Thank you! My art installation in Los Angeles in November 2012 was a recreation of an 1890s brothel with a cast of characters “ladies of the house” and featured the premiere of a new short film I wrote and directed, “The Painted Lady” starring Jena Malone. The piece is part of a larger work I am doing which is set in the world of prostitution in the 1890s. In this piece, every room was a set that the audience could wander through, as long as they didn’t touch my girls! I worked with perfumer Mandy Aftel to scent the installation, and had an amazing team which included talented production, lighting, floral, sound and costume designers to help me realize my vision. I am translating my book and documentary on burlesque Pretty Things into a musical (I am writing, someone else directing) so I was excited to have a first taste of directing live performance! It’s a whole new world…The line I did for MAC Cosmetics “Liz Goldwyn for MAC” was very exciting and came about due to my longstanding relationship with Estee Lauder President John Demsey. M·A·C was very supportive of my documentary Pretty Things back in 2005. John and I were having dinner and speaking about cosmetic bags. I was on the hunt for beautiful ones for myself and asked him why M·A·C wasn’t making any at the time, to which he replied, “Why don’t you do it?” I made pen and ink sketches with watercolor because I wanted the M·A·C bags to have a very specific pastel, lingerie-like quality with underlays of silk and overlays of the net and lace. As I was working on the sketches, I drew all the makeup inside the bags in order to envision how it would look. And of course I drew a “condom pocket” for the “Hanging Bag” because I feel strongly that glamorous modern women should practice safe sex!

Essentially, it came down to thinking about how to update yet retain this 1950s vintage boudoir sensibility—an Ava Gardner type of woman who’s voluptuous and confident. Personally, that’s the era of lingerie and clothing I find fits my body and aesthetic. And of course, I kept in mind the attributes that burlesque and pin-up girls embodied when they put on their atomic bullet bras. Their undergarments were almost weapon-like and the “bad girl” sensibility emerged. I wanted the bags to have a good girl/bad girl duality with the outside being soft and feminine and the inside being tough. They look delicate, but they’re very durable.

Strangely enough, at the same time as the above two projects, I also had a line of pin up inspired hoodies and t shirts for the skateboard company Altamont Apparel come out! All these projects had been in the works for a couple of years so it was funny timing they all hit the shelves and world at once. I am really happy about being able to engage a wider (and younger) audience with my latest designs, so often I have created items at a high price point. The opportunity to make things that young women and men can afford, while hopefully imparting a message of empowered sexuality makes me very fulfilled.