SECRET MUSE #2
NAME:Somsack Sikhounmuong
Profession: DESIGNER
Current role: DESIGNER DIRECTOR /PARTNER @ ALEXMILL
I talk to the creative polymath that is Somsack Sikhounmuong:
LB: You grew up in Canada in the 80s – Canada is so close to America but feels culturally very different – can you tell us a bit about it and your early influences? Did anyone encourage you to go into design?
SS: I grew up in a blue-collar town just outside of Toronto called Oshawa, Ontario. It was a huge automotive town – not much to do for a kid interested in art and fashion so I had to get creative. Weekly trips to the magazine shop at the local bus station to buy Vogues (where I first heard of Isaac Mizrahi, Geoffrey Beene, Marc Jacobs), monthly trips to the Art Gallery of Ontario to see the Warhols, Rothkos and Group of Seven paintings, and yearly trips to NYC were all influential in how I would go on to see things and ultimately in steering me to PARSONS for fashion.
LB: What and where did you study?
Fashion design at Parsons School of Design
LB: What area of design most defines you?
SS: I’d say clothing design but only cause I’ve been doing it for the last 25 years – but I’ve been doing ceramics for the last 4 years – so maybe I’m entering a new era. What started off as a post-COVID attempt at warding off boredom has become a fun thing to do for a few hours each week. For those few hours I get to exercise a whole new set of brain cells while not being on my phone, which is a huge bonus. I just go into the studio each week with a lot of freedom to just try new things using an entirely new medium.
LB: So, we met at J.Crew in New York about 1999? Does that sound right? I don’t remember the year, but I vividly remember our meeting! I was so intimidated by your sketchbooks and illustrations. Your drawings are beautiful and instantly recognisable – do you think drawing by hand is still important to communicate design?
SS: Haha! – speaking of being intimidated – it was November 2000 – I remember it vividly – you were wearing a waxed Barbour jacket – the International – belted, over a kilt with a pair of below-the-knee leather boots. I had never seen anyone dress like that in NYC, especially below 14th Street – a glorious English vision among the skateboarders and street rats of St. Marks.
I’m a huge fan and believer of hand sketching – it’s what I find myself doing at every meeting – doodling on any piece of paper I can get my hands on. Since I’m in at least three meetings every day, I’ve amassed a huge sketch library of random shoes, coworkers, and strange creatures.
When interviewing new design candidates I always ask to see their sketchbooks – a portfolio is fine, but it’s the sketchbook that I love seeing. The pencil or pen one chooses to sketch ideas with tells me as much about the person as the swatches he or she picks – so yes, I think it’s important. Do you sketch the feet and hands? What type of faces do you render? It tells me a lot about taste level – even the paper you choose to sketch on is a tell-all – so yes, it’s all important to me lol.
I see hand sketching much less these days thanks to Photoshop and Illustrator, so when I do – it definitely stands out. A major point of differentiation.
LB: You worked at J.Crew for over 15 years and rose to become Creative Director – it’s unusual in fashion to work at the same company, especially in New York. What was it about the culture or product that kept you engaged?
SS: It always goes back to the people at a company. J.Crew had the best team above and below me – cool and fun, which are so important since you spend at least 70% of your life there – but they were also the kind of people who encouraged growth and valued talent. If I had an idea for a category I wasn’t in charge of, I could still put it in. Hierarchies were there for structure, but that was it – they weren’t there to stifle or hold ideas back. Once those handcuffs are unlocked you just run – sky’s the limit, as they say.
LB: Your metier seems to have been reframing/reinterpreting the classics – what are your favourite items and why do you think they stand the test of time?
SS: My favourite things to buy and, as a result, to design are coats – raincoats, wool coats, light spring cotton coats, techy nylon jackets, waxed jackets, chore jackets. A good outerwear piece straddles both function and form, and those parameters are always fun to design within – how can I make this feel new and desirable but still be useful, which in the long run is a hallmark of timeless. I’m a huge proponent of useful.
LB: If you hadn't been a designer, what do you think you would have done?
SS: Probably an architect, but in my dreams – a backup singer (that’s if I could sing, of course).
LB: You have your Substack channel which is a peek behind the scenes at your working practice at Alex Mill and your personal work. You recently shared your archive of vintage pieces which I loved seeing – what is it that captivates you about clothes and is there a criteria for a piece to enter your collection?
SS: There are many reasons I buy a piece for the archive – but the one common reason is that it must trigger some level of joy. That could be some clever design ( all of my Geoffrey Beene pieces) , a reminder of an important moment in my life ( the Helmut lang coat and being a fashion student in NYC , or is it something I dream of wearing but will probably never have the courage to ( my Isacc Mizrahi coat or the Margiela apron) -all the pieces check some sort of personal box- a few weeks ago as I was going through my racks to decide what to post on my Substack it was like watching an episode of “Somsack- this is your life”
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LB: Will there be a sequel to your book Mimi’s Shoes?
SS: Haha – probably not – but I’ve been thinking about publishing a tiny book of all the Polaroids and photos I took of models during NY Fashion Week in the ’90s.
LB: Lastly, why did you choose the Ferian Gold Signet ring set with a vintage Wedgwood Rampant Lion intaglio?
SS: I don’t often wear rings – so when I do, it’s on special occasions. I love the way this ring wears with my suits – the sturdiness of it is great, but it’s the combination of the gold with the oxblood lion that really makes it special. It reminds me of the Roman intaglio rings I recently saw at the KHM museum in Vienna – it’s the perfect balance of romantic and masculine.
THANK YOU FOR BEING FERIAN MUSE # 2