Chandelier Creative’s Richard Christiansen has been a force of nature in the advertising biz for years now, but his latest partnership might be every native Aussie’s dream come true. Kylie Minogue has hired Christiansen’s team to design her tour merchandise, which includes T-shirts, sunglasses, and even condoms; they’ll also create animated films that will appear on stage during her performances. Christiansen explains how he’s entered Kylie’s orbit and why a new bar has been set for tour merchandise….
How did you and Kylie connect?
Kylie and I met through a few strange coincidences involving some mutual friends. We had wanted to collaborate on something for a while. To get started, we created a digital experience for the Sexercize release. The core idea was to pair brands and artists together to interpret the song and make films and other content. There was great energy and emotion around that project, and we pulled in some great collaborators, like Roman Coppola, Mat Maitland, and Hattie Stewart. Everyone was very thrilled with the result. We flexed some great creative muscle.
Why did she want to raise the bar with her tour merchandise?
Kylie is incredibly smart and has an amazing eye for talent. She recognized that we were working with some really iconic artists on Sexercize, so she asked us to translate those ideas and that visual language into product that her fans could collect. We also wanted to produce items that everyone at the agency would naturally want to buy. We asked ourselves: how would this look if Hood By Air made it? Or Moschino?
How involved were you?
I led a team of art directors and designers and visual artists who all collaborated to create the tour book, the merchandise, and some of the video content for the stage and the show. Kylie has a long-standing relationship with William Baker, her brilliant creative director. We had a breakfast with him, during which he gave us some loose direction on how things should look, and what his references were for the tour. He showed us the costume sketches from Jean Paul Gaultier and Dolce & Gabbana, and some early sketches of the stage itself. Then my team and I just hit the ground running, developing ideas that could fit into Kylie and Will’s vision.
What are some of the items like?
We did a line of T-shirts and sweatshirts, standard tour merchandise items, but we infused them with really strong graphic elements. We knew we didn’t want to do a string of portrait tees. Instead, we were inspired by street wear brands and bringing in an energy that is very contemporary and bold and aggressive, but still keeping it rather playful and mischievous as that’s part of Kylie’s DNA. We also have a few cheeky surprises, like Kylie condoms and sexy sunglasses.
What’s your favorite?
I selfishly created the “KYLIE IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL” items know that it would become my new uniform. I made custom versions for my team and Kylie’s inner team, and brought them out to dress rehearsals. Who wouldn’t love custom Kylie condoms?
No kidding! How did the Kylie condom come about?
Sexercize was such a bold move in an exciting new direction for Kylie, and while the song was aggressive and hard, we added a surprising element by having Hattie Stewart playfully doodle all over erotic exercise tapes from the ’80s. That play between the erotic and the innocent just made me think of how amazing it would be to have a bucket full of condoms with laughing bananas and memphis patterns all over.
What were the challenges of this kind of project?
There were technical limitations, as we would have loved to do shirts that with every inch covered in patterns and photography, but it wasn’t possible to execute cut-and-sew and full-bleed fabrics given the time frame. We ended up designing so many graphics that we loved, when it came down to assigning which ones would actually go into production, it was hard to let some go. Other than that, we saw this less as a challenge as it was a bit of freedom to go wild and as fans, design chic and exciting merchandise we would actually want to wear.
How was it different than the other kinds of projects that CC works on?
I think fashion is always looking at the music industry and vice versa, so there is actually quite a bit of synergy between the work we do for brands, and the way we approached this. You try to come up with an idea, figure out the simplest way to communicate the idea, then make it sparkle.
What’s your favorite Kylie jam?
It’s too hard to say. Each one is a winner.
What else is new with Chandelier Creative?
It’s been a great year. We’ve had a very successful run with Amy Poehler on Old Navy’s broadcast, and are about to enter a new chapter in that tale. We have also been working with Target on their holiday collaboration with TOMS. In Asia, we’re about to begin an exciting project with our beloved client Lane Crawford. And finally, we’re opening a Chandelier motel on Shelter Island, as an escape for our friends, staff, and clients. I hope Kylie will come play in the sun next summer.
