The location for this season’s Anna Bolina runway show is a nondescript windowed room off the J train in Lower Manhattan. Black industrial tarps hang from the ceiling to the concrete floor, creating a makeshift backstage area. The only lighting for the runway show is 3 LED panels arranged around a DJ booth with a full-size sound system. Models scurry all over the room in various states of undress. It’s unclear which models are naked and which are already in their looks for the show. Anna directs the chaos, frantically sewing, cutting and clipping the looks to the model’s bodies.
By 9 PM, the line to enter the room is down the block several hundred people deep. The room feels uncomfortably full, and after the capacity is reached, more people line the outside window, peering in.
The room lights dim, and HIM HUN struts down the runway in a fishnet tube top, nipples peeking out, and an asymmetric stretched red skirt with a single stocking on her left leg. She stops at the DJ booth, plugs in her USB, and starts the music. The beat builds slowly, with the crowd getting into the music, screaming adoration for the DJ. It begins…
The show ends with Anna taking the final walk behind her models, to wild applause. I find Anna in a dark corner of the tarp, next to a folded-up table laying against the wall.
WALTER WOLFGANG
Hey Anna, so would you say the idea is behind this season’s collection and how was it different from last season? There were definitely fewer of the graphic bold words that are your iconic signature.
ANNA BOLINA
Right, yea no, I’m so over screen printing; I don’t think I have like, another catchy phrase in me at this point. Well originally, I was going off of like, evening-wear and kind of thinking about how that could be interesting, and rethought and sexy and different. …And so yea i was going to the thrift store and getting like these giant evening wear dresses and taking them apart and remaking them. The concept for the makeup was like starting off put together, and slowly, the music and the makeup, it was kinda like….
WALTER WOLFGANG
It was a build-up.
ANNA BOLINA
Yea what I told them, was “think like you are having a mental breakdown” because yea that just seems relevant to me right now.
WALTER WOLFGANG
Yes, it seems like we are all having a mental breakdown, this is my 5th runway show im starting to lose count…
ANNA BOLINA
Yea, it’s like when you’re pushed that far….
WALTER WOLFGANG
And New York fashion just does that to you.
ANNA BOLINA
Exactly, you don’t get a day off, you can’t stop, you just gotta go and gotta do and you have to show up and keep doing it.
WALTER WOLFGANG
You host parties with your friends often, you guys are always partying, how do you think that influenced how you design clothes or what you were thinking when you were doing this collection?
ANNA BOLINA
I definitely really care about night-time clothing. I don’t really give two fucks about daytime clothing. If you see me during the day I’m literally always wearing pyjamas. And the only time I get dressed up is when I go out. So I feel like that’s just my culture of clothes. Like during the day I’m all about comfort. During the night, I have to be wearing the tiniest outfit and the highest heels and the most LOOK AT ME outfit in the room. …
WALTER WOLFGANG
Yes, and what are some of your favourite clubs or places to party in the city right now?
ANNA BOLINA
Oh my god, I feel like I haven’t been out in like a month. I feel like I haven’t even been going out recently so I don’t even know. I pretty much only go to where my friends DJ now.
WALTER WOLFGANG
Fair enough. Do you pay any attention to what the trends are? And are there any current trends that you love or hate?
ANNA BOLINA
Yea, I definitely do because I have a phone, it’s hard to avoid these days. I love a lot of what’s happening in fashion. I don’t feel like there’s a place where I see clothes for girls that are interesting. Which is kind of a gap for me. I love that everything these days is unisex or whatever, but I want my brand to be very focused on women. And I feel like a lot of the interesting clothing that I wanted to wear, they weren’t sexy. It’s like you have to either choose interesting construction and design OR sexy. And I’m trying to figure out where those meet.
WALTER WOLFGANG
Like how to do both.
ANNA BOLINA
Exactly.
WALTER WOLFGANG
Alright, great answer, last question. If you could see one person living or dead wearing Anna Bolina, who hasn’t yet, who would you wanna see?
ANNA BOLINA
Umm, I guess I would say, Courtney Love.
Walter Worch is a photographer working and living in New York City.
He uses his unique understanding of light and over 10 years of photography experience to tell meaningful and compelling visual stories.