Welcome to the first installment of Portrait of a Writer, a fashion series featuring the most exciting writers of independent literature.
Lindsay Lerman and I met over twitter and even in that echoey virtual space, it was clear Lindsay was a genuine person, extremely sensitive and attuned to the development of language and the way it forms us.
Before Lindsay moved to Berlin, I had the privilege to take one of her intensive courses, which focussed on Georges Bataille’s Theory of Religion.
In addition to being a generous teacher, Lindsay is the author of two outstanding books, I’m From Nowhere (2019) and What Are You (2021), both available in our store.
Reading Lindsay’s work and taking her classes, I’m struck by the consistency of voice. In everything she does, she makes space. The effect is like swimming in a dark body of water. The water is very much there. It’s shaping your experience, creating energy and sensation, but you are also playing a part and so is the air and so are the zooplankton and the animals that dwell in the shallows and in the deep. There’s nothing precious or woo-woo about the feeling of interconnection between Lindsay, the writer, and you, the reader, but there is something honorable in her work. I imagine she will spend the rest of her life holding space for the complex, the unpleasant, the mysterious and the beautiful.
About this spread: Masculin/ Feminin are not opposite terms but rather layers that bubble to the surface. The tailored wool pinstripe suit Lindsay is wearing is at least 50 years old and came to us with clean handkerchiefs in the breast pocket. The tailored structure is offset by the delicate black heels. The silk paisley blouse is so soft it’s almost oily. The cornflower blue silk Kimono evokes the opulence of an old boudoir, a place where one’s time is their own. A place where time stops.
If you are a writer and interested in being featured in our Portrait of a Writer series, please be in touch.
Photos by @coraefhamilton