Words by Samantha Smikle
Photo by Jacqueline Di Milia

With dreams to start a band on hold and the holiday season here before we knew it, Samantha Pleet opens a pop up shop in L.A. that is a mash up of her favorite things. The space itself was designed by her husband- architect Patrick McGovern- and includes her recently released lines, Rapscallion for Urban Outfitters and Patrick Pleet, a menswear collaboration with her spouse. Samantha keeps things fresh by offering pickings from films, books and music curated alongside her eco-friendly line Bodkin (which by the way features Lykke Li in their Spring 2009 campaign) as well as friends’ designs like jewelry by Pamela Love and Dirty Librarian Chains.

Allowing Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti to take the stage, musical allusions are still seen throughout the store with a white, black and red décor that may be a nod to the White Stripes. It is also her affinity for male performers like David Bowie and Kurt Cobain that you can thank for her design style. Look out for Victorian collars and high waists reminiscent of Bowie and the Cobain-inspired army green coat over jail bird striped rompers in her Fall 2008 collection. Samantha blends fashion and music seamlessly. Read on to learn more about this love triangle.

For your Fall 2008 collection, you had all your friends model in the look book and your show. Are they all creatives like you?
Oh yeah, everyone I know…most of my friends are in band of some sort. I even want to start one. I’ve been talking and talking about starting one.

Seriously? What would you do?
Well I would sing. But I also have all these old musical instruments that I’m going to be getting from my brother in law. Like these crazy ‘80s keyboards. I’ve been playing instruments my whole life. I started out playing violin, piano, and clarinet in school and then playing guitar. So I feel like I have such a musical background that I express in my passion. I’m full hearted about designing. I put all of myself into it.

Who are your favorites to listen to right now?
Well I love my friends’ bands: Au Revoir Simone and Apache Beat and the Boggs. I always listen to them. But I also love Yeasayer, MGMT, and the Black Lips. And then I also love the old bands like Jesus & Mary Chain, Sonic Youth and Joy Division. I love lots of different kinds of music and just taking it and getting influenced by it. I’ve been kind of into the dandy look, which reminds me of the Kinks and the Rolling Stones from Rock & Roll Circus and mod ‘60s rock bands. For the spring line, the Clash was a big inspiration. It was very ‘80s, very modernist, yet minimalist kind of thing with the black and white colors.

How do you translate what artists were wearing into your designs now?
Just imagining these bands and what they wanted to wear on stage and thinking how important it is to have a new look for your fans and to inspire them. Music is really the way most people find fashion. And for me it’s true as well. When I was younger I would look at magazines and look at what the musicians were wearing and be inspired. And I feel like sometimes you want to look like you don’t care, but it’s really nice if you have some sort of unique image as well.

Seeming effortless, but still being individualistic.
And that’s what my clothes are. They’re very effortless. They’re very comfortable. Most of them are one-piece rompers and you kind of just jump into them and you’re set to go. You feel like you’re up to speed with the way you want to project yourself to the world.

I see that you have Kurt Cobain and David Bowie on your inspiration board. What about them inspires you?
No matter what inspires me it always has a bit of grunge thrown into the mix. I grew up in the ‘90s so I can’t really think about designing anything that doesn’t have some inspiration from that time. I like clothes that make you feel like yourself.

I hear that. What is it about David Bowie that attracts you?
His British tailored look. I had a mug shot of him that looked impeccable when I was doing the whole mug shot inspiration [for the fall 2008 collection]. And I thought, ‘How can someone look that tailored and put together so effortlessly?’

In their most unsavory moment!
It’s true and in every picture. He has some sort of epic stoic-ness, very classic.

You also seem to design based on your own style, not necessarily the way fashion is going.
Yeah, I kind of feel like I’m not part of like the mainstream industry. I kind of just do my own thing. I have a good sense of what I want to wear and what my friends want to wear. And I think that takes me into the right direction.

Top five songs on your playlist:
Yeasayer- 2080
Joy Division- Love Will Tear Us Apart
The Kinks- Dandy
The Black Lips- Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah
Au Revoir Simone- Summer Lines