister bought this at Surry Hills markets (which I stole and still owe her $10) but it is originally from Taronga zoo.