Designer Jordan McKay sources inspiration from one of her favorite rock icons, Jimi Hendrix.
PHOTOGRAPH BY TIFFANY L. CLARK
Hours before the white tents began to glow for the fifth night of Fashion Week El Paseo 2023, a wet and windy afternoon storm produced a looming set of moody clouds with a distinct purple haze painted across their undersides. Something cool and unusual had blown into town.
“The Hendrixroe Experience: Castles in the Sand” is the theatrical moniker for Canadian designer Jordan McKay’s runway show, featuring her equally intriguing line, Hedrixroe. Though branded as a luxury fashion label inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Marilyn Monroe, Hendrixroe never endeavored to deliver a literal love child born of two fashion icons, as McKay’s collection would soon prove.
Backstage, Hendrixroe models await their moment on the runway.
PHOTOGRAPH BY TIFFANY L. CLARK
Brisk temps kept most guests out of the courtyard and gathered in the reception tent, where anticipation hit a fever pitch. This crowd came primed for a party. And when they found their seats as the lights went down and Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” snarled from the speakers at live-concert volume, they knew they were getting it.
Poured into a black, faux patent leather suit, the first model shimmied nearly to the floor in a slinky dance move at the end of the runway. Next up, a shirtless gent in a purple suit checked his watch before heading back from whence he came. A couple swaggered together, attitude on full display.
Each look packed unique personality and ahead-of-the-trend spirit. A cocky tug on the lapels or a quick strum on an air guitar egged on the enthusiasm. (Wait, did those two models almost hook up mid-runway?)
PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIFFANY L. CLARK
Anyone meeting Hendrixroe for the first time received a fashionably firm and passionate handshake, all substance and style sans gimmick. No platinum blonde wigs or flying skirts, no wailing rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on electric guitar. McKay respectfully extracts the essence of her famous namesakes as a gateway to her own creativity.
Between the two, Hendrix ruled the runway. His admired flamboyance came back to life as the designer revisited his attraction to velvet (enter men’s cropped pants and women’s sailor-button shorts), fur, poet’s shirts, and printed silks.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CAROLINE POLLY
Stormy weather caters to a yen for jackets, another Hendrix (and Hendrixroe) infatuation. In a yo-yo of lengths and an opus of varieties, they paraded past, some trimmed with ostrich feathers or layered two or three deep. Overcoats and military revivals played against an orange-and-white varsity jacket, a studded pink moto jacket, and one attached to a tulle skirt.
The rollicking array of fine tailoring and well-constructed suits, both men’s and women’s, may be a vestige from McKay’s past. She began law school before catapulting into fashion design. Menswear honored elbow patches and plaid. Coattails felt casual, as did a windowpane check set pairing a sports coat with Bermuda shorts.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID CROTTY
The designer’s influence crosses eras, from always-in-vogue Chanel tweed to Y2K cargo pants. From the 1980s, McKay plucked a flash of neon, nautical navy and gold, and a new wave of pinks and greens. Counteracting preppy with punk, safety pins were a staple. Gender-fluid jackets glinted with metal vertebrae along the spine. More pins joined the sleeves or the hem to a jacket bodice and mimicked tuxedo stripes on a pair of pants.
Marilyn materialized as one foxy lady in a rock-princess gown aligning tulle with crystal fringe. Some do like it hot, and Hendrixroe sizzled again with silver hot pants and a pair of pearl-encrusted panties peeking above a pant waist. Several styles defied classification. A fluffy fur collar fascinated with a single sleeve attached. A belted bubble-skirt mini dress with a long train revealed Jimi’s drug-possession mug shots printed on a piece of fabric and fixed to its back.
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID CROTTY
Sharply clipped song snippets by Nirvana, Beastie Boys, and rapper Rick Ross kept an up-tempo pace while producing a shorter show that left fans wanting more. As a send-off, Guns N’ Roses swung the party full circle, inviting the fashion-hungry, cat-calling audience down to “Paradise City,” where the guys are cut and the girls are pretty. Marilyn reappeared and partygoers leapt to their feet.
More than a design house fashioned around megastar DNA, Hendrixroe banishes every “What-to-wear?” quandary from one’s mind and one’s closet. Pieces twist the expected and shout with joy, bringing over-the-top specialness to any occasion.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CAROLINE POLLY
Love what you saw on last night’s runway? Jordan McKay returns to the big white tents today from noon to 2:30 p.m. for a pop-up store that’s free and open to the public — no ticket required. Meet the designer, browse the designs from the runway up close, try something on, and you’re your favorite pieces home.
Fashion Week El Paseo continues through March 23 at The Gardens on El Paseo in Palm Desert. Hendrixroe will take the stage tonight, Tuesday, March 19, with a cocktail reception beginning at 7 p.m. and runway show at 8 p.m.
For tickets and the full schedule of runway shows, pop-up-stores, and special events, visit fashionweekelpaseo.com.