IDEA - Angela Hill - X-Girl Show (2nd Edition)

Overview

Second Edition of 500

The new IDEA book is X-GIRL SHOW by Angela Hill. A series of photographs shot on film in 1994 that document the now infamous moment in New York City when Daisy von Furth, Kim Gordon and Sofia Coppola staged the first show for their new X-GIRL label on the street in Manhattan.

Angela wasn't hired to shoot the show, she just shot it. Angela never made prints and the negatives from that day moved around flats and houses and would have been considered lost if anyone was looking for them. Angela found them again in 2024. They were stuck to their packets, damaged, the colours somewhat muted - we think you will love them!

Angela may have forgotten about the prints, but not about that time in NYC.
"It was my first time in New York. I was with my flat mate and we were publishing a magazine together back in London so we did this trip as research, linking up with NY artists and creatives. We went to great loft parties with John Currin and Rachel Feinstein, another with Bernadette Corporation's Bernadette Van Huy (the most stylish person I ever met). We went to the Jeffrey Deitch gallery too and got very drunk with Anthony Haden Guest one night; saw the amazing Richard Avedon EVIDENCE show at the Whitney. At the time, the A, B, C streets were still a dangerous place to go. We went to an underground club there one night; no drinks so everyone brought huge vats of cider in from the local mart that kept all the booze and fags behind wire cages...

Chloe Sevigny modelled in that first show. She has written the introduction. It perfectly captures the spirit of the event... it is here to read.

It was supposed to be spring but it was freezing. Bom out of romance and a love of hijinks, the X-girl renegade fashion show just happened right there on the street.
We were all spinning around Sonic Youth's orbit, Spike Jonze having co-directed 100% and Sofia Coppola and myself starring in the Mildred Pierce and Sugar Kane videos. Sofia and Spike were courting and conceived the show as a chance to spend some time together, at least that was the rumor. Daisy von Furth, the co- designer and mastermind behind X-girl, was indie royalty: her sister Julie was of Pussy Galore and Free Kitten fame. Daisy was styling all the rockers and forging a new look that would come to epitomize the 90s indie aesthetic. Kim and Daisy's combined love of the perfect A-line dress, a snug ringer shirt, and eye for great graphics, was a sure fire hit for making the girls happy. West Coast nepo babies met with NY indie kids to profess that streetwear also belonged to the girls. They weren't necessarily interested in doing a 'fashion show' but the enthusiasm of the courting couple was contagious.

I had been working as the brand's "fit model' and had been crashing on Daisy's couch since high school. That afternoon, all of us 'models' convened at Daisy's loft on Crosby Street to get into our looks. No one quite remembers who added the baby barrettes, they were more Courtney Love's thing. Sofia brought along lone Skye, Zoe Cassavetes and Donovan Leitch, the most recent incarnation of a 'brat pack". Us NYers were mostly Kim Gordon's pals and down for anything. Pumpkin Wentzel, Luisa Reichenheim, Michele Lockwood, Jutta Koether and other downtown personalities were recruited to 'model'.

The show was staged a few blocks away on a slightly elevated strip of the sidewalk on Mercer Street. It was conveniently timed to begin as the Marc Jacobs crowd- Linda Evangelista and Kyle MacLachlan, Bill Cunningham and other press - were exiting his latest show. We were elated and giddy. The exuberance captured in Angela's photos was a combination of being part of something that didn't happen all too often. We did it without permits or permission, we broke the "fashion" rules, a few city rules too, and we froze our asses off.
Chloë Sevigny

A book by Angela Hill Introduction by Chloë Sevigny
Published by IDEA
Hardcover
215mm x 265mm
80 pages
2nd Edition of 500