MY FASHIONABLE LIFE: KIM GORDON

THE SONIC YOUTH FRONTWOMAN, 66, on DRESSING LIKE A TOMBOY, STYLING IT out WITH NIRVANA and WHAT SHE LEARNED ABOUT FASHION from THE ROLLING STONES

The frontwoman of cult band Sonic Youth on the style lessons she’s learned throughout her career

THE FIRST PIECE OF CLOTHING I BOUGHT WAS A PAIR OF ROSE-PINK DENIM HIP-HUGGER BELL-BOTTOMS THAT LACED UP THE FRONT...

We lived in Hong Kong when I was 12 and I used to take a ferry across the bay to go shopping at an English store on the island.

MY MUM WAS A CHILD OF THE DEPRESSION, SO SHE MADE EVERYTHING HERSELF...

She was a seamstress and made her own clothes in the 196Os – long, floaty, bohemian dresses. And lots of clothes for me, too.

I LEARNT ABOUT STYLE FROM ANITA PALLENBERG...

I thought the way her and Keith [Richards, from The Rolling Stones] swapped clothes and created the idea of dressing for rock was so cool. I liked the way The Stones extended the ideas of what guys were supposed to look like by wearing jewellery and scarves.

I NEVER FELT COMFORTABLE DRESSING IN AN OVERTLY SEXUAL WAY GROWING UP...

This was because walking around as a teenage girl, people were kind of hitting on you. I didn’t want to attract more attention in that way. So I was very tomboyish growing up.

I THINK CHLOË SEVIGNY HAS GREAT STYLE...

She has fun with it, she’s adventurous and almost has like a filmic sense of fashion with the shapes she wears.

I WORE THE SAME STRIPED COTTON DRESS EVERY DAY OF OUR 1991 TOUR WITH NIRVANA...

All the sweat from being on stage meant it just got smaller every time I wore it. I couldn’t wash it, so it would just dry out and I’d wear it again the next day. It got shorter and shorter. I still have it stored somewhere.

FEELING GOOD IS ALL ABOUT THE HAIR FOR ME...

If you’re having a good hair day, it’s a lot easier to get dressed.

SOMEBODY THREW THE ‘GIRLS INVENTED PUNK ROCK, NOT ENGLAND’ T-SHIRT ON STAGE...

So I put it on. It was about this argument people get into on whether punk started in the UK or New York. And girls being second-class citizens in economics, culture and the world.

I feel women make natural anarchists because we are outsiders in a white, male-dominated culture.

MY DAUGHTER COCO HAS A GREAT SENSE OF STYLE – SHE’S REALLY PLAYFUL WITH HER FASHION CHOICES…

She’s definitely taken a lot of my hand-me-downs. I have these Rodarte and Marc Jacobs dresses that I’m saving for something.

I WON’T BE DRESSED WHEN I’M BURIED...

I’ll be cremated so I’ll be naked…

Kim Gordon’s album No Home Record is out 13 October