Photo by
Pedro Zalba
KA: Hey there Jared, thanks for the chat. Where are you right now, my dear, and what are you up to?
JG: I am in Salt Lake City, I seem to move between here and LA every eight years like clockwork. I just finished working on the Sparklepark and I am working on building a new collection to premier here this Winter: Outer Darkness
KA: You've done so many amazing things with fashion. Let's start at the very beginning. How did you get where you are now?
JG: I started sewing clothes and hats in my parents garage and ended up selling them at Lollapalooza during its early formidable years when Perry Ferrel was still heavily involved with the creative. I really had no idea how to sew or how people would react to the crazy clothing I was making, but it was such a coincidence with the zeitgeist and what came out turned out to be RAVE clothing. I was really interested in screen printing all through high-school because Warhol had such an influence on my life. The screen printing has always been an integral part of everything I have designed. After a whirlwind partial education at Otis in Los Angeles, I began making pieces for the infamous Fred Segal, which eventual led to my collections being purchased by Barnys, Henri Bendel, Beams Tokyo, and many other stores that understood my viewpoint of punk victoriana. After large runway events at Bryant Park in NYC, it was the attacks of 9-11 that brought me bak to Utah to begin my new fashion house Black Chandelier. We opened 6 stores in total including the website and just tried to make as much amazing work as possible with my Utah team. Eventually we were showing collection in Salt Lake City and then moving to Los Angeles to show it again. I have always felt like a designer that told a tale of two cities.
KA: Your fashion has been described as American Gothic and Avant Garde. Do you agree with these descriptions?
JG: I love both of the monikers. I think the term American Gothic is really referring to my tendency to askew sexuality in my garments and really glamorize high collars, buttoned-up fronts and even very conservative hairstyles used by polygamists. As far as Avant Garde is concerned, I think anytime you see something completely new, it is Avant Garde. I always try to bring new ideas and sensibilities, so I fully embrace this.
KA: As a child, you were a piano prodigy. What made you decide to not follow the musical path, and what other instruments are you into?
JG: My mother started teaching me piano when I was 3 and I eventually graduated to a very intense local teacher that had been trained by John Cage at a conservatory in Paris. She taught me above all else that music was not the right notes, or the right timing, but the emotion you were expressing. This said, I was always able to vibrate complex and unnamed emotions through all of my work. I think the piano training and the intense discipline of practicing up to three hours a day is what has enabled my most powerful artistic outcomes.
KA: Your clothing company, Black Chandelier. That's such an amazing name for your style of clothing. How did you come up with it?
I thought about this name for almost two years, I really tortured myself over this one. I really wanted something that could in a single image be an oxymoron as well as a new way of seeing things. Something made of pure light, yet completely black.
KA: In 2006, you got to be a guest judge and feature some very interesting creations on America's Next Top Model. What can you tell me about that experience... And your unique creations?
JG: Clint Catalyst was working as a writer for the show and really made this happen. They wanted us to come on and kind of terrorize the girls with our live hissing Madagascar cockroach brooches, It was really fun and the girls did quite well, but in end it turned out to be the clothing that stole the show, The collection was called Glinka and was heavily inspired by Russian handicrafts and music. The girls looked amazing in the clothing and I am still friends with quite a few of the models from that season to this day. I would say all in all it was a pleasant experience, but they kept asking me for more negative responses and really wanted me to be mean it seemed. I did not comply.
JG: Clint Catalyst was working as a writer for the show and really made this happen. They wanted us to come on and kind of terrorize the girls with our live hissing Madagascar cockroach brooches, It was really fun and the girls did quite well, but in end it turned out to be the clothing that stole the show, The collection was called Glinka and was heavily inspired by Russian handicrafts and music. The girls looked amazing in the clothing and I am still friends with quite a few of the models from that season to this day. I would say all in all it was a pleasant experience, but they kept asking me for more negative responses and really wanted me to be mean it seemed. I did not comply.
KA: What fashion designers do you typically wear when out and about, and what about when you're just relaxing at home?
JG: I try to make most of what I wear because it really has to have a softness level that makes it barely there. I have transitioned to a look that really just provides me with comfort and luxuriant pleasure all day. I do have a few Belgian designer pieces that I still love to wear when I really want to bring the children a look by Walter van Bierendonck, Martin Margiela, and Dries Van Noten.
KA: Who IS Jared Gold? What is a typical day like for you.
JG: I wake up and draw as long as I can, then move on to doing some light work before heading out on an 8 - 12 hour meditative walk. Living in Salt Lake really lets me expand my inner peace and be as creative as I can.
KA: Did you ever get into the party scene that comes with the territory?
JG: Oh hunnnnny. I would say I was the opposite of this fashion-ey party scene. If I am notorious for anything it is not pandering to celebrities and really trying to keep everything as fresh and punk as possible. I was invited to do a small performance at a Paper Magazine party in New York City at the ultra posh Dietch Projects Gallery during fashion week. Four of us arrived wearing all Victorian rabbit costumes. We played the xylophone, tap danced, screen printed my Jared Gold rabbit logo on the wall, then handed out little bags of candy. Little did anyone know that the bags contained live cockroaches. When we heard the first scream, we kicked over a large box of live roaches and as you can imagine, it was total pandemonium. Not my finest hour, but probably my proudest.
KA: Writer/model, Clint Catalyst, has been said to be your muse. In what ways has he inspired your creativity?
JG: I love Clint! He really helped promote my brand and collaborated with me on so many amazing looks. He understood what I was doing at its very core and made sure everyone saw the gore inside. LOVE!
KA: You've also done some international work with Germany's Next Top Model. What was that like, and how different was it from America's response to you?
JG: GNTM vs. ANTM was so different. The German version had the MOST exquisite models and dressing them was a pure joy, they were so professional and the production company really wanted to make the show as beautiful as possible as opposed to ANTM where there baseline was the drama, not the creativity.
KA: What do you keep with you at all times?
JG: Rotring Tiky Graphic 3.0 Black pen and a pink notebook.
KA: Hypothetically: I need an outfit for a photo shoot. What would you create for me in a pinch?
JG: I have kept a very complete archive of almost everything I have ever made. I do always prefer to make something new, but I'm sure we would be able to mash together something sick.
KA: What is the process of making, say, an entire dress. How long would a typical Gold style one take?
JG: I recently made a wedding dress that consisted of one of the most beautifully embroidered Hungarian shawl from the Victorian Period that I heat bonded to a Uhaul blanket. The punk of taking something so refined and marrying it to something so cruddy really delighted my heart. The process then ensued of sculpting the material. I did not make a pattern for this dress, (first time ever) and just let it happen under my hands. I consider this one of my favorite garments I ever made, and it took about 4 months of work.
KA: What has been your moment. Your biggest, "I made it" moment?
I was in London and this gaggle of Japanese tourist ran up to me chanting my name begging for photos.
KA: AHH! That must have been surreal!
KA: AHH! That must have been surreal!
KA: What gets you down in this business, is there anything that made you want to say "fuck it"?
JG: Having to go to parties and suck up to people. I suffer no fools.
KA: Any cringe worthy moments on runways, shoots, etc?
JG: Madonna's stylist called to see if I would just giver her a scarf. I told him that Madonna was not going to run out of toilet paper if she wrote me a 75.00 check. BYEEEE
KA: And here I thought she supported fashion designers she liked.*rolls eyes*
KA: And here I thought she supported fashion designers she liked.*rolls eyes*
KA:What are you currently working on? What should I expect to see from you in the coming years?
JG: I am working on a project that is so complex and large scale, I dare not mention its name, but it has to do with operating delight.
KA: Do any films or music inspire your work?
JG: I think the most beautiful movie is David Lynch's Dune. There is something that always returns and haunts me about this one. The power of an entire film filled with completely new images, costumes, sets and characters, just blows my mind, Nothing is familiar...true punk.
KA: As a plus sized girl, are you going to be incorporating an extended sizes in your collections?
JG: I have been the rounds with the question many times, I think my collections are moving more towards custom items, so yes, I can make you anything you like my dear. Size means nothing anymore.
KA: Oh, how long I've waited to hear that phrase, "Size Means Nothing"
KA: Oh, how long I've waited to hear that phrase, "Size Means Nothing"
KA: What is a fashion trend right now that you just can't get on board with?
JG: Instagram
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