Ahead of the opening of The Branch Museum of Design’s newest exhibition, “Undeniable: The Designs of Christian Siriano and Ashley Longshore,” Style Weekly sat down with the fashion designer and visual artist to talk the beauty of the outsider, accessorizing your middle finger, and the importance of finding joy in the Hellscape that is contemporary America.

Style Weekly: I’ve mentioned to the museum team that I see a “kindred spirit” between you two and Richmond’s creative community — you’re both self-starters with immense tenacity. Have you felt that here?

Ashley Longshore: Are you kidding? It’s an honor to be here. I feel like Richmond is an incredible city. It’s culturally diverse; they’re celebrating fashion and artistry. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to attend until last week, and I’m so happy to be here.

Christian Siriano: I get surprised every day. There’s a really cool artistic community here. Even the other day, I was in Carytown and this woman had her paintings out. I was like, “I love your paintings, do you have more?”

She said yes, and I asked if I could see her studio sometime. She said, “yes, it’s right here— I live here in this house.” And I went into her house and bought five paintings from her! It was amazing to just have that encounter, and the paintings were incredible.

I feel like that kind of spontaneity happens in other cities, but that intimacy is very quintessential to the Richmond creative community. 

CS: Totally. I walked into her house and she had her bikes in the front and a painting in the foyer. I asked if it was for sale and she said, “I guess it could be — it’s been there for 20 years.” And I got it.

You both have a knack for seeing the value in an idea or a person often long before the “establishment” does. Do you feel that’s a gut instinct you were born with, or a skill you developed?

AL: I feel like artists and creative people are magnetic in that way. We look for enthusiasm; we’re joy-seekers. We’re not just a fashion designer and an artist—we’re kind of psychologists in a way. You learn a lot about how people are when they interact with your work. I think you can pinpoint when someone has that “shine.”

CS: I’m pretty good at figuring out who’s going to be something. I mean, I dressed Lady Gaga for her first TV appearance ever.

AL: You discovered Cardi B!

CS: I dressed Cardi when no one would dress her, and I’ve dressed her for years now. If you stick around early on and help them, they usually remember, which is really great.

Would you say you have an affinity for outsiders? 

CS: Yeah, of course. I think the eccentric people are usually the ones that become very successful in the end, because they stick around, or they keep trying and doing things that are different.

Ashley, what’s been your biggest “I told you so” moment of your career so far? 

AL: I had galleries early in my career that told me I wasn’t marketable, so I went and bought myself this (gestures to one of many large, jeweled rings, this one on her middle finger) so I could give them the finger and make sure they could see me.

I’ve had people who have doubted me, doubted my work ethic and what I’m creating. I think what’s interesting in fashion and art is that once you find your audience, you have your people. You find the people who love what you do and you have a party. I haven’t had to be nasty, but there are a lot of people who can kiss my ass.

Christian, you’ve famously been an early adopter of size inclusivity and have stepped up to dress stars when other houses have said no because of size. Looking back, did you feel that you were fundamentally challenging the industry, or were you just trying to solve a problem?

CS: I think in the beginning I just wanted to dress these people. I never shied away from that, and in a way, thinking about it was never interesting to me. I think Oprah was one of the first people that asked me for a dress and wasn’t a sample size, but we had to make it for her—who’s saying no to Oprah? Obviously, I dress a lot of people on red carpets and I think I was putting [my work for diverse sizes] out there a lot more; that work was more seen.

Both of you are unapologetic about the business side of art and fashion—

CS: We both like money, is that what you mean?

Am I going to say that’s absurd? Absolutely not! But how do you balance the “pure art” with the need to run a business?

CS: I think I still make what I want to make. I take a ton of risks — I make some things that nobody would ever probably buy. You start in a fantasy world, and it’s easy to start in fantasy and then commercialize yourself. It’s very hard to be a commercial brand and then go to a fantasy world.

You still have to make things that people will want; things that feel dramatic but wearable. I think that’s where I’ve carved my world: things that still feel dramatic but that you can live your life in.

AL: I believe the greatest thing we have is the opportunity to be financially independent, and I will not apologize for that. But how do I balance it? I work like it’s my last day. I also have over 20 people who depend on me. I don’t have a choice to not be tapped into my creativity and my work ethic. But you know, we’ve got to do as much as we can while we can—before the aliens get here, at least.

Absolutely. Aliens aside, we’re living through a very heavy time right now, and sometimes people dismiss fashion and art as “extra” or “frivolous.” I suspect you both will disagree. Why would you say we need this sort of creativity — and the “maximalism” you both represent — now more than ever? 

CS: Trying to remove escapism would be like telling someone not to dream or have goals. I mean, there are times where we don’t just make pretty dresses — like during the pandemic, we turned my entire studio into a mask-making factory and made over 3 million masks. But you have to have the fantasy, or else I don’t think we as a culture can survive.

It’s interesting to be here and think about why people go to museums and see art by artists that they’ve maybe never even heard of. A lot of people go because they just want to see something interesting and escape into a dream world, and that’s across countries, religions, cultures. Art is an escape — it’s totally universal and I don’t think that will ever go away.

AL: You know, I learned the chocolate chip cookie was invented during the Great Depression. Through hardships, we will see some of the greatest creativity. We are going through a heavy time, but people need a break from that. Sometimes I find myself thinking, “Is this important?” And you know what people tell me? “I love your art, it brought me some joy today.”

My job is to take how I see things and create and allow you to come into my world. My world, my art, saves me every day.

“Undeniable: The Designs of Christian Siriano and Ashley Longshore” will run through March 22 at The Branch Museum of Design located at 2501 Monument Ave.