KIM GORDON: ANYONE CAN LOOK COOL
written and researched by Emily Blake
In their beautifully assembled 2014 book Women in Clothes, authors Heti, Julavits, and Shapton collected testimonies, interviews, and artifacts from countless women. One of them was Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon.
In Women in Clothes, I noticed within the individual vignettes/personal statements that there were some items women didn’t necessarily regard as the highest fashion garments, but made them both feel good and receive compliments. For instance, one [notably cool] woman said she received, unexpectedly, both “erotic and professional success” from wearing overalls. Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon emphasized in her excerpt that “anyone can look cool.” I loved Kim Gordon prior to reading her interview, but that interview specifically brings out how the 1970s hand-me-downs she received from her mother, brother, and thrift stores, as well as a defiance against what she was expected to wear as a woman musician, pushes back against the types of clothes that can send a message, look cool, or last a lifetime.
Being a woman in music, specifically in non-pop music, one’s personal aesthetic becomes centered. In instances like Joan Jett, Patti Smith, or even with Courtney Love and the Kinderwhore aesthetic, looking cool and memorable become intrinsically tied to notoriety as a punk rock icon. In all of the aforementioned women musicians, hair style, one iconic look, and some seriously sourced vintage pieces were a common thread. In Gordon’s statement that “anyone can look cool,” there is both a sense of accessibility and aspiration; because I could (in theory) cut my hair and thrift a sportswear dress, but Gordon’s cool girl attitude is the secret ingredient.
According to Courtney Love, in her advertisement to look for women to fill spots in her band Hole, she cited Sonic Youth as inspiration.
KIM GORDON
pictured more recently, effortlessly chic
