Who is Kendall McCready?
Would you say studying at CSM has allowed you to express your artistic flare more than you would have in the USA? How?
How does your background impact your designs?
What defines your brand?
Fashion is alchemy: it helps us transform into ourselves. It can do this by connecting us to our joy, a powerful sense of ourselves. My brand centres joy as a practice of liberation.
Even when you cannot seem to find yourself, the sparks of joy that you feel, are you. Joy can guide you back to yourself. Practising joy through the sensuality, ecstasy, and humour of fashion is everyday alchemy for your liberation. Your joy, pleasure, and power are my deepest wishes for you.
I create portals, love letters, armour, treasure, and adornments for your body and your life. Fashion and art help us give meaning to our lives by anchoring ourselves in the tangible manifestations of our spirit. Like Dorothy’s red slippers, it brings you home. When you’re lost, I hope my work can act as a compass back to you.
We would love to know more about your latest collection. What was the reason behind your collection being inspired by a fairytale?
Can you tell us more about the new collection and film you're working on?
A Field Guide to Kendall World.
What is Kendall World?
Kendall World is my soulscape. I believe we traverse our own spiritual landscapes while navigating the physical reality we share. I want to adorn myself in the physical manifestations of my spirit, who I truly am. I wish for us to bridge the gap between the material reality we share and the wonderlands of our imaginations. We are those wonderlands.
We’re all living in someone’s imagination anyway, that’s what social constructs are, why not define them for ourselves? Why not create our own symbols, our own definitions, our own monuments and traditions, instead of accepting the current cultural practices and signifiers as if they’re laws of nature.
As an emerging creative, who would you love to model your designs as a way of showcasing to the world your art? And why ?
There are so many artists I’d love to work with, from FKA Twigs to Rina Sawayama to Doja Cat to BTS. But, the person who has always showcased my art to the world is me. My brand is about being an ordinary superstar(one of my fav Rina songs). This is no different from showing up to fourth grade in outfits that I made. I live my life in these clothes and want to create the spaces for them to be worn. This is my normal.
3 words to describe your design brand? Why?
Rampage of Joy.
One of my lovely, talented friends described my graduate collection as a rampage of joy. My brand is rooted in what it looks and feels like to harness joy and surrealism as tools of liberation. What does liberation look and feel like to you? How do we actually do this and not just talk about it? That’s why I make fashion and installations instead of writing a thesis. I want you to experience this intuitively and somatically because that’s more empowering. At the end of the day, I want my art to feel like the best party you’ve ever been to, the wonderland of your wildest dreams come true, a rampage of joy. I have this deep intention of radical imagination with my work, but when it comes down to it, I just want you to feel the most, abundant and at the moment, completely alive.
Edited by GLITCH Team
