“Wow, your jacket is covered in dicks, man!” Ezra Miller said to me one New York Fashion week, referring to my leather trench coat covered in hand-drawn nude men. A surreal moment for me, but pretty much the norm for Patrick Church, the designer who made it and whose phallic-focused designs have made him one of NYC’s most promising new creatives.
Born and raised in the UK, the queer designer says that he has always had a strong relationship with art, an interest that was honed with the help of an “amazing art teacher” who allowed him to exercise and develop his own unique style. By the time he reached university, he’d already established a distinctive painting style, and shunned further education to further nurture his own personal approach. Using bold and bright colours, his early work featured a selection of complex characters who represented Church’s adolescent emotions, his relationship with love and depicted his sexual experiences — both literal and fantasy.
It was never the plan to turn his artistry into a fashion brand, but Church now has an eponymous label under which he creates regular collections and custom pieces. “I realised that there was nothing that I liked to wear,” he tells me over a crackly transatlantic call. “I never saw anything that I thought was fun or wanted to buy, so I just started to experiment.” Citing Vivienne Westwood’s provocative ’70s designs as a major source of inspiration, Church now uses jackets, suits, tees and trousers as a canvas for his autobiographical paintings, which depict heartbroken protagonists alongside poetic musings, depictions of chiselled nude men and more often than not, intimate images of fellatio. Although he says it’s unintentional, his powerful and provocative designs break boundaries around sexuality, and force society’s prudish eye to look upon something often considered taboo — nudity, sex and raw emotion. “When I’m making work about sex, I’m not actually having sex; it’s more the idea of it and the longing of it! I remember I had a year or two where I didn’t have sex and I would romanticise about it for my art work,” he explains of his more controversial pieces.
Recognising his creative potential, boutique retailer Opening Ceremony have thrown their support behind Church and have bought his last two collections. They regularly offer him a presentation space during New York Fashion Week. His show sees him invite spectators to watch as he performs a live painting on various garment pieces — offering a unique insight into his creative process from start to finish. Having a platform to showcase his work has helped him to catch the attention of some well-known names, and he’s now found fans in Kendall Jenner, Teyana Taylor and SZA, to name a few.
However, this burgeoning recognition has meant that meeting demand is becoming increasingly challenging for Church, which is why his next collection will go into production, rather than being solely hand-painted. “There are certain limitations with painting on garments,” the designer explains. “There’s only so much you can do, and I would like to expand a little bit. This way, I’m able to experiment and push myself a lot more.” It also means that he will be able distribute his creations worldwide, rather than everything being outsourced from his studio in Brooklyn, New York, so you can expect to see a lot more Patrick Church designs on the street sometime soon.
Aside from working on the production of his next collection, Church is also pulling together his first exhibition. Titled Because of You, the show has given the artist the opportunity to try something more soft and romantic. “I’m trying to look at love in a different light, as something that isn’t dark and won’t always let you down,” he says. For Because of You, the designer will present a live painting show alongside a series of his own personal artworks. His aim is to trace his progression as an artist and designer, moving from a place of darkness, to one of light and love — expect it to to be the hottest ticket in town.
“Because of You” opens September 3 at Toth Gallery, New York.