guybabineau.com
home / about / channel surfing in the sea of happiness / contact
< back to Mannequin
Heatherette
by Guy Babineau
When two good-looking young men meet for the first time
in a barn, and one of them keeps checking out the other’s
pants, one of two things is likely to happen; a roll in the hay
or a clothing label. The story of how Richie Rich and
Traver Rains met sounds like something by Danielle Steele.
Rich: the articulate, pretty, blond socialite running with the
in crowd, his feet barely touching the ground. Rains: the
shy, darkly handsome, sensual stable boy, feet firmly
planted. Add a few horses and a riding crop and, well, you
get the picture. Introduce pop culture trends lifted from the
streets of Tokyo and New York City the minute they’re
born. Punctuate with a sense of humour, steamy glimpses
of flesh, and set some scenes in the nocturnal haunts of
Nightclubland. Call the story Heatherette.
“I was chaperoning a friend’s son to his riding lesson at
Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers,” said Rich. He sat curled up
beside Rains on a sofa at the Roundhouse Community
Centre, taking a break from fitting models prior to the
Canadian premiere of Heatherette’s new Hello Kitty
Couture line during the Snapshot Fashion Challenge gala in
late July.
Rains, an award-winning equestrian raised in Montana, was
the instructor. It was the late 1990s. Rich, who grew up
among the suburban cul de sacs of San José, was a popular
club kid, party organizer, and dj/singer (not to be confused
with the Oakland-based rapper of the same stage name).
Rains was impressed by Rich’s unusual green leather pants,
even more so when he found out that he had designed and
made them himself. Rich had been inspired to create show
costumes in earlier days when he was a competitive skater
and toured with the Ice Capades. While he was serving up
glitz on ice, Rains had been glamming Marlboro Country
with his self-made chaps and vests. Each was as cute as a
button, both were performers, they knew how to make
costumes, and there was a barn. This postmodern Mickey
and Judy would end up putting on quite a show. But it
wouldn’t be Babes in Arms.
“We’re circus folk in a way,” said Rich, who led the
conversation while Rains occasionally interrupted with a
quiet correction or clarification.
He must have meant Cirque du Soleil. Heatherette is to the
mainstream rag trade what Cirque is to Ringling Bros. and
Barnum & Bailey. It’s closer to the street, and its fresh
showmanship outshines the older competition’s. The label
was officially formed in 1999, and named after a woman
called Heather, a fan who once obsessively stalked Rich.
According to him, Heatherette is for “the person who stops
at nothing.”
In a sense, Heatherette is fabulous wearable graffiti; a
statement of self-identity that is instinctual, spontaneous,
and springs from the urban environment. The women’s
collections look as though someone puréed Madonna’s
boytoy period in a blender along with getups from the
movie Blade Runner, Ellie Mae Clampett’s wardrobe from
The Beverly Hillbillies, and gear from punk’s peak in the
1970s, when Television headlined CBGB Omfug, and
Malcolm McLaren ruled King’s Road. The Hello Kitty
Couture line raids the J-Pop closet. For Fall 2003, the look
is Nuclear Winter; torn, mismatched, and dark.
Where men’s items are concerned, think of a surfer crossed
with a skater boy, styled by Jean-Michel Basquiat and
PeeWee Herman. Although Heatherette sells in stores in
the US, Japan, Hong Kong, and Germany, in Canada
selected items are currently only available online at
www.heatherette.com. Super-sexy bathing suits (US$50-
$65) are perfect for a night out partying in the hot urban
jungle, after you’ve peeled off your ’80s-inspired
airbrushed hoodie (US$65) , and NYC Sewer T-shirt hand-
screened from a Manhattan manhole cover (US$35). Other
items for men not available here yet include track suits
patterned with huge graphics, ripped, patched,
deconstructed pants and shirts, overalls unbuttoned down to
you-know-where, and more.
“We like to think of ourselves as a collective, not a
company,” said Rich. “We’re not living by anyone’s
business plan but our own. We’re trying to be non-
intimidating. We don’t go to parties and stand in the corner
staring at people. We want to get people to dance and have
a good time. We want to get attention.”
Thanks to the Internet, Rich and Rains have become minor
stars, and receive fan e-mails from young club-goers
around the world. They’ve designed for numerous music
videos, awards ceremonies, and celebrities. How does New
York’s fashion establishment, which is more concerned
with bottom lines than hemlines, and whose shows are all
about pushing product, react to Heatherette?
“I think that people think we’re kind of refreshing,” said
Rains. “Like, we always have a crowd around the block to
get in our show because we have a really fun show. The
other shows are about the buyers.” Having studied
economics and business in college, he confesses that he is
champing at the bit to initiate a proper marketing strategy,
rather than leave it up to others. “I can’t wait!”
Sometimes gut instinct is the best business plan, but
spontaneity is hard to sustain over time. Heatherette has
become the darling of New York Fashion Week, but the
real challenge lies ahead. It will be interesting to see what
the next installment of the Heatherette story offers.
Men's Tailoring
The Man Who Shot Ziggy Stardust
Boss Hugo Boss
Ken: The Ultimate Male Model
Men's Shoes
Heatherette
The Duffer of St. George
The Men of 2003
© Guy Babineau 2003-2004
< back to Mannequin