September 8, 2023 |
For the past 10 years, Olivia Kim has been a stylish force at Nordstrom, introducing collections from designers who would otherwise not be on the mega-retailer’s radar. A native New Yorker who previously led the creative department of Opening Ceremony and is now based in Seattle, Kim holds the role of senior vice president of creative merchandising at Nordstrom, making her a designer’s dream sales partner – she’s a devoted shopper who wants to make shopping fun for everyone.
In 2015, she launched SPACE, a groovy shop-in-shop that features emerging and established types ranging from Collina Strada to Comme des Garçons. Unsurprisingly, this tattooed mama’s own wardrobe is filled with impressive, one-of-a-kind pieces that speak to her prowess in the fashion world.
Dress and shoes by Comme des Garçons
Sarah Cristobal: Can you talk a little bit about your fashion ethos? What drew you to fashion initially and how does it relate to the pieces you have been photographed in for this story?
Olivia Kim: If I’m being honest, what I have always loved about fashion is not necessarily the clothes. Maybe that’s a controversial statement. What I’ve always loved about fashion are the people behind it—the creativity, the bravery, the courage that designers have every day to put themselves out there, to start a business, to run and operate it. It’s not only the creativity and the courage they have, but also how much of themselves they are willing to share. That peek into their world and that vulnerability they give up is incredibly special and I don’t take it for granted. That’s what keeps me so passionate about fashion, the personalities of these people. Their weird and wild and crazy minds. I ask a lot of questions in general and it’s always like, but why? But why?
Olivia’s top four items from the FW23 collections, clockwise from top left (and overleaf): jacket by Bode, skirt by Prada, coat by Simone Rocha, sneakers by Cecilie Bahnsen x Asics
SC: Surely everyone in this collector’s issue shares your appreciation of fashion as an art form. Speaking of which, let’s talk about your favorite things in your wardrobe. The list starts with a Christopher Kane dress from when he was the designer at Versus, which many people may not remember.
OK: I mean, that dress is not necessarily a very “me” dress. It’s super-form-fitting, it’s tight and slinky and stretchy, but I just love it because Christopher Kane was super-young at that time. He wasn’t a super-well-known designer. I love that Donatella [Versace] had brought him in to revamp Versus, which was always the cool, edgier, more streetwear version of the brand. I remember when I bought that dress I was like, “I’m never gonna wear this but it’s just beautiful.”
A funny story about that dress—I have only worn it twice, once for a New Year’s Eve party in Eleuthera [in the Bahamas] with 20 of my friends. The only other time was for this interview. Because it’s such a complicated piece. When I take it off the hanger I have to lay it down very carefully because it’s really slinky and made out of stretchy mesh and if it falls in any sort of way I don’t know how to get it back together again. I had the stylist put her arms through the middle of it and I kind of slunk in between her.
SC: Like a slinky!
OK: Exactly. For that New Year’s Eve I had my girlfriends helping me. One was holding it this way, one was holding it that way, and I stepped into it.
SC: We have to suffer for fashion sometimes, but you look great in it so it’s worth it. What else is in your top picks? I see a Thom Browne suit.
OK: Yeah. That’s more like my everyday go-to. I love the idea of a uniform. And nobody does a uniform better than Thom Browne. That outfit is probably a couple of years old. It’s the classic always-on uniform. I feel really buttoned up when I’m wearing it. But I also feel like a little kid. Sometimes I’ll wear it with knee-high socks, sometimes with super-chunky shoes.
SC: Do you wear it to work?
OK: I wear it to work a lot. It’s my business suit. In a way I wish I could wear it all the time. It’s never inappropriate, it’s always perfect. I love all the accoutrements that go with it—the tie, the tie bar. It’s like you kinda gotta do the whole look.
SC: It’s so precise, from top to bottom. Let’s get into the plaid Comme des Garçons skirt with the deconstructed Michael Jordan T-shirt.
OK: It’s amazing. I was obsessed with Michael Jordan growing up. Both of those pieces are Comme. That T-shirt is one of a kind because it was made from vintage T-shirts that Comme found. It’s just a weird shirt. It’s like a life jacket because it has cotton built into it. It’s super-puffy and one of my favorite things that I own. I’m pairing it with a plaid Comme skirt that is, like, a big square, but it’s perfect. Everything Comme is just perfect.
SC: Where do you wear this combo?
OK: I wear the skirt a lot. I wear it to work. The T-shirt I don’t wear so much. It’s puffy and hand-torn. It’s more of a conversation piece than a wearable piece.
Dress and shoes by Celine (Phoebe Philo era)
SC: I can’t help but notice that your closet in the background has all black and white clothes in it.
OK: You know that my friends call me Smurfette, right? There is one episode of The Smurfs where Smurfette was going through her hangers but it was all her white dresses and her heels at the bottom of the closet. For me, it’s all black skirts and all white shirts. Those are the clothes I really wear all the time. I live in this tiny Craftsman home. None of the closets are very wide and we don’t have that many. So I have multiple closets throughout the house that are for different things and that’s the closet in my bedroom. It’s literally as wide as your computer.
SC: You know what you’re getting into. There’s no ambiguity.
OK: And if someone says, “Do you really need another black skirt?” I’m, like, “Yeah, I actually do.” Because they’re all different. I wouldn’t buy two of the same thing. The times when I have bought two of the same thing I never love the second purchase as much, for whatever reason. I do that with shoes a lot, but then I never need the second pair because they look better after they’ve been worn anyway.
SC: Aside from your black and white closet, how many closets do you have in total?
OK: In my house I have four. But they’re all tiny. I have a shed at my house and there are massive crates of clothes in there. Then I have a huge archive in my office at work. That archive is also split between some at work and some at the house of a friend who has amazing closet space. So I had to go get that collection and then I consolidated them into one place for this shoot.
SC: So your archive is… significant.
OK: It’s all over. I think if I had not moved to the house we live in now, I would probably have more. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff or I’ve sold it. I’ve had to make space for other pieces.
SC: Your daughter, Cleo, is five now—does she share your enthusiasm for dressing up yet?
OK: She loves it. She has really good style. Her friends will come over and the first thing they do is go through her clothes, and they put on all of these different things and they’ll come downstairs in them and then they’ll go back up. And it’s a mix of princess costumes and Simone Rocha dresses that Simone made for Cleo. A lot of beautiful things that, you know, designers have made mini for me, for Cleo. Also, a lot of the dresses that I buy for her when I’m traveling. It’s a mix. Because for [Cleo and her friends], they don’t know the difference between a Kika Vargas dress or a Simone Rocha dress versus something that came from Gap Kids. The way that kids put things together, it’s so fascinating. It’s so cool.
SC: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Talk to me about this orange and white patterned dress with the bustier by Simone Rocha.
OK: That is from one of my favorite collections of Simone’s [FW19] because that print was a partnership with the Louise Bourgeois foundation. It’s one of Louise’s graphic prints. It’s a trench coat, actually, with the bustier and beading on top of it. That’s the way it walked down the runway. It’s gorgeous.
Ring by Alice Waese FW23
SC: It’s important. So many designers are having such trouble being seen. Let’s jump to the next one. This beautiful white dress with mesh crochet spiderweb boobs.
OK: That’s Phoebe Philo Céline. That was the season she did the mismatched shoes that everybody went crazy for [SS17], do you remember? I love this dress so much. I think I have only worn this once as well. I don’t even know where. Maybe I wore it to work one day just because I had it. Because that’s what you gotta do sometimes with this stuff, if you ever want to wear it. I was shocked that I could get this thing on for this shoot. You know what I mean? Baby, stagnation, I live in Seattle. There’s no Equinox [gym] here!
SC: How does it make you feel to wear this piece? It’s so distinctive.
OK: I think so many people will probably say this about Phoebe Philo’s clothes—you feel incredibly feminine and very powerful at the same time. And it’s nothing that’s overtly sexy, but her construction, the material. The way the boning in the bodice keeps it really close to your rib cage. Her clothes are just so interesting. They feel so timeless, like you can pull them out 10 years later and they still feel absolutely relevant.
You know the archives that people have on Instagram and they’re selling their old Céline or whatever? I’m like, “Oh my God, I have that, I’m so lucky!” And you know it’s a great reminder for me that I have all these incredible things, from the jewelry to the shoes to the clothes. It also makes you feel like a part of history in a way. You think of someone like her and how much of an impression she has made on so many people. Then to have a piece of history, in that sense, feels really special.
SC: Yeah, they just dress how they feel. So the last look we shot you in was the beautiful red Comme des Garçons dress. You look like a valentine.
OK: It’s red velvet. In that dress you can only walk sideways. Like a crab. It’s so wide and also weighs about 25 pounds. It requires two hangers to hang it up. But it’s my absolute favorite dress. It was, again, another runway piece that we [at Nordstrom/ SPACE] support. Oftentimes we only had one of those types of those pieces, like the Simone x Louise Bourgeois coat with the bustier, the Comme dress, and the Michael Jordan T-shirt. Those are things that oftentimes are just one of those that either exist in the world or that we bought within our ecosphere. So it also feels nice that I’m the only one who has that.
SC: Wait, I see what you’re doing now. So under the auspices of work, you’re able to secure these one-of-a-kind pieces.
OK: I know. I mean, I always tell people I wanted to not only support friends and young designers, but I also wanted those clothes. I wanted to be able to buy those clothes using my work discount. That is not a lie. And I get to be friends with the designers. I get to go meet them. I get to go see their shows. We get to be their biggest partners in some cases. In a sad sort of way, I’m buying myself into their lives [Laughs.].
From left: suit and tie by Them Browne, shoes by Prada; t-shirt and skirt by Comme des Garçons
SC: Yeah, they just dress how they feel. So the last look we shot you in was the beautiful red Comme des Garçons dress. You look like a valentine.
OK: It’s red velvet. In that dress you can only walk sideways. Like a crab. It’s so wide and also weighs about 25 pounds. It requires two hangers to hang it up. But it’s my absolute favorite dress. It was, again, another runway piece that we [at Nordstrom/ SPACE] support. Oftentimes we only had one of those types of those pieces, like the Simone x Louise Bourgeois coat with the bustier, the Comme dress, and the Michael Jordan T-shirt. Those are things that oftentimes are just one of those that either exist in the world or that we bought within our ecosphere. So it also feels nice that I’m the only one who has that.
SC: Wait, I see what you’re doing now. So under the auspices of work, you’re able to secure these one-of-a-kind pieces.
OK: I know. I mean, I always tell people I wanted to not only support friends and young designers, but I also wanted those clothes. I wanted to be able to buy those clothes using my work discount. That is not a lie. And I get to be friends with the designers. I get to go meet them. I get to go see their shows. We get to be their biggest partners in some cases. In a sad sort of way, I’m buying myself into their lives [Laughs.].
Header image: bustier top and coat by Simone Rocha. Taken from Issue 1 of 10 Magazine USA – FASHION, ICON, DEVOTEE – on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
OLIVIA KIM: MAKING SPACE
Photographer CARINA SKROBECKI
Sittings Editor ANGIE HANSEN
Grooming KAIJA MISTRAL
Text SARAH CRISTOBAL
In conversation with OLIVIA KIM
