For Those About to Rock, She Will Dress You

I recently interviewed New York City designer Alison Roberto about her new rock and metal inspired clothing line Metal Couture after her photographer took some shots of me wearing different pieces (photos above).

Alison works in the music industry designing graphics for projects ranging from large-scale award shows to CD covers and websites, so her aesthetic for blending art, fashion and music comes quite naturally. Alison told me about her edgy new clothing line as well as the surprising pastime of Tommy Lee and why the skull is such a popular symbol in fashion.

PLAYBOY: What’s it like working with high-profile musicians?

ALISON: Working in the music industry really is a lot of fun and I get to spend extended periods of time with the gods of the metal world. I’ve had Spinal Tap moments with Testament, shared veggie tacos with Lamb of God, been treated to beers by Zakk Wylde and hung out in a boxing ring with Phil Anselmo.

Recently I saw Anne Lindfjeld, the gorgeous host of Headbangers Ball Denmark, who was in New York doing an interview with tattoo artist Paul Booth. She wore one of our shirts during the interview, which blended nicely with the macabre surroundings of Paul’s midtown studio. (Ed. note: You can see more of Anne on the Grapevine pages in the November 2008 issue).

PLAYBOY: A few of your designs depict golf imagery. What’s the connection with rock n’ roll and golf?

ALISON: Hell if I know! The only thing that I like about golf is driving the little cart around. My fiancé, Mike, is really the one who inspired the brand. He’s the voice of Headbangers Ball and the lead singer of The Burn & Cry, and he absolutely loves golf. After he played a round with Chuck Billy, the singer of Testament, I realized how many rockers are into golf: Tommy Lee, Alice Cooper, Vinnie Paul and Aaron Lewis of Staind, just to name a few. Alice has said that golf saved his life. It helped him stop drinking and gave him a new focus. After being dragged through countless golf outlets I found the true offender not to be the sport itself, but the fashion sense. I thought with this new audience of younger people and rockers that the sport is attracting, they really need a clothing line all their own.

PLAYBOY: What does the skull symbolize to you and why do you think the image has become so closely associated with rock n’ roll?

ALISON: The skull is a global icon for rebellion. It’s seems only natural for rock n’ roll to embody such a powerful symbol. Historically the skull has been associated with everything from secret societies and toxic substances to black-flagged pirate ships. In some cultures skulls were used in various ceremonies and mythical rituals in order to commune with the dead. It’s been thought to represent wisdom and guidance and also as a symbol for death. Skulls have often been used as ornaments or weapons to terrorize enemies. But the skull has definitely grown beyond its ancient significance and rock n’ roll has helped turn it into a fashion icon. Covered in jewels, silhouetted in leather, cast in metal, silkscreened on clothes or embroidered on a diaper bag, it’s this union of opposites that allows Metal Couture to straddle the line between sophistication and debauchery.

PLAYBOY: The color palette of your line is refreshingly light. Are you trying to encourage rockers to put away their dark clothing?

ALISON: No, not at all. I still rock all black on most days myself! I just think there’s a new breed of fashionably conscious metalheads out there who are entirely underserved. Over ten years ago when girlie tees were hard to come by, we had to buy men’s band tees and custom cut them to fit our bodies. It forced me to be creative while remaining sexy! My mission became finding and creating the best fashion forward materials and graphics without ditching our classic rock & metal staple icons. I think we should have choices that not only have amazing graphics, patterns & bodies, but colors as well. Not everything has to be dark & heavy all of the time. My hope with this line is to be able to mix it in with your regular everyday wardrobe. Guys can rock an acid washed tee underneath a blazer for work, and girls can compliment our poofy sleeved “skulls n’ razor blades” top with a high-waisted skirt.

PLAYBOY: Who are/were some of the best-dressed musicians?

ALISON: Rock has had a few dark periods–the 80’s pop metal era was not a shining moment for fashion–but I think we’ve managed to scrape out a few decent dressers; Keith Richards, David Bowie, Queen, Gwen Stefani, Debbie Harry, Marilyn Manson, Jim Morrison….and let’s not forget, Elvis. I love style that defies expectations.

PLAYBOY: What’s the strangest custom order you’ve ever done for someone?

ALISON: We haven’t had too many strange requests, but we certainly welcome them. Making custom golf polos for Chuck Billy was probably the coolest. We’ll be adding accessories in the spring. We get so many requests for the black tutu skirt and bracelets pictured on our models, so we’ve decided to expand into accessories as well as apparel.

I’m also happy to announce that on March 5th, 2009 Metal Couture will have its first runway show and launch party at Fontana’s in New York City. We’ll have models from Suicide Girls and Playboy and there may even be a few metal celebrity appearances (wink, wink). The event will be co-hosted by José Mangin, host of Sirius Satellite Radio’s Liquid Metal, and Allison Hagendorf, host of Playboy’s Rock the Rabbit and Miss Playboy Mobile. Limited tickets will be made available to the public, so keep checking our website for details!

Photos by Justin Borucki.

Sweet Emotions

Each holiday season for the past decade the musical juggernaut known as The Trans Siberian Orchestra has performed their orchestral heavy holiday rock music to audiences around the country. This past weekend the group made stops at New York's Nassau Coliseum and New Jersey's Izod Arena (formerly known as The Meadowlands and now affectionately called "The Metal Lands") where they played three sold-out shows. Historically, guest musicians have made surprise appearances at these particular arenas, which have included Joan Jett, Jon Anderson (Yes) and Roger Daltrey (The Who), and this weekend was no exception when the legendary Steven Tyler of Aerosmith took the stage to close out all three shows. It was a perfect holiday treat to hear the classic songs "Dream On" and "Sweet Emotion" to end the three hour, over-the-top spectacle from this entertaining group of musicians.

I was sitting in the 6th row and ran up when Steven Tyler came out and was able to take these really close shots.

This entry made playboy.com's homepage the day it was posted (click to enlarge):

The Pin-Up Poet at Comic Con 2008

We were introduced to Andrea Grant at last year’s Comic Con and this year we met up with the Canadian beauty again to find out about her two new projects: The third installment of her comic book series MINX and her new book titled THE PIN-UP POET. 

Standing over six feet tall, Andrea is a prolific artist and model who is devoted to expressing herself through many different mediums. Much of what she creates reflects her views about the stereotypes and traditional roles of women in society. She says of her work, "People want to play it safe. I don’t want to create safe work. I want it to be provocative, to smash all the ridiculous ideas to pieces. Boring ideals no longer serve us culturally.”
 
Andrea’s poems in The Pin-Up Poet haunt, inspire and provoke. Each poem is accompanied by a photograph of Andrea shot by various photographers, including Viva Van Story and Chas Ray Krider.