On Taking Up Space with Kai McPhee
Fashion becomes a vessel for emotional healing, cultural memory, and self-definition in Kai McPhee’s evolving creative journey.
Available on Instagram via Kai McPhee. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Kai McPhee is a 22 year-old fashion designer, stylist, and content creator living in New York. Kai’s work is emblematic of an approach to fashion as a means of self-expression, navigating the human condition, and sustainably doing so. His vantage point positions fashion as more expansive than just garments, rather, as a portrait that mirrors the idiosyncrasies of the human experience. He highlights how we can display the composite of our disparate experiences through style.
How do you view fashion as a demonstration of the human experience?
I feel like style is a demonstration of the human condition because I think that everyone’s style is unique to their own, and comes from experiences they’ve had in their life. Let’s say your favorite show was Lazy Town growing up, you may be attracted to wearing more pinks or blues or just dressing more animated. Or let’s say you came across Skrillex when you were fourteen or something, maybe you’re into hard rock now. But I feel that usually it is a direct thread of something that you’ve experienced and that is now being communicated through your style.
For example, right now I am really obsessed with the seventies. I think it makes a lot of sense for me because I grew up around that music because I’ve been roller skating since three years old. I’ve always had a very old ear to the music I listen to. I think it makes sense that the seventies were composed of a bunch of people who wanted to dance and move their body, and my parents love to skate and dance as well so I was always dancing with them. My mom also dresses very extravagantly. She wears things that I don’t think any other moms her age wear, she is a diva in her accessorizing. Now I’m at an age where I am wondering if I’m becoming my mom, or taking certain things that I saw her do when I was younger and now I am doing it myself.
Available on Instagram via Kai McPhee. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
How do you see the 70s music scene, the dancing and movement of bodies, translating to your work?
The seventies for me feels like such a free time, even looking at music videos and their styling, it feels very imaginative, bright, colorful, happy, and dancey. Right now, I’m at a stage in my life where I recently went through a hard time with mental health in the beginning of the year. It caused me to look at myself a lot, and I’m now just coming out of that. I feel I’m blossoming into a new stage in my life where I want to take up space, wherever I go. If it’s taking up space walking down the street, or in my own spaces. I want to treat my room, clothes, and accessories better. And with the seventies, the men were wearing crop tops, tight stuff, sparkles and it worked. I just like that, the idea of people wearing what they wanted and taking up space without that being viewed negatively. I want to embody the same free spiritedness. I think it shows a lot more these days, especially in my content creation. When I started, I was closed off with how much personality I wanted to show, I was so young. It was such an interesting time, I had trouble showing myself and my identity when I hadn’t fully discovered myself. But now, getting to know myself better has translated into more confidence in my content.
Tell me about your thoughts on how an outfit can impact your emotions, or the concept of dressing in order to express the way you were feeling.
I think the two go hand in hand. In the winter, when I wasn’t feeling the best, I was wearing very muted colors, baggy clothes, things that covered me, honestly. Now, I’m wearing more bright colors, clothes that are tailored to my body. I consider myself to be a maximalist, but that fell through in the winter. But now I really am just tapping into my jewelry collection and not letting it just collect dust.
What factors drive your dedication to sustainable practices in fashion?
“My mom is big on sustainability, she’s frequently on Etsy. Most of her pieces are from small businesses from Etsy or, she has friends that sew a lot. So she’s always wearing something custom, she doesn’t like name brands and my parents have never been materialistic. I think that’s made me place less emphasis on being materialistic. To this day, I still thrift a lot. Most of my clothes are usually vintage or second hand, and even with my designs as well. I usually pull almost all of my fabric or materials that I use to make my pieces from the thrift store. And the reason for that is I feel that when I started noticing fashion years ago, I was shopping for fast fashion. What I’ve come to realize is that none of those pieces lasted me, the materials were so cheap. So I started thrifting, and I remember just having more fun shopping. When I was shopping online, it wasn’t my style, it felt too curated for a different audience. But going into a place and finding an item that may speak to you is way more special, and I feel more attached to my clothing pieces now.”
Available on Instagram via Kai McPhee. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Do you have any process behind the fabrics you choose when you’re at the thrift?
I really like textures and prints. Scarves are great for both textures and prints. But things like silk and fur are attractive to me too. I also really like using accessories, like belts and jewelry and glasses as well. I like to use things that I can shape into a different way. But I mainly shop for scarves because they have the most patterns, they’re easy to work with, and are affordable.
The Phetish Leather Jacket and the Weight of it All trenchcoat seem to allude to both emotional and environmental commentary. Can you tell me about the intentions and processes behind generating these projects?
I made the Phetish leather jacket in February. I didn’t know what direction I was going with it. I knew I had this black leather jacket that I thrifted in 2018. I didn’t wear it at all, and I needed to bring life into it. My process of creating is throwing things around and seeing what sticks. I started realizing that it ended up looking sexual, almost fetishy, with the hair and the belts and the bondage theme. At the time, I was trying to overcome sexual trauma. And I think this was a way of me processing some of that difficulty into a jacket. I think shame really shows in the jacket, you can cover half of your face with the belts. I didn’t realize it until I finished the jacket, and I was proud of it. I didn’t feel ashamed of what I’d created and I realized that I similarly shouldn’t feel ashamed of myself. It was a way for me to process my emotions.
The Phetish Leather Jacket produced by Kai McPhee. Available on Instagram via Kai McPhee. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
The Weight of it All Trenchcoat was created when I got back from Nigeria. Going to Nigeria, I was feeling pretty sick and anxious to go to the doctor. So I played it off as something minor, but I freaked myself out the whole entire trip. My anxiety and depression was at its worst, so when I came back I went to the doctor who told me nothing was wrong with me. I knew I needed to create something to release this feeling. I had this trench coat that I got in 2020, and then I thought of sourcing some ties at the thrift store. I thought it looked really cool to have them hanging off of it, and that it would be interesting to add gems or hardware at the bottom of the ties. It just felt like the ties were weighing down the jacket. Trench coats and ties are professional, but at the same time I was figuring out what to do with my life career wise. And I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, which was a huge weight to me– how do you make a sustainable living when you don’t know what you’re doing? I like pieces that you can manipulate into your own way, and pieces that tell a story, those that you keep looking at and discovering something new. It may even have a different meaning for you in the future. And I feel that to be true for the Weight of it All trenchcoat.
The Weight of it All Trenchcoat created by Kai McPhee. Available on Instagram via Kai McPhee. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
