Fashion Deity – Karen O and Christian Joy

A barren landscape coloured by an orange sky. In its midst a bedraggled man pulls wearily at guitars roped together – they scratch the ground, dust churns and chokes the air. As the sky fades to black a beautiful banshee roars. Her lips are red. Her hair, a raven black bob. She’s dressed in a large sleeved shimmering costume that does little to hide and inch of her Bambi legs. The raving Banshee and style icon is Karen O performing in pop video ‘Golden Lion’ – her profound style is created by Christian Joy.

New York stylist and designer Christian Joy – or by her birth name, Christiane Hultquist – is about to leave the set of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s ‘Golden Lion’ video which is set in a desert-like area just outside of LA. The shoot has not been without its problems “We actually had to re-shoot because the first night we went out the winds were so high the kraft service tables kept blowing away… the fire marshal wouldn’t even allow any fires to be set”, she says. The perils of pop productions are vast but against guards and godly forces the video was able to continue take two.

The Dynamic Duo
For some time, Christiane’s tenure as stylist and designer to Yeah Yeah Yeah’s front woman Karen O has been well documented – the beer throwing, stage driving and retro frills have grabbed attention from dirt bag blogs to glossy print magazines such as Nylon.  Christiane’s loyalty to her muse almost wells with mother-like pride; she says, “Karen looks pretty amazing. I made her costume out of a sort of red and gold lame so that it would catch and reflect the light from the fire” she suggests the designs are “Simple but effective”. Although unintentional, glitz and glamour seep throughout, adjacent to Karen O’s grimy face you can see she’s covered from head to toe in twinkling Swarovski crystals – the little stones get everywhere these days, even rock hell-raisers like Princess O wear them.

Hair and Make-up Supremos
Alongside Christiane’s style direction Mike Potter is responsible for the make-up, curtailing from a natural look he adorned Karen in perfect blood red lips and imposingly thick eyelashes – the onset is vamp meets mod  – a look that has prevailed in gig land for too long to mention. Mike is a known name in the movie industry, working on both Hedwig and the Angry Inch, “He [Potter] does Karen’s make up for all of the videos and events” she says. Hairstylist/rock darling – Cherie Combs – a new addition to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s creative team is responsible for taming Karen’s sultry locks.

Christiane Joy Stands Alone
After facing the howling winds for too long Christiane finally leaves the dusty landscape. She has other commitments to attend to – her own label.  Christiane Joy, a designer in her own right, has her own fan base to address. Until recently her designs could only be brought online – Christiane’s vision for the label is maturing, when once the designer was repelled by the idea of creating a collection season by season – now she ponders on the idea and even wants to find her own space to sell it in, she explains “I’m sort of in the process of really trying to get an actual physical store. [but] It’s becoming a bit overwhelming with the addition of making Karen’s costumes” Regardless, art rocker youth demand her apparel, and with pop icons like Karen pathing the way for Christiane’s designs to be known, how could Christiane Joy ignore her yellow brick road?

Golden Lion’s US release date is 7th February and 20th March in the UK. Keep an eye on Christiane Joy’s website for detail of her new collection.