getting dressed 01: Kristin
on dressing for the life you live
getting dressed is another new series featuring the people I love and the ways they interact with fashion and clothing in their daily lives.
Kristin and I met in a writing class at Pioneer Works in 2015. I knew Kristin was a painter because I'd stalked the class email list beforehand, and I thought she was so cool (I still do!) that I was nervous to meet her. In addition to being cool, she is also so open and disarming and generous that rather than feeling intimidated by her, I felt inspired.
After living with her for several months, I realized that someone who dresses for the life they are living will always look comfortable and authentic. Kristin's work and her life are intertwined, and she truly lives and works in everything she owns. Over the almost-decade that we've now known each other, I've accumulated (both purchased and gifted) many a Kristin Texeira original, and I see in both Kristin's paintings and her wardrobe a keen understanding and consideration of color, shape, and form. It seemed fitting for her to kick off this series.
This interview was conducted over email and FaceTime.
How does your life (job, where you live, what you do on the daily, etc.) shape your wardrobe?
I am a painter. (Eleanor, I think I need to talk to you on the phone to answer this Q because I am starting to get psychological - I might indulge) I have a vague memory of accidentally destroying nice material things when I was a kid. I borrowed a flannel from my step dad and got paint all over it not knowing it was a "nice" flannel. I hugged an ex-bf and got paint on his "vintage Stüssy" t-shirt. I can't deal with the feeling of clothes being precious. I don't want the guilt. I have enough of it being raised Catholic. So, for my OWN life I choose clothes that I don't mind getting paint on. I'm not aiming to destroy my clothes but, I know that if I accidentally get a dab of ultramarine blue on a shirt I bought for $8 it won't feel like getting shot in the heart. I still like looking hot. But hot in like a "hot mess" kind of way. I was like "damn, she's sexy" the other day after spending 5 hours in the studio lost in time with my big shirt on and my baggy pants and white headphones that people mistake for ear muffs but, my hair looked good which is a great compliment to an oversized-stuffed (I basically dress like I'm about to hit the ski slopes because my studio is so cold) outfit. I DIGRESS.
Where do you get your clothes?
Most of the time hand-me-downs from friends or stolen items from husband. Thrift stores. I tried to be sexy and hit Aritzia a couple of times. 88% of the time I look down at my outfit and think to myself - the only thing that I'm wearing that I actually bought was my underwear.
What outfit or outfits make you feel most like yourself?
Oversized shirt with pants cut at ankle oxfords or loafers - top bun used to be go-to but I recently switched to HAIRCLIP.
What's something (or a couple things) you wear all the time?
Lately: rotate two JCrew hand-me-down sweaters, one navy, one olive green. Black stretchy flared charley high waters? (is that what our parents call them?) brown doc marten loafers, wool ochre le bon shoppe socks, green wiggly hair clip with white flower, brown Woolrich sweater that I bought for my husband but, I must have had subconscious alternative motives because now it's MINE. We do both look good in it so I let him borrow it back.
What are your favorite items of clothing—past or present?
I think my favorite items are the ones I’ve lost. Like when a celebrity dies at 27, they’re preserved in time at their peak, at their hottest. They’re forever young, they don’t get stale, they remain perfect. So the clothes, because I lost ‘em too young, they’re forever in my head as like, the best t-shirt ever because they didn’t have a chance to get old or overdone or used or fall out of style.
First one: I had this colorful GAP cardigan when I was 7 or 8, a striped pinkish greenish yellow red orange, maybe three buttons, I think it was meant to be a crop top sweater for adults. The sleeves were long and I used to wave ‘em around. [Ed. note: I also had a GAP cardigan from around that age that I left in a cottage in Cornwall and have been mourning ever since. It was a chenille argyle in really interesting colors—a deep burgundy/oxblood, cream, chartreuse, powder blue. Does everyone have a lost GAP sweater they’ll never stop pining for?]
The second one I got at a flea market on Martha’s Vineyard from an old lady who lived on the Upper West Side, a vintage GAP navy button up with little brown teardrop shapes, kinda like paisley, it looked like a pattern on a tie. I stopped wearing bras because of that shirt. I remember wearing it to go dancing by myself in Oak Bluffs, I wore it when I first went to NYC to meet up with a new love. I don’t know where that shirt went.
The last one was this white pair of jeans I found at a Salvation Army-ish shop in Paris. They were kinda too big, the zipper never stayed up, and I used them as a pillow the last night I spent on this houseboat in Sausalito and I left them on the houseboat. The girl who lived there after me later told me she found them, and said she’d fallen in love with them and asked if we could barter for them. She ended up sending me something in the mail, but it didn’t fit.
Do you try to hold onto clothing? Do you find that clothing comes in and out of your life?
When I was in high school I always thought I wanted to hold on to everything so I could give it to my kids one day - that came from wishing I had my mom’s old clothes. My mom recently sent me a giant trash bag of shit I had saved for this purpose, and it was terrible. So much Forever 21. I was like, why didn’t I save anything good or sentimental? I generally feel lucky because when I outgrow something I can give it to my sister, and I just tell her “If you’re ever going to get rid of that, tell me first.”
Do you have any fashion or style inspirations? Who or what are they?
JFK JR. 1990s
Are there any items or styles of clothing you’d want to wear but feel like you couldn’t pull off, or it feels too different from your normal style?
I used to model for [mutual friend] Julie when she sold vintage clothes, and she would throw me into some wild shit I would never wear, like a long leather trench coat with a 70s collar, super fitted, very structured jackets. I think they are sick, I feel very out of place in them, but when someone else styles me, I’m like damn, I look like Neo from the Matrix.
What’s the most recent item of clothing you purchased?
Pink rain coat, teal navy plaid lined, channeling 1993 MAINE MOTHER
Can you tell me about your wedding dress? What was it like to go “wedding dress shopping” and to wear something so formal/different from your everyday wardrobe?
I knew exactly what I wanted a year before the wedding but I went about it the hard way to trust my intuition. I have a screenshot from October 2022 of this sheer top that a fashion designer friend had made. I then spent the following year leading up to the wedding ordering dresses on The Real Real, returning them. Then, for the wrong reasons, I did the whole bridal shop dress try on with 18,000 girls and the baby, got a very expensive dress that was like an Italian princess ball gown, fell asleep sweating knowing it was the wrong choice. Called the next morning at 8 AM. No returns. Etc etc finally found a Nili Lotan slip dress on sale. Lucky to have a friend who is a sophisticated tailor who tuned it up for me. And Christina, my friend whose sheer top I had screenshotted, made me the top of my dreams a couple of weeks before the wedding. The night before the wedding my girl Elysha and I sewed stick mother of pearls onto the wrists of the sleeves. I wish I wore it longer but I was tripping all over it and I didn’t want to nip slip in front of my dad. So, I threw on a dress I didn’t have to concentrate on wearing. That’s the saga. Now it’s rolled up in a drawer under my bed.
What is your holy grail or “white whale” item, if you have one?
My mom has this gold charm that is the shape of a foot with funky little different colored gems on it. It’s like ¾ of an inch long. She got it in Italy when she was 14. That’s what I want.
Thanks, Kristin! You can find more of Kristin’s work on her website and her Instagram.
I love Kristin's art! And those white jeans do look perfect. :') I think about shoes I have given away or donated all the time.