Kim Gordon appeared in Purple’s very first issue, in the autumn of 1992. Later, she modeled for several of our fashion stories. We did a long interview with her five years ago, toward the end of her career as the lead singer and bassist of Sonic Youth, a band that inspired us for years. This is her first Purple cover, on the occasion of her autobiography, Girl in a Band.
Kim exemplifies creativity, radicality, and “experimental jet set.” She also embodies something of the feminine-masculine duality we’ve woven through this issue — in my conversation with Rick Owens and Shayne Oliver, in the interview with Jonathan Anderson, in Maurizio Cattelan’s Q&A with women artists, and throughout all the fashion stories.
The portrait of Kim on the cover is an outtake from the campaign I shot for Iceberg. But I didn’t choose her because of any advertising deal. It’s simply because she incarnates the spirit of Purple: an indivisible blend of concept and style born from the obsessions and dreams that many of us share. She’s a musician, a writer, a painter, and a New York fashion icon whose style remains the same onstage and off.
Far from the rock-girl cliché, she never tried to be a glamorous star or the anti-heroine of grunge. She is her graceful, discrete self, even in the chaos of sonic distortion. She’s won respect by remaining true to her artistic nature — strong, simple, clean, a magnetic energy whether she wears a t-shirt or a girly dress. A girl in a band, yes, but who has always emanated something more than just feminine power.
— OLIVIER ZAHM
[Table of contents]
Emporio Armani / Jacquemus collections Spring / Summer 2015
by Cécile Bortoletti
Hugo Boss Spring / Summer 2015 Collection at the Villa Savoye
photography by Olivier Zahm
Night Pictures
by Olivier Zahm and Stéphane Feugère with Noise Paintings, a portfolio by Kim Gordon
by Arnaud Viviant
by Emanuele Coccia
by Karley Sciortino
by Jeff Rian
by Angelo Flaccavento
by François Simon
by Glenn O’Brien
by Olivier Zahm and Alexis Dahan
by Olivier Zahm
by Olivier Zahm
by Sven Schumann
by Brianna Capozzi
by Anders Edström
by Camille Bidault-Waddington
by Bella Howard
by Robi Rodriguez
by Philippe Jarrigeon
by Richard Kern
by Benoit Peverelli
by Benoit Peverelli
by Andreas Larsson
by Gianni Oprandi
by Olivier Zahm
by Alexis Dahan
by Olivier Zahm
by Olivier Zahm and Gianni Oprandi