đź’ Christopher John Rogers for ODDA Magazine
This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS
Christopher John Rogers has got a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award on his mantle. His clothing is worn by the likes of Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Lizzo, and Priyanka Chopra, and he just opened his epon- ymous studio space in New York.
His work is big, bold, and badass. But even better, everyone is accepted into the Christopher John Rogers universe. For this 26-year-old Louisiana born de- signer, the mantra is “the more the merrier”and that is why this inclusive designer is currently positioned as the fashion world’s next big thing.
JESSICA MICHAULT. How did color and print become your happy place? Because, to me, that’s what your collections are — sartorial happy places.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS. I would just say it’s always been a natural thing that I’ve gravitated towards more than anything representational, historical period, or specific era of costume. Color, more than anything, has been sort of what drives my creative force. Seeing the material or even something blowing in the wind like a trash bag or whatever, color really just gets me excited. I started taking art classes when I was really young with encouragement from my grandmother, and that’s sort of obviously where I started mixing colors and playing with paints. Seeing that when you add, you know, red to green, instead of getting black, you get this really unusual brown, which is also just as valid as hot pink. Exploring all of that within the context of a collection really excites me.
J.M. Tell us about what your starting point is like for your collections. Does it involve colors first, or do the fabrics start to tell the story and you build from there? Do you look at a particular era or place?
C.J.R. So it kind of happens all at the same time. There’s more than one starting place, but I work on it in my head and on multiple seasons at once. So I’ll see one color and say “this is great for fall” or if I’m really really feeling it, I’m like “we’ve already established a color palette for this current collection, but I need to add this one color in.” So there’s never really a theme. It is kind of like an amalgamation of things that I’m feeling. Its color, fabric, and visual references may have nothing to do with each other, but all feel relevant to me at the time. It’s really kind of about what emotionally triggers me.
J.M. Are you the collaborative designer, or are you off in the corner doing your sketches? Is it like everybody comes in the morning and you have the line up sketched out and your team executes it?
C.J.R. It’s both. It’s everything and nothing. I definitely always have a certain direction that I want to go to or go towards with every season, and it’s very intentional. We all kind of pull together references and ultimately, I decide what feels right for me. Then again I’m always asking my team like, “Would you want to wear this? Does our customer want to wear this? Does this feel right for us? Are you personally excited by this?” It’s not so much because I don’t trust my own instinct, but because I know that what I’m trying to build is work that speaks to a variety of different types of aesthetics and voices funneled through my creative direction and vision. So it’s nice to have people that you trust to bounce ideas off of and bring it all together.
J.M. I’ve seen you take your finale bows at your shows. They are full of joy and happiness, as they should be when you’ve just finished a collection. That being said, I get the impression that you are a “glass half full” kinda guy. Where does that positivity come from?
C.J.R. I definitely think it’s my family and friends growing up. My parents were always super supportive of the work that I did. They always made sure to let me and my sisters know that with hard work, and obviously the sacrifices along the way, you’re able to do whatever you want. You can make your dreams a reality. I also learned through experience that if the thing that you planned didn’t work out exactly how you wanted it to, it always ends up happening for the best. So I just try to lead with that intention. If it doesn’t go exactly as planned then, you know, at least you tried and you can be sure in the knowledge you have that it will lead you to the place that you need to go. So there’s always an opportunity to look at something from a positive side.
J.M. I was talking to President Wallace at Savannah College of Art and Design and she was saying that you have just been an amazing alumnus for SCAD, that you keep coming back and giving back. I am curious to know why you decided to attend SCAD instead of one of the fashion schools that is based in a fashion capital?
C.J.R. When I visited the campus initially, it kind of struck me as a nice middle ground between the sort of chaos and creativity of New York City, but it still held that southern charm. It had a sense of community that I personally really needed coming from Louisiana. I also loved how small and intimate the classes were. You could really learn from the professors and the people that you were working with. Instead of feeling super competitive in any way, it felt like we were all a big family working together towards this one goal.
J.M. Speaking of self-discovery, as a queer black man, how are you trying to empower members of your community through what you’re doing? I did notice in your most recent collection there were trans models included in the mix. How are you trying to represent your community within your work?
C.J.R. I think that I’ve always just come from a really authentic place. Instead of trying to make any statements, I just lead with sort of what feels right and honest to me, working with friends that have always supported us from the beginning when we couldn’t afford agency models. We sort of looked around and asked ourselves, “Who is just as beautiful and just as amazing as someone who’s repped by whatever agency?” And so, including those people in the shows that we do now just really feels like the direction that we want to go in. I think it is really important because it sort of expands the cannon for what you can expect from a queer designer or the visual language that you can expect from someone who happens to be black and working in fashion.
J.M. I know that before you went out on your own you worked at Diane von Furstenberg, and I was wondering what that moment in your career taught you. What did you take away from that experience?
C.J.R. That time definitely showed me where I wanted to go as a business and also simultaneously where I didn’t want to go. I think that it sort of taught me to build a really strong visual language and make sure that I’m making clothes that are both exciting and accessible while also memorable and pragmatic. It is a way to build a business that will last, and, you know, making sure that everyone on my team feels heard, excited, and comfortable coming into the studio. I really just kind of want to foster a place where people can grow in the long term.
J.M. How are you balancing that flamboyant side of your designs with the more real-world demands that most women have? A designer can’t grow on event dressing alone.
C.J.R. Yeah, so we’re definitely trying to think about not necessarily what everyone wants from us, but what our customer wants from us. At this point in sort of the brand’s trajectory, we’re focused on creating clothes that are really meaningful and intentional. Since we make everything in New York, manufacturing prices here are extremely high.
We have to make sure that the product ends up looking like the price that it will be so that it lends itself to things that are evening, to things that are incredibly special. As time goes on, as we get more accounts, we’ll be able to sort of increase units and make clothes that are more casual, or even more pragmatic. Then we can also make sure that there are prices that serve that end-use. It’s really about slowly expanding the vernacular of what you can expect from this brand.
JESSICA MICHAULT. How did color and print become your happy place? Because, to me, that’s what your collections are — sartorial happy places.
CHRISTOPHER JOHN ROGERS. I would just say it’s always been a natural thing that I’ve gravitated towards more than anything representational, historical period, or specific era of costume. Color, more than anything, has been sort of what drives my creative force. Seeing the material or even something blowing in the wind like a trash bag or whatever, color really just gets me excited. I started taking art classes when I was really young with encouragement from my grandmother, and that’s sort of obviously where I started mixing colors and playing with paints. Seeing that when you add, you know, red to green, instead of getting black, you get this really unusual brown, which is also just as valid as hot pink. Exploring all of that within the context of a collection really excites me.
J.M. Tell us about what your starting point is like for your collections. Does it involve colors first, or do the fabrics start to tell the story and you build from there? Do you look at a particular era or place?
C.J.R. So it kind of happens all at the same time. There’s more than one starting place, but I work on it in my head and on multiple seasons at once. So I’ll see one color and say “this is great for fall” or if I’m really really feeling it, I’m like “we’ve already established a color palette for this current collection, but I need to add this one color in.” So there’s never really a theme. It is kind of like an amalgamation of things that I’m feeling. Its color, fabric, and visual references may have nothing to do with each other, but all feel relevant to me at the time. It’s really kind of about what emotionally triggers me.
J.M. Are you the collaborative designer, or are you off in the corner doing your sketches? Is it like everybody comes in the morning and you have the line up sketched out and your team executes it?
C.J.R. It’s both. It’s everything and nothing. I definitely always have a certain direction that I want to go to or go towards with every season, and it’s very intentional. We all kind of pull together references and ultimately, I decide what feels right for me. Then again I’m always asking my team like, “Would you want to wear this? Does our customer want to wear this? Does this feel right for us? Are you personally excited by this?” It’s not so much because I don’t trust my own instinct, but because I know that what I’m trying to build is work that speaks to a variety of different types of aesthetics and voices funneled through my creative direction and vision. So it’s nice to have people that you trust to bounce ideas off of and bring it all together.
J.M. I’ve seen you take your finale bows at your shows. They are full of joy and happiness, as they should be when you’ve just finished a collection. That being said, I get the impression that you are a “glass half full” kinda guy. Where does that positivity come from?
C.J.R. I definitely think it’s my family and friends growing up. My parents were always super supportive of the work that I did. They always made sure to let me and my sisters know that with hard work, and obviously the sacrifices along the way, you’re able to do whatever you want. You can make your dreams a reality. I also learned through experience that if the thing that you planned didn’t work out exactly how you wanted it to, it always ends up happening for the best. So I just try to lead with that intention. If it doesn’t go exactly as planned then, you know, at least you tried and you can be sure in the you can expect from this brand.
J.M. For a designer, you sound like a businessman. Most designers can’t or won’t take on both the business and creative side of their label, but I get the feeling that is not the case for you.
C.J.R. I like all of it. I mean, I’m a Libra. So I’m always kind of balancing everything, which is a problem because it usually ends up being quite indecisive. Not because I don’t know what I want, but because what I want to do and what I should do are not always aligned. That’s why I take so long, I’m equally as focused on cutting something really beautiful and interesting as I am truly making sure that piece doesn’t just sit in a museum for 20 years. I want it to be worn by someone for 20 years because it still serves them, still excites them, and that they will be able to actually use the piece.
J.M. I know this is the classic generic fashion question but I am curious to hear how you would describe the person who is going to connect with your clothing. What kind of spirit do they have?
C.J.R. Well, they have an incredible sense of humor. They know who they are. They dress just for themselves as opposed to sort of reacting to trends. They’re incredibly intelligent and know that what they wear serves a greater purpose. But they also aren’t afraid to take something that’s super expensive and mix it with, you know, vintage jeans that they’ve had for 20 years.
J.M. Okay and then as far as the brand is concerned, what do you feel are your biggest challenges at this point?
C.J.R. I think our biggest challenge right now is balancing growth, and staying honest to who we are as a brand. Grow the business in a way that doesn’t require us to make things only purely for sales, sort of balancing that and, like, creating things with intention and purpose because that’s why I love fashion.
J.M. Okay, I have a couple of fun questions for you… first up, what are you currently obsessed with?
C.J.R. I’m currently obsessed with Michaela Coel’s new HBO show “I May Destroy You.” I’m only on episode three, but I’m already, like, ob- sessed. Oh, and I am also obsessed with mezcal.
J.M. What is your guilty pleasure?
C.J.R. Double Stuffed Oreos.
J.M. And then what is on your bucket list of things that you want to do, see, or accomplish?
C.J.R. Actually, I would love to travel to Asia, I’ve never been. I’ve just heard really great stories that you come back, you know, a different person. And so I think to be able to go there would be really interesting.
Portrait by JACK BELLI
