Sophie Andes-Gascon and Claire McKinney from SC103 in conversation with Novembre

Salon de Normandy was organized by The Community and powered by Novembre.global, as a free-to-visit and free-to-exhibit-by-invitation initiative at Hotel de Normandy in Paris, held between October 17 and 20, 2019. The salon is a gathering of an international community of galleries, exhibition spaces, projects, collectives, publishers, and labels inside the 150 years old hotel.

Hung in one of the bathrooms at the historic Hôtel Normandy in Paris for the multidisciplinary salon, Salon de Normandy, were various mesmerizing garments, but far most captivating were the leather-woven and chained accessories from SC103.

The first long-term collaboration project of New York-based designers Claire McKinney and Sophie Andes-Gascon, SC103 has already made substantial noise in their city and beyond with a public runway show this past September showcasing their one-of-a-kind and artistic (emphasis on artistry) garments ranging from hand-linked leather chain armor to pressed flower lamination. On view at the Salon de Normandy were SC103’s linked works (a signature of their experimental style) in the form of their leather-laced footwear and their links tote. Below you can find our conversation on these specific pieces, the development of SC103, and more.

https://www.instagram.com/sc103_official/
https://www.instagram.com/sophie_andesgascon/
http://www.cmck-nyc.com/
http://www.salondenormandy.global/
https://thecommunity.io/

I can see that the selections of what was exhibited for the Experimental Space at Salon de Normandy really reflects the title of your inaugural show, “Bonds” where we can materially see bonds or leather links through the footwear and tote. Where does the title of your inaugural Spring Summer 2020 show in New York come from and why did you choose these specific works for the Salon?

The word 'Bonds' came up as Sophie and I were trying to give our brand a name. We both felt strongly that 'Bonds' captured our partnership as co-designers, friends and roommates. We have such a rhythm working together -- we energize and center each other. It's been clear since day one of working on projects together that we're a true creative match which is so hard to find. As our individual bodies of work grew we felt 'bound' to find avenues to make work together. I find that working with Sophie is a restorative experience in that it's such a departure from the more internalized, emotional process of making work alone. Working with a partner involves a lot of communication and trust, but since Sophie and I are first-and-foremost friends, those things come naturally. We chose to title our first collection Bonds as an expression of our partnership and named our brand SC103 as a generic code identifying our initials and the street address of our longtime home and workshop.

The Links handbag was chosen for the Salon mainly because we both personally found the bags our favorite items in the collection -- Sophie and I wanted more than anything to walk home wearing the bags after making them. The Links handbag came to fruition at the very end of building the collection. We had been constructing and deconstructing the leather links tops for weeks, an insanely tedious process using the small-gauge links. It was such a relief to find a purpose for the large links. Constructing the handbags was much more fluid than the mathematical process of making the small-link tops -- we definitely needed that shift in tempo towards the end!

The footwear we included seemed to inherently make sense in the setting of the Salon, an update to the complimentary hotel slipper in a way. The base of our leather laced footwear being a generic water clog, sold in nearly every dollar store in NYC, aligned with how we imagined the accessories to be viewed. I was happy to see the work displayed in the hotel restroom very much woven into the scene.

We chose to keep the Salon works accessory-focused to highlight the tentacles of the collection we saw as key to the presentation -- we felt that the comfortable footwear and heavy handbags brought strength to the pace of the runway walk.

SC103 seems like a very community-oriented label (if I can call it a label) both in this extremely cohesive way of presentation and the pieces in your collection. I love that your show was accessible to all through the layout of it and the fact that it prioritized attendees over media—it’s so refreshing to see that you are disengaging with elitist notions that are common in the arts and fashion! The pieces in the show also attest to this community element through your work with one another. They seem to really reflect both your individual practices, that being Claire’s work with denim, workwear and flower lamination and Sophie’s hand beading and fabric marbling practice, in a very interactive, exciting way rather than reductive in losing your individuality through an absolute mixture. Can you walk me through on the creative and material process of making is for the both of you collaboratively?

The development of the collection began with Sophie and I looking into each others' archives of work, pulling out pieces were were interested in exploring further or in new ways. We had both stockpiled a lot of half-investigated techniques, shapes and materials over years of making work. The story grew from there, and the main challenge became focusing the work into a cohesive, concise group. We gave ourselves space to make work completely individually with the understanding that these more personal pieces would sit alongside pieces conceived together. Through the process of making the collection we almost always worked at the same time in the same room, almost always after long work days. Having each other for both advice and trust became crucial in working through problems. In the realm of materials, since Sophie and I work in pretty different avenues of textiles (as you outline above) we tend to work with materials we develop ourselves as opposed to passing each other materials. However some groups in the collection, one being the leather, was worked on by Sophie and I together as we were equally captivated by the craft and intricacy involved. Whereas our individual work in the collection came more naturally, the groups we worked on together became interesting (and rewarding!) obstacles.

The pieces exhibited at the Salon de Normandy were meant to be international fashion designers that have yet to be available in France. Of course, France, Paris in particular, has a very rich history in fashion, but we don’t really see much young, experimental fashion practices coming out of here that blur this distinction between fashion and art, clothing and object (outside of maybe BLESS, that is). I’m curious to hear more about the contextual surroundings (and geographical: New York) that you have navigated through in order to have such an experimental approach that can look to found objects and create one-of-a-kind pieces that come from a poetic space rather than adhering to a global market. I’m thinking of many other great fashion practices coming out of Los Angeles, London and, most of all, New York that are also exploring and experimenting with such things.

We both maintain our practices as strictly after-hours since we both work full-time in the fashion industry too. As a result I think we both really respect the time we dedicate to our own work, allowing ourselves an opportunity to do whatever we want and keeping a healthy distance from traditional business approaches. There's definitely an energy in New York that supports this sort of night-shift dynamic -- people work long and hard for what they love. We're lucky to be amid a warm community that values the effort we put in. Personally speaking, making clothes is a therapeutic experience -- as someone who hates sitting still I honor the way that making work lets me unwind and be in my head for a little. I enjoy the obstacles and problem-solving involved.

You describe your collection as a play between practicality and absurdity, terms that seem nearly mutually exclusive! Where did this idea—or perhaps why is better to use here—come from?

On absurdity, often times shapes or techniques come to us from making a mistake, whether it's cutting a whole in the 'wrong' place or putting something on the 'wrong' way. The materials we work in introduce a play between fragility and brutality -- one example being the lamination of delicate pressed flowers behind rigid plastic, which becomes a motif not so far from a dollar store shower curtain. Another example being Sophie's coin adornment in mass volume which creates its own crazy harmonious sound when moving. All of this sits beside functionality, something we don't consciously focus on, but comes from a place of wanting to make pieces people can wear with confidence and ease. We want people to feel powerful in what we make, not intimated by its complexity. Practicality involves trying things on each other and our friends, getting a personal sense of how it feels to walk around in.

BONDS by Gabriela Cavanagh presenting the SC103 AW20 show premiering exclusively on Novembre Global.