Erin Wasson: a chain saw? A crown of thorns? Is this a horror movie? No, it's this designer's roasting-hot new jewelry line

Interview, May, 2008 by Alexander Wang

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Erin Wasson is having a good year. The 26-year-old Texas-born model acted as a co-stylist with Alexander Wang, the punk-rock-outlaw-ish fashion force who's been nominated for the Swarovski Award for Womenswear at next month's CFDA Fashion Awards. And, this fall, Wasson will launch her own jewelry line.

ALEXANDER WANG: How's everything with the jewelry line?

ERIN WASSON: The product looks amazing.

AW: You're just doing that one piece, the body chain saw that we showed?

EW: That's all I'm gonna do for now. I've got tons of other ideas.

AW: If you wanna start with something very potent, try it out first and see how it goes.

EW: Yeah. I want to put my name on that chain and sort of make it my starting point. Everybody really likes the crown of thorns, so I'll make the crown of thorns in bronze and in silver.

AW: When's the jewelry going to launch?

EW: September. That's so soon!

AW: You're going to do it in New York, right?

EW: I want to do a short film and present the film instead of doing a proper fashion show. My biggest fear is that people get the jewelry and they don't exactly know how to work it out-like they don't know how to put it on.

AW: You know what you should do?

EW: I need an instruction manual.

AW: You should definitely do a clinic kind of thing at Maxfield's--showing what the jewelry's about and how to wear it. But you should also do a tittle instructional tag. With all the different ways to wear the jewelry.

EW: I need to do that. God knows I need my own instruction manual to life, so, therefore, people probably need an instruction manual just to know how to put the jewelry on. [laughs]

ALEXANDER WANG IS A NEW YORK CITY-BASED FASHION DESIGNER WHO IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON HIS SPRING 2009 COLLECTION. LEFT: ERIN WASSON. PHOTO: DAN MARTENSEN.