Beyond Boundaries With Pierre Hommes' No Sesso

Fashion has long been one of the most discriminatory industries from its inception; exclusionary, favoring the skinny upper class, overlooking people of color and opting for their paler peers. This industry’s influence has aided in the harmful perceptions of marginalized people, supporting negative stereotypes and telling people that they must fit a certain mold to be considered in society.

There is no question that the fashion industry’s discrimination has extended to the transgender community. In fact, there has been an ongoing battle in the transgender community that has revolved around winning not just acceptance, but also safety, a public voice, and greater visibility.

There is a dichotomy here. In 2017, 28 transgender people were murdered in the United States; but, we also saw the first transgender woman be elected to a seat in the State Senate.

Enter, Pierre Davis. Fighting her battle against discrimination in the fashion industry, the mind behind No Sesso is pushing for radical freedom and inclusivity in fashion through beautiful, disruptive garments. Made with no gender in mind, No Sesso is the clothing brand dismissing the archaic traditions of the fashion industry and creating its own rules.

We were lucky enough to get some one-on-one time with Pierre and talk to her about the Los Angeles brand highlighting gender nonconformity.

Have you always been this free?

I have, since I was pretty young. I would draw concepts of what I wanted to make and eventually taught myself how to sew. I love [Jean Paul] Gaultier’s illustrations from the ‘80s.

What’s the biggest inspiration for you and your creative work?

I guess it just depends on what I’m going through; what I’m experiencing at that particular time, that’s a lot of what inspires me.

When you create a collection, what is your process like?

I start to go off on a lot of different inspirations. There’s usually something that I’m already thinking of, or a movie or something. I drew a lot of inspiration from Star Trek for my fall 2017 collection so I was designing based upon watching it all the time.

Did you go to school for design?

Yes, I studied at the Art Institute in Seattle for a little bit, and then I just stopped going and decided to teach myself. At the time I was working with leather a lot and I ended up just going there to use the machines.

What themes are you most drawn to when creating a new collection?

Nature, embroidery, patchwork – I feel like each collection is an improvement, a better way for an idea to grow. And I just keep interpreting it in different ways.

There is an incredible denim No Sesso jacket embroidered with portraits of black women. Did you do that yourself?

I started the black girl jacket in May 2016 when I was doing a pop-up shop. Since I was there all day I worked on it and it kind of kept me busy while I had [free] time. I started with one girl and it just got so elaborate. And then my friend Leo worked on it a little bit. We went back and forth over a course of 6 months.

When did you start to realize you wanted to focus on genderless clothing?

It started while I was in school, and I was just looking for things in regular stores. I wasn’t inspired by what they had to offer and was just trying to think of something that was like a uniform—something that anyone could wear and feel comfortable in. Some of my work comes from my own personal experiences. I’m also really inspired by female musicians in the 90s and a lot of black persons.

I understand that you grew up in a military family. What was that like?

I moved a lot which has its ups and downs. It was cool to be in Europe when I was 9, and experience 6^th grade in a different country. I’m so thankful for being able to travel at a young age and be exposed to a lot.

Do you feel that you’re influenced by Los Angeles?

There’s so much inspiration in this city. So many beautiful people. I’ve made amazing connects and really good friends. We work on No Sesso together and we are all very passionate about this mission and working hard to keep it going.

Who are the creative people that inspire you?

Kelsey Lu inspires me; she is queen of the hats. Janiva Ellis, she’s a painter and we collaborated on the mesh dress and nylon skirt — that was a really cool collaboration. I still draw; I just collaborated with Bephie for Art Basel and we put some of my drawings on t-shirts.

What’s something that most people don’t know about you?

I’m really silly. I like to play a lot of jokes all the time with my friends.

Where is your favorite place?

I guess it depends on what city I am in. My favorite places in LA are the Underground Museum, and the fashion district.

How do you want people to feel when they wear your garments? What is the message?

I just want people to identify with it, and show people that there is more than one particular way to look or be in the fashion world or in media in general. I just want it to be fresh and new and for people to be inspired by it.

What was something that brought major attention to your brand?

Our shows and our casting. They’re definitely the thesis behind what we’re doing and have really pulled people in.

What are you looking forward to?

Really just releasing more work. I have a lot of goals, most of them are personal – but I just want to keep going and keep breaking boundaries. I want to keep inspiring others, especially the youth.