Petra Collins has not anticipated getting married. The actor and producer tells me over Zoom the day before her most recent drop that it’s not something she grew up thinking around. ” I come from a pretty nontraditional background—as a child, I always pictured my marriage. I actually was like: ‘ I’m not going to get married,'” she says, laughing. ” The aesthetic even is n’t for me”.
And already, this fresh collection—which comes four times after the company’s inception and two since the last I’m Sorry by Petra Collins drop—was all built around a wedding gown. Collins, who collaborated with Mimi Wade, claims the conventional attire served as a starting point that,” I have often wanted to make a wedding gown, but it is one of the most controversial and difficult things to make. Finding a bit that has so much meaning and is so difficult to come up with is just so entertaining.
Of course, the bride who’d wear this dress does n’t have a registry, she is n’t sending out save-the-dates or building a wedding website. On her small mood board is a picture of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, who are both wearing large dresses, exchanging their vows on the Pacific seaside in 1992. ” That pictures … that was the best for me”, Collins says. ” I’ve always loved the idea of them getting married on the shore.”
Collins approached the new I’m Sorry collection—which functions set warm pants, thick beaded necklaces, and trompe l’oeil minidresses—as the second part of a drama movie. She did n’t see Wade merely as a designer she was working with, but as a” costume designer” she’d hired. The subsequent two drops will be with another designers, who Collins says may play the exact role:” They’re going to design costumes for this’ film.'”
As for the character of the collection’s history, she says,” Maybe this is people getting married, or even she’s now married. She’s neither marrying her best friend on summer split and they’re going penny wild—or she had married people, and she’s escaped and she’s now going on a mad rampage”.
The bride was potentially escape in the bridal dress, but she and Wade had to make it happen. ” We turned it into generally my ‘ 80s fantasy wedding dress, but even made it attractive and short and nearly cheerleader-like, so our personality can run aside”, Collins says. After that, they began to wonder:” Okay, also, what does she need for the rest of her journey”? Clearly, the answer was a magic set bikini top and matching warm trousers with” HELP” written on the mouth in pins.
When you are inspired by pictures of Isabelle Adjani in Possession, Chinese horror cartoons, and some spooky dolls, that kind of funny naughty talent is evidently what happens when you are inspired by those images. Creative inspiration came from the 1999 picture Drop Dead Gorgeous. ” ]Mimi] and I both loved that picture where]Kirsten Dunst ] is wearing that much dress with the sash—and our sash says’ I’m sorry’ in jewels, and this fabric is a wonderful cotton gauze material. Actually, it looks really good when wet. We thought, Okay, maybe]our protagonist ] is going to a wet T-shirt contest. Everything has a little twist”.
So who, exactly, is Miss I’m Sorry? ” It’s me! I’m the person”! Collins says. But, she adds,” I think it’s also someone who really does n’t take themselves too seriously. That’s something that is also a through line in all of the collections: It’s humor. It’s a shopper with humor. Which is really important because I love fashion and I love wearing clothing, but I also believe it’s crucial to take it seriously. We’re putting these garments onto our bodies, and it’s just messy and fun. Miss I’m Sorry is a little crazy and a little humorous, loves to shop”!
She appears to be similar to Addison Rae, who was filmed by Collins and Richard Kern alongside Liana and Janice, both of whom Collins has collaborated extensively throughout her career. Rae stood out to Collins for this campaign because of how much star power she possessed, until Collins saw Rae crossing the street in Los Angeles one day. ” I immediately was like,’ Whoa, I did n’t know that’s what this was,'” the artist says. However, Collins also acknowledges that she enjoys tapping into popular culture. ” I like mixing a lot of worlds. And I think [Rae is ] so fascinating because she obviously started using TikTok right away, and what she has done since is crazy. What’s amazing about her is, she’s really humorous. I think she does n’t take herself too seriously. That’s what an I’m Sorry girl is. Like, it could n’t be someone who did the same thing and then took it seriously.
So this girl is, ultimately, the kind who buys a wedding dress—maybe not for a ceremony, but for a wet T-shirt contest. And of course, she can now buy the perfect dress for that occasion on Ssense, straight from the mind of Petra Collins.
The most recent I’m Sorry by Petra Collins collection is available right now.
