Wavy Women highlights various industry professionals currently leading the game with their brazen creativity and forward-thinking style.
Our latest Wavy Women stars NYC-based art and creative director, Amy Hood. Fresh off the launch of her very first publishing house, VISCOUS, Amy has been shaking up the Big Apple’s fashion and art scenes with her visually arresting aesthetic that blends noir-tinged erotica with occult iconography.
We asked Amy a few questions to find out more about her personal style, what first piqued her interest in fashion, her greatest career achievements and more.
Read what she had to say below, then peep our last installment with menswear-inspired fashion photographer, Nadia Sarwar.
What was the thing that first got you interested in fashion?
Women like Sophia Loren and Ann Margret, vintage clothing and thrift, those white go-go boots I wore as a teenager with a big floppy hat and clothing as an extension of being such a visually inclined person.
What was your first big gig?
Building up that first publishing and media company. It taught me what I wanted to pursue and how to make it happen.
Tell us about your day to day.
Oh god! It varies so much each day, but always includes getting some work done on my laptop, working at some stage within the printmaking process and almost always ends in watching a film no matter what time I come home.
If you weren’t doing what you are now, where would you work?
I would be a chemical engineer, that’s what my plan was for years before becoming an art director. I’d still like to pursue that later down the line and work towards sustainability.
Describe your current style.
1940s noir most prominently.
Who or what are you currently inspired by?
I moved to NYC from upstate quite recently and have since found all of these amazing, complex, capable, intelligent, strong yet compassionate and also somehow mega foxy New York power women to be so inspiring. It really jolts me with an independence and a can-do optimism in a city that can be pretty cut-throat.
Additionally, I’m often inspired aesthetically by certain shapes, textures and color combinations, or films, images and the female form.
What is the greatest accomplishment of your life so far?
Establishing my own company and making this gallery show, it has definitely been a challenge but I am feeling so creatively liberated, it’s fantastic! That big feeling of the potential of life.
What is your most treasured item of clothing and why?
There’s this great dress from the 1940s I found for $2 at this great thrift store upstate. Red with black graphic print; the shape of it makes me feel so chic but it’s versatile enough to wear for a range of occasions.
Where do you want to be in the next five years?
Further down the path I’m on, I have so many ideas I’d like to have realized, objects I’d like to produce. I would really love to collaborate with large brands creatively but also as an effort to procure a more sustainable industry.
Dream collaboration? (with whom and what would you create?)
There are so many brilliant people out there, but in terms of fashion, I think Gucci is killing it right now. Generally I’m really not into mainstream brands but certainly wouldn’t mind working with them somehow.
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Photography:
Kirsten Bode / Highsnobiety.com -
Model:
Amy Hood