Sour Dice decided to debut its comedic designs this past New York Fashion Week at a studio space on Johnson Avenue. KC Johnson, designer and founder, hails from Western Massachusetts and had been designing using the brand name for some four years before deciding to design a runway collection.
“I am friends with and surround myself with a lot of comedians. My boyfriend’s a comedian and a lot of my friends from college,” says Johnson. “The collection is kind of inspired by humor and like not taking yourself too seriously, and like, just whimsical, the whimsy and fashion mixing together.”
The debut collection featured eight looks, some with harlequin and checkered prints, decorative bow ties and utilitarian ties which fastened, a lavender sheer babydoll dress, and voluminous sleeves. They were styled with beaded necklaces made by Bug Guts, leather ruffle clown collars made by Katy McRoberts, and Jeffery Campbell shoes. Some were accessorized with stunning faux leather swimming caps including a black mesh cap, a red alligator cap, and a black hand-studded cap.
Johnson gravitated towards designers like Vivian Westwood and the Ganni brand as design references, made apparent with the plaid square necklines and bubbly proportions. Other choices pointed to her interest in “playfulness and impracticality,” such as the use of giant sleeves or an empire line dress inspired by the Netflix show Bridgerton. Throughout, the constant jester themes nodded to her ties to the world of comedy.
Like a lot of local indie designers these days, Johnson has sustainability on her mind.
“I think doing fashion is inherently bad for the environment, and so I’m kind of trying to eliminate my footprint as much as possible,” she told me. All her brand’s clothing is made to order, using what Johnson tells me are second hand seamstress tools passed down from her family. All the fabric that doesn’t get used gets sent to textile recycling warehouses, she says.
The target audience for this, according to Johnson, are “just the girlies.” She privately tells me that she hopes that the popular YouTuber Trisha Paytas will one day be one of those “girlies” too. These days you can find Johnson’s clothes for sale at “Parkmart” meets, the monthly DIY art fairs that have been happening right below where she sews in Bushwick.
“I am a super small brand with no experience and [I’m] still able to do this,” she says.
All photos taken by Nicol Maciejewska for Bushwick Daily.
For more news, sign up for Bushwick Daily’s newsletter.
Join the fight to save local journalism by becoming a paid subscriber.