As Club K by KIKO Milano celebrated the pleasures of dressing up, I spoke with CT Hedden about a family of models, a taste for latex and the responsibilities of being “mother.” Mother is busy. There are ten people in the room, early call times to contend with and a family reunion to organize around the relentless machinery of Fashion Week. When I ask CT Hedden how things are going, the answer arrives without ceremony: “Stressed. I’m keeping it real.”
The New York nightlife figure, model and creative director has gathered what CT affectionately calls “my kids.” They live in different countries and usually cross paths through work. Getting everyone together takes some persuasion. Ask about the creative process behind the evening’s looks, and CT begins with the people wearing them. Fashion can wait a moment. The family needs to catch up.
Milan supplied a suitably theatrical backdrop to that philosophy. During Fashion Week, KIKO Milano and Vogue Italia celebrated the new Club K by KIKO Milano make-up collection with a party at Via Sammartini 76, conceived as a tribute to the city’s legendary Plastic. Skin and Ladyfag performed; Mariacarla Boscono and Alton Mason were among the guests. Make-up stations offered opportunities to revise a look as the night unfolded. Getting ready could apparently continue well after arrival. Our conversation moves through leather, black, chrome and latex, with Cavalli, Christian Louboutin and Dsquared2 entering the wardrobe discussion. Tom of Finland and Peter Marino come up as references.
The family portrait is beginning to suggest a rather unconventional Christmas card. There is camp in the delivery and real consideration behind the clothes. CT talks about having a vision for each individual. A shared appetite for excess still leaves room for different personalities, something easily flattened when models spend their working lives interpreting someone else’s direction. Here, the pleasure lies in recognizing one another through the performance.
Having modeled for twenty years, CT describes giving new models confidence, making introductions, and helping connect them with opportunities. Motherhood comes with administrative duties. "It’s just about helping each other because no one helped me, so now it’s my turn to give it back."
This is where the conversation gives the Club K celebration a more personal resonance. A night devoted to self-expression becomes more interesting when we consider who helps someone feel able to participate. CT’s family supplies encouragement, contacts and the reassurance that an extravagant idea might deserve to leave the dressing room. Behind the finished look is someone saying: go on. CT knows the hesitation, too. There were times when attending shows in drag felt intimidating. Requests for a more restrained version of CT now produce the opposite response: “That’s going to make me show up in bigger drag.”
His advice is equally spirited. Make a joke. Make people laugh. Bring some personality into the casting room. The invitation to be creative extends beyond the clothes to the way a person occupies space. By the end, the family’s guiding principle is wonderfully straightforward. “Be you. Don’t follow in anyone else’s footsteps,” CT says. And then, the essential instruction: “Find your mother.” Preferably before the seven o’clock call time.
