CLASHIST
New Nostalgia
A typical career trajectory in modern fashion starts with an entrepreneur introducing an apparel line and, a few years later, launching an e-commerce store. But that is not the case with Heather Lipner, founder and creative director of apparel line Clashist. She turned the typical trajectory upside down.
She began her career as a creative director with various Internet design agencies and worked at pioneering social-media site MySpace. She later founded e-commerce store Uncovet, which she still runs, and, in January 2014, formally made the first shipment of Clashist.
Lipner said that she started the line for the sake of commerce. Selling other people’s clothes online didn’t pack a lot of margin, she said. But she wanted her shirts to make a comment, too. One top was dubbed “Lena Dunham Birthday Suit.” It features illustrations of the star of the HBO series “Girls,” who frequently appears topless in the show, and her less-than-perfect body raised eyebrows. “There is a discussion about nudity … and it is funny,” Lipner said.
Other T-shirt designs give a nod to the fixations of teenage girls such as making a collage of pictures of a favorite celebrity. Hence, there are collage T-shirts of actors such as James Franco and Channing Tatum. Other designs feature graphics of a tornado, marigolds and a quilt. The motto of the collection is “New Nostalgia.” It looks back fondly on celebrity worship by teenagers and other mementos such as a quilt from a grandmother’s house, but it hopes to look at nostalgia in a novel way. The shirts are sublimation printed on American Apparel blanks.
Clashist also offers cut-and-sew for the line’s swimsuits, leggings and socks. For Fall ’14, it will offer sweatshirts and “sweat skirts.” T-shirts retail for $27.50. For more information, email heather@clashist.com.
