Catching Up With Kate
“Where have you been?” Kate Hudson asked friend and jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer as Meyer walked through the doors of The Butcher’s Daughter’s private back patio in Venice in
Los Angeles on Thursday night.
“At your party,” exclaimed Meyer, who had been inside the vegan eatery. The event was being held to celebrate Hudson’s fashion brand, HappyxNature.
“The collection gets better and better,” said Meyer. “And look how cute you look.” Hudson had on the “skyglow” jumpsuit, retailing at $298 and made with recycled polyester. The entire line — dresses, jumpsuits, sweaters — was made in collaboration with Repreve, a provider of fiber created from recycled plastic bottles.
“At this point, there isn’t one thing that’s in design that doesn’t have an eco element to it,” shared Hudson, who collaborates with designer Michele Manz, former head of Alberta Ferretti whose résumé includes creating for John Varvatos, Converse, Seven For
All Mankind and Current/Elliott. “Everything is conscious and yet we’re selling a $78 dress. Or, something that would normally be a $450 dress, we’re selling at $250. A lot of it is 100 percent recycled.
“I have to be honest, it’s not easy,” she said of producing sustainable fashion. “There are some things that are easy that if people aren’t doing, they’re just not being responsible. But at the end of the day, you run these big businesses and by changing the way you do things, your entire business could fall.”
She’s had the luxury of starting from the “ground up,” she said. “But for people who are trying to shift, we have to give them the space to change over the way they do things. It’s an industry that is never going to go away. Everybody loves fashion. People have to wear clothes — I mean, they don’t have to. You know, some places clothing is optional,” she added with her familiar laugh. “The reality is, there’s high fashion that’s going to set the trend, but we need people who are making affordable clothing to change their practices. That’s really why I’m doing this. And I love clothes.”
Hudson is also behind Fabletics, the activewear retailer she cofounded. And outside fashion, she’s authored two books and recently entered the spirits industry with the launch of King St. Vodka, distilled in
Santa Barbara, Calif: “If someone wants me to endorse their liquor, I’d much rather go make the liquor I like, hire the best people who can do that, get the best possible product, be as conscious as I possibly can, push sustainably on everybody, push for female-owned farms, push for things that I believe in and hopefully make a really beautiful, big business that thrives and supports really amazing things. That’s my ultimate goal.”
Among her upcoming projects is the musical “Music,” a directorial film debut from Australian popstar, songwriter and producer Sia. The story was cowritten by Sia — who also created its soundtrack — with author Dallas Clayton.
“It’s taken a while, in a good way,” shared Hudson of its release. The film, also starring Maddie Ziegler, has been years in the making, and while Sia tweeted earlier this year that it would arrive in October, it’s now expected to come out next year.
“She’s a real artist, and she’s very particular about her work,” continued Hudson. “We worked really hard. The movie has turned out amazing. I can’t say anything about it, because we’re going to announce it at some point in an interesting way, but it should be out in 2020. Singing was a dream for me. It was honestly one of the greatest experiences. I look forward to people being able to get to see the movie. I think it’s going to be a special one.” — RYMA CHIKHOUNE
Saint Laurent, Gucci and After Six. There also are film clips and photographs featuring Hollywood stars such as Marlene Dietrich and Janelle Monáe.
The exhibit is co-curated by the master’s degree candidates of NYU’s Costume Studies program: Samantha Asam, Benjamin Chait, Lara Damabi, Amanda Driggs, Michael
German, H. Colton MacKay, Yaritza Martinez Pule, Ayaka Sano, and Sarah Sebetich, under the direction of Melissa Huber, assistant curator at
The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A reception for the opening of “The Tuxedo Redefined,” will be held Jan. 11 from 5 to 7 p.m. at 80 Washington Square East in the Project Space. The event is free and open to the public. In addition, NYU’s Costume Studies program will hold a symposium Feb. 2 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Einstein Auditorium at 34 Stuyvesant Street, in addition to curators’ presentations on exhibition-related themes. It will feature speaker Chloe Chapin, fashion and cultural historian and Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Harvard University. — LISA LOCKWOOD