COLLABORATION
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION STARRING CHRISHABANA AND CAM4
SEPTEMBER 10, 2019
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WORDS
by KRISTOPHER FRASER
PHOTOS
COURTESY of YVONNE TNT/BFA
Edgy jewelry brand Chrishabana, the eponymous label of designer Chris Habana, and adult site Cam4 have found a new way to fuse fashion and sex aside from just a scantily clad dress. The two forces have come together for both a collaboration and pop-up shop on New York’s Lower East Side. Habana first began working with Cam4 last season where they did an exhibition called send nudes where they asked all their friends and family to send nudes of themselves in. The exhibit was a response to all of the news headlines about sexual harassment in entertainment and fashion and made a point about consenting for people to see your nude body.
They decided to take this partnership to the next level with a collaboration of jewelry and fetish garments, in addition to a pop-up shop that was a collaborative project with other designers including Zana Bayne, Linder, A.F.Vandevorst, and Walter Van Beirendonck. “My brand has always been a little bit on the edgy side,” Habana said. “We do things a little bit more different than other brands. There were a lot of themes we wanted to explore. This time we were exploring the themes of sex and fetish but done in a way that was a little bit more avant garde and forward. As a jewelry designer I wanted to take the idea of metal and translate that idea into clothing.”
This resulted in a lot of metal infused fabrics, a leather piece that was layered on a skim of wood, and T-shirt and jersey fabrics were wrapped with metal. One of Habana’s goals with this collaboration was to let people know that there was nothing wrong with exploring a fetish, as long as it’s consensual. He also really wanted to work with people who would help him take the idea of inclusion one step further, and also people who are taking really active steps in augmenting their bodies, personalities, and digital lives.
Some notable names featured in his presentation who fit that bill were performance artist and former club kid Amanda Lepore, adult film stars François Sagat and Damian Dragon, and tattoo artist Rose Anger. “Amanda Lepore is a performance artist who has done a lot of body modification, Damian Dragon is an adult film star who does the same thing, Rose Anger has done a lot of body modification, and François Sagat, because of the sex component of this, was the perfect person to be a part of this,” Habana said.
Chrishabana XXX Cam4
Fashion is the act of dressing up, and sex is the act of stripping down, so it might be difficult for some to imagine how these two things come together, but Habana made it happen. “I really love playing with those ‘peekaboo’ moments and all of those nude moments. I was inspired by glory holes that led to the openings on some pieces, with François I wanted to make the male more vulnerable, so I created a leg spreader, so his legs were spread for the whole art exhibit,” Habana said.
Both fashion and sex are also used to promote freedom of speech. “Fashion is a way to elevate the art of sex, and there is an art to all of this. It is a pleasurable thing that when done in a proper way is very beautiful,” Habana said. “I even love the idea of exploring the way we treat sex. It’s really interesting to see how sex is treated in other countries. I feel the world is getting more closed instead of more open, which as someone who immigrated here and had the idea of the American dream, we see that it’s a ruse. My work is here to provoke and start a conversation, and I’m really trying to push that more in my work.”
There is no room for censorship in this situation. Chris Habana has taken fashion and sex and combined them into something shiny and new.
Chris Habana
