<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  At only 28 years old, NYU and Parsons grad Jen Kao has come a long way since her teenage days in Kansas pawing through her mom&amp;#039;s closet for vintage wear that &amp;quot;showed a little skin.&amp;quot; Now a seriously in-demand designer with four RTW collections under her belt, Kao, who counts stylist Keegan Singh and jewelry designer Eddie Borgo among her collaborators (and friends), is ready to see her FW09 RTW collection hit stores in New York City and Tokyo in just a few short weeks. Jen&amp;#039;s designs are art-inspired, intellectually approached, and meticulously executed. Her clothing is part soiree, part weekend-casual, with just enough downtown cool to pique and satiate pretty much everyone&amp;#039;s taste. In her latest collection (see slide show for behind the scenes images), she be-sequined a hoodie, created complex geometric patterns with mesh, and found a way to marry physics and comic books, conceptually, without a hint of pretension. For someone with quite the celebrity following (M.I.A., Elettra Wiedemann, and Rachel McAdams are among her devotees) and a long list of impressive industry accolades, I can&amp;#039;t tell who\u2014Jen or those of us who love her designs\u2014is more fortunate she chose fashion over medicine during college. I had the pleasure to speak with Jen about her creative process, ask her which designers&amp;#039; clothing she thinks mixes best with hers, and, most important, find out how quickly she&amp;#039;d burn through $5K at Barneys. In your biographical statement, you say you start with a piece of art\u2014what was that piece for this collection?  I made a crude stream-of-consciousness drawing after reading a really inspirational comic book by David Mack. I used graphite, pen, and colored pencils and freehanded lines and triangles and worked with the shapes that formed between them. When I finished it, I started thinking about the idea of the surface of everything shattering at one moment in time, thus the title of my show, &amp;quot;10000000 Shattered Pieces Fly/The Last Truth I Never Knew.&amp;quot; I&amp;#039;m always inspired by things you can&amp;#039;t see; structure and underlying strength have become staples in my designs. Why did you choose do collaborate with Eddie Borgo for this collection? What was it about his jewelry designs you thought would complement your clothes best?  Besides his obvious talent, I&amp;#039;ve found Eddie to be one of the sweetest, most easily relatable individuals working in this industry. We don&amp;#039;t do the same things, but getting on the same page and vision is almost instantaneous. There&amp;#039;s always very little to explain to each other. What music is playing while you&amp;#039;re working?  I am a little stuck in the &amp;#039;90s. I consistently listen to Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana, NIN, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Depeche Mode, but I live for all kinds of music. I can&amp;#039;t work without it, and I dream of being musically gifted. Through the design process, there are definitely shuffles I listen to relentlessly. Recently playing: the usual &amp;#039;90s, Peaches, Kate Bush, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Bat for Lashes. You&amp;#039;ve been on several notable &amp;quot;young designers to watch&amp;quot; lists. Do you feel more pressure because of this, or has it helped keep you focused and motivated?  I definitely feel the pressure, with or without any lists. I&amp;#039;m filled with high anxiety and very grateful when credits like these appear, as they&amp;#039;re added motivation. In any case, I&amp;#039;m focused on bringing a new and exciting collection out every season. You&amp;#039;ve been working with Taylor Momsen. What is the genesis of that collaboration?  Keegan Singh, my stylist, dressed her in Jen Kao for a shoot, so that was the introduction. After that, I was fortunate to dress her for several other occasions, one being my last show. She is a very sweet girl, so it was fun getting to know her aside from just dressing her. She&amp;#039;s only 16 and wearing the most amazing clothes. What were you wearing at that age?  I definitely didn&amp;#039;t have the same access. I was in Kansas filtering through my mom&amp;#039;s closet to see what I could de-mom. She has amazing taste, but at 16, even shapeless as I was, I wanted to show some skin! I definitely went through a pretty normal grunge stage and vintage obsession. Although, vintage stores weren&amp;#039;t as accessible as I&amp;#039;d wanted them to be. I never knew what a good vintage shop could be until I was in Boston and Providence for a summer studying at RISD. So that&amp;#039;s what I wore: vintage Vivienne Tam, Betsey Johnson, Versace, Prada, Chanel, Dolce &amp;amp;amp; Gabbana, Moschino, Chanel, etc. What other designers&amp;#039; clothing mixes well with yours?  Margiela? Undercover? Balenciaga? Stella McCartney? Is there a way to answer this question without feeling totally humbled? For myself, I like to mix my collection with brilliant basics with lots of drama. Your gray long-sleeved minidress with intricate trim, will that be available somewhere soon? I keep checking.  You can find it at CURVE (Soho) in early September! Final question: You have $5,000 to blow at Barneys\u2014how do you proceed?  First, I&amp;#039;d check the shoe floor for any ridiculous heels. Then Margiela and Undercover for basics, check if anything fits from men&amp;#039;s Dries Van Noten and Jil Sander. Then I&amp;#039;d run down to the makeup floor and stock up on Fresh Fig and Apricot soap and Kiehl&amp;#039;s shampoo and conditioner. I&amp;#039;d grab some D&amp;amp;amp;L company candles on the top floor and a sausage-and-mushroom pizza and fries at Fred&amp;#039;s. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/a10337/designer-profile-jen-kao-338038/?click=smart&kw=ist&src=smart&mag=ELM&link=-SMT-ELM>