“Shirley is always on the lookout for new things, so when I present her with an idea, she can think quickly and find a solution,” Ms Whack wrote in an email. “There are so many looks that Shirley and I have created. Recently before my show in New Orleans, I sent Shirley a picture of this outfit that Michael Jackson wore when he was a kid and, boom, she made it.”
“You know how when you dream and then a sound from the real world appears right before you wake up?” said Ms. Solen, who co-directed Ms. Whack’s fantastic videos with Ms. Kurata for “Link” and “Body of Water.” “It’s almost like looking into the future for a moment. That’s how working with her is. She immediately understands what you want, and it is also something that could only have come to you in a dream – something newer, different, more surprising. She’s a visual artist and she can do anything, and she wants to make costumes. She amazes me the way she dresses Tierra, which is out there, but then she also works with Rodarte.’
Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sisters who founded Rodarte and are the designers, have been collaborating with Ms Kurata and stylist Ashley Furnival since their first New York show in 2006. The Fall 2022 collection — presented in a lookbook rather than a runway show — features a cast of actors, musicians and directors such as Kathleen Hanna, Rachel Brosnahan, Lexi Underwood and the Linda Lindas. Laura Mulleavy talks to Mrs. Kurata on the phone almost every day.
“Shirley is very much connected to a visual story,” said Ms. Mulleavy. “Creating character, an intention to appear in the dress, extreme or understated, she understands theatricality. She understands the history of fashion in a very interesting way.”
“The first time we met her it was via Zoom and she had her cat on her lap,” said the Linda Lindas’ drummer, 11-year-old Mila de la Garza. (Mrs. Kurata has two black and white tuxedo cats, Fanny and Moondog.) “She was already there petting her cat. And she has her glasses. And we were like, ‘Wow, this girl is cool.’”