Frances Bean Cobain Convinced Courtney Love To Collaborate With Nasty Gal
A tiny tiara isn’t required to accompany Courtney Love’s new collaboration with Nasty Gal, but it was certainly the accessory of choice at the launch party on Wednesday night. To fete the new line — appropriately called Love, Courtney — guests filed into Nasty Gal’s Los Angeles boutique where they were instantly offered the glittering crowns, champagne, and cake while being treated to a first look at the 18-piece collection. “That’s our present for the night,” Love told Yahoo Style about the tiaras. “Because every girl should be a queen.”
The partnership between Love and Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso began when the singer realized that she needed a real platform for her designs. Love was making “crazy art clothes” in her house and was eventually connected by her manager to Mitch Grossbach, part of CAA’s fashion department, who also reps Kanye West. “I brought him like six mood boards,” Love said. “They were insane. They were like 3D and crazy. They’re from when I was a little nuts – more nuts than I am now, I mean. I was cutting up ‘20s clothes and Edwardian clothes and putting them together and there was no price point.”
Grossbach suggested that Love meet Amoruso, who he felt would be the perfect person to help realize Love’s creativity. But first, Love had to check with one person: Her daughter Frances Bean Cobain. “She’s a huge Nasty Gal fan,” Love noted. “She mixes it up with designers and other label. She was like, ‘Mother, you must do this.’ Frances knows everything that’s cool and hip. I read #Girlboss, so I was acclimated to what Sophia’s journey had been. We just clicked really well.”
The collaboration felt equally right for Amoruso, who has admired Love for years. “The name Nasty Gal comes from a song by a woman named Betty Davis, who’s a super stylist, outspoken ex-runway model,” Amoruso said. “There’s a spirit of this outspoken, uninhibited woman that is part of Nasty Gal’s DNA. I’ve always loved Courtney’s style. It’s been borrowed from and coopted for so many years so to do something with Courtney that is Courtney that pays homage to Courtney was almost like an obvious thing.”
The collection is the first time Love has put her name on something (she previously launched a clothing line called Never The Bride in 2012), even though she’s been asked to do so repeatedly over the years. The pieces are ‘90s-inspired but resolutely contemporary, marrying delicate femininity with rock ‘n’ roll edge. Love’s signature baby doll dress and lace-trimmed slips are present, in black, pink and pale blue, as is lingerie and a full-body black lace catsuit. The collection includes two shoes, one a bejeweled Mary Jane and the other a mesh stiletto. The items range from $48-$188. “It’s not a throwback,” Love explained, referring her iconic ‘90s style. “We modernized things.”
Last evening’s party was something of a throwback, however. Nasty Gal tapped Best Coast singer Bethany Cosentino to perform a special set of two Hole songs, “Malibu” and “Celebrity Skin,” for the tiara-clad guests, which included filmmaker Eli Roth. Cosentino, dressed in the same black baby doll dress as Love, struggled with some nerves before performing for one of her idols. “I just met Courtney for the first time tonight,” Cosentino admitted. “We’ve had some connections through social media and mutual friends, but this is the first time I’ve met her in person. The first thing she said to me was ‘I’m a really big fan.’ I was like, ‘Uh, me too!’”
For Love, seeing her designs in the Nasty Gal shop was hugely gratifying. It’s a massive step from her mood boards, which she said are “brilliant but nuts.” The singer laughed, “I just went on Etsy and bought old Coca-Cola labels that had cocaine in them and 7-Up labels that had lithium in them. And old ribbons. I discovered Etsy for the first time and I went crazy. And now if my accountant hears the word Etsy he’s like ‘No, no. No Etsy for you.’ They sent me a fruit basket – that’s how much they love me.” And as much as we’d like to see those creations, we’re certain Love, Courtney has a much more wearable vibe – especially with a tiara.
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