“The first time I was ever on a runway. It was the first time that I ever really felt the power of fashion and how that can impact how you feel in your own skin and the confidence that you wear.”
"This is so full circle... this is your design... this was the charity fashion show that launched my whole life, career, changed everything for me."
— Karlie Kloss, filmed during a private studio visit with the Project Runway Season 17 cast, St. Louis, December 2019
Tori Amos's music has been a treasure in my life for years, a source of connection, inspiration, healing, and joy. As a thank-you, I created Nocturnal Garden, an art print made with Robby Baker and inspired in part by her song "Datura."
The print gathers night pollinators, bats and moths, around a dragonfruit bloom I photographed as it opened after dark in my garden, alongside Stanhopea orchids, pitcher plants, corpse flowers, and the datura itself. It was exhibited in A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes, where my work hung alongside Alexander McQueen, Iris van Herpen, and Rei Kawakubo.
The piece reached Tori through her longtime makeup artist and photographer, Kavita Kaul, who passed it along and styled it for her during soundcheck. There's no adequate way to thank an artist for sharing their gifts with the world, but I hoped this one might circle back to her.
