Alison Mosshart x Surface To Air

Cult label Surface to Air teamed up with rock style icon Alison Mosshart to design the perfect motorcycle jacket. The resulting capsule collection consists of a leather star-studded jacket with fringed sleeves and a black t-shirt. 

Alison Mosshart – lead singer of Indie rock band The Kills – describes her inspiration for the capsule collection: “I wanted to make the jacket I’ve been looking everywhere for but couldn’t find. I never saw it, just dreamt about it – a kind of Frankenstein jacket. A motorcycle jacket with fringe, 1970s evil, instead 60s peace and love or whatever the 80s were thinking. I wanted to make a transient Americana joy ride jacket, part Elvis, part Hells Angel, part Evel Knievel. Black leather with a good shape, good movement at high speeds.”

Although Mosshart is new in the world of fashion, we think she’ll fit in just fine. During the two decades of her music career – apart from being successful as an indie artist – she also grew to be a style icon in the alternative music scene. The style she’s known for has the same sort of attitude and edgy twist as the label she decided to collaborate with: Surface to Air. This Paris-based multidisciplinary brand isn’t focused on fashion only. Besides designing clothes, Surface to Air – whose workforce simply consists of a group of old friends – produces films, music and graphics. This makes the label a brand unlike any other, so it’s not a surprise they chose to collaborate with a relatively underground icon like Mosshart. 

“It’s not just a clothing line, but more of an art collective in some way in my mind. So I felt at home to work under that roof. I guess the stars were aligned. Some collaborations make sense and feel right, most do not. This has been a natural and easy collaboration, which is ideal.”

The capsule collection started with drawings Mosshart made in her “shitty hotel stationery”. The black shirt that Mosshart designed is quite basic and doesn’t really stand out. The motorcycle jacket, on the other hand, is amazing and can be worn in many different ways on several outfits. It’s rock and roll, it’s country, it’s original, it’s cool and it’s one of those pieces that you can wear over and over without getting bored by it. We look forward to seeing more designs that come from Mosshart’s creative brain, which proved to go further than music alone. 

Lisa Nederveen
Photos: Courtesy of Surface To Air

The capsule collection is available here.