K8 Hardy's Fashion Week performance at JF & Son.

K8 Hardy's various guises for her Fashion Week performance at JF & Son. All Photos: Eliza Douglas

Travis Boyer started a series titled MFT for My Favorite Things in which an artist collaborates to create “textile-based artist multiples that explore material and materiality using the innumerable resources of JF & Son.” K8 Hardy, with her longstanding engagement with fashion and performance, was an obvious match for the project—as was the store JF & Son, which, as the Timesrecently pointed out, is one of the most interesting new stores to open in the last year. Known for their unique textiles, the company—comprised of Jesse Finkelstein, "Katie" B. King, and Travis Boyer—partners with artisans and artists from New York and India to create “forward-thinking clothing through socially conscious strategies.”

K8 Hardy celebrated “the launch” of her collection, ironically titled J’APPROVE, with an irreverent performance in which she wore the various pieces from her collection in a day-long event, creating a new persona with each changing outfit. I only caught the tail-end of the performance, in which Hardy wore a bustier reminiscent of 1980s Gaultier. Perhaps surprisingly, the collection is eminently wearable and at times quite pretty, veering as Hardy’s various personas seeemed to do from a tough 1980s inspired body-con look to a slightly off-kilter pretty look, which featured whimisicallly printed dresses and shirts. Hardy's "styling" was also reminiscent of early Ann-Sofie Back. The collection will become available on line at the J & F Son today.

Francesca