When Jodee Knowles launched Father Superior last year, her intention was to customise hand-picked vintage jackets with artwork by her favourite artists. With an emphasis on dark creatures, oozing monsters, zombies and pop culture icons like Gremlins and Gobble Docs, Jodee and her collaborators have created one-off pieces of wearable art that have been scooped up by discerning dressers like Ruby Rose and Ollie Henderson. Now with an exhibition in the works and a new roster of artists helping to adorn her second collection, we caught up with Jodee to get her take on the ghastly label that adheres to no ones’ rules.
i-D: You were really ahead of the hand-painted clothing curve with Father Superior. Can you explain how the label is evolving.
Jodee Knowles:So this will be our second Father Superior collection. We plan to launch only once a year — because we specialise in vintage jackets, one season is all we need. Last year we worked with just one artist called Creon and then I’d embellish the jackets sticking to the solid theme of cult horror films, 90s villains and strong punk references. This year we’re working with over twelve different artists who’ll be putting their own flair on the jackets. We also have the amazing Estelita Huijer, who’s come on board to rework the jackets at the end of the process, completely changing the style and look of each piece and giving it new life.
What’s the brief you give the artists you work with?
Basically everyone we collaborate with us has complete creative control. The only brief this year was really just, ‘punk’. Joshua Jasper is our in house photographer and all round legend who also got creative with our latest campaign shots, collaging them and reworking them to reflect the jackets and what we do.
Tell us about your exhibition that’s coming up.
It’s at Ambush Gallery. This year people will be able to try the pieces on while still enjoying a beautiful, dark installation. The line up for the exhibition includes Patrick Doherty, a Western Australian artist who has collaborated with Romance Was Born in the past and who is my favourite artist of all time, so it’s pretty special to be working with him. The other artists include Anthony Lister from Sydney, Zack Dunn from the USA, who is renowned for his demon oil paintings, Kim Kim Kim from Melbourne, Harrison Earl, John Doe, Steve Browne, Makatron, Noel Lees and myself.
Your website states that Father Superior was ‘born from the womb of Satan’. That’s a great explanation and quite contrary to a lot of Sydney’s fashion, which is relatively clean, light and breezy.
Yes, the whole reason I started this project was that everything does seem so structured, clean and similar in fashion. I think having wearable art is so personal and beautiful and ends up reflecting the energetic, diverse creatives that I spend most of my time with in Sydney.
Credits
Text Briony Wright
Photography Joshua Jasper