Girl, Obsessed An Interview with Audrey Kitching By Erica Russell
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hat are some of your eternal obsessions? I’m eternally obsessed with bubble baths, lemon water, rainbow feathers, the perfect candle, autumn, sleeping in, road-trips, kittens, late night takeout, designer sunglasses, chocolate covered strawberries, sunrise hikes and fluffy oversized jumpers. What does an obsession mean to you? It can have a positive or negative meaning depending on how you look at it. I tend to be an optimist so I use the word in more of a carefree, creative sense. I see obsession as something that you love and something that makes you feel good; something that you crave such as the feeling of butterflies when you meet someone new. How do you know when you’re “obsessed” with something? I know I’m obsessed when I can’t keep my concentration without the thought of something particular reoccurring in my mind, which happens many times a day actually now that I think about it. I may have an obsession with obsessions. What is it like having people who are “obsessed” over you? I don’t take myself too seriously, so the fact that someone would fly across the country just to meet me melts my brain in the most affectionate way possible! It’s a positive feeling for sure, just one I find hard to cope with and relate to, because I just exist as myself. When does it become dangerous? Where is the line between healthy and detrimental? I think obsessions cross a line when they are affecting your life and others in a negative way. An obsession with shoes is one thing, but if it grows until you are spending all of your rent money and can’t afford to live, then it has surely crossed a line. We need to be strong enough to keep ourselves in check, but because an obsession is so encompassing it can be hard to reel ourselves back in at times.
14 Atlas Magazine
When does inspiration evolve into an obsession for you? I definitely have an obsession with the very notion of inspiration itself! I think that it’s a good thing most of the time. But sometimes when I should be sleeping for a job the next day, I’m huddled under my covers with my iPad at strange hours of the night surfing Pinterest. I can’t help it. Being inspired is my drug. It’s what fuels me. What do you want your imprint/impact to be when you leave this world? My wish would be for everyone to learn to love themselves, stop judging others, treat animals and the earth the way they should be treated, and take care of their bodies and minds. If you don’t nourish both correctly, you will never function at even a small percentage of your full potential, which seems like such a tragic waste. It takes work to live a positive and inspiring life. It’s not easy but I can promise that it is worth it. What’s more important: fashion or style? Style trumps fashion, hands down. Anyone with enough plastic cards and paper bills can buy fashion. Style is something you curate and express within yourself. No one has the exact same style. And without style, fashion couldn’t exist! Style is what you are born with and grow into and evolve. It’s fascinating to watch. What do you think of the fashion industry right now? I personally think that the industry takes itself a bit too seriously for my taste. Fashion and style is about expression and fun. Fashion week has turned into a wealth-fueled popularity contest a la Mean Girls. The whole core and point of it has vanished into some strange high school scenario. I always feel like I fit into the indie side of the industry much better. I’m not anti-mainstream by any means, I just think it can be watered down and fake at times. I prefer art for the sake of art and fashion for the sake of expression.
HAIR Kim Garduno MAKEUP Dinessa Belli PHOTOS Ally Lindsay STYLING Erica Russel