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“I think fantasy goes hand in hand,” DJ Parker Radcliffe says of fashion and music. “When the designer shows me what they’ve created, my mind just goes crazy with ideas because it is [about] creating a feeling.” For designer Sandy Liang’s runway show, he created a set that alludes to the image of New York in the 90s that usually appeals to today’s youth. The two spent hours chatting about the energy of this season’s collection — one that juxtaposes minimal separates matched with bare skirts. At the Schimmel Center at Pace University, the models opened the show to the synth beats of Take a breath by Télépopmusik and Angela McCluskey. Audience members rode the Radcliffe soundwave to the music of Caroline Polachek, Purity Ring and Frou Frou. A musical blast similar to Purity Ring’s Euphoria sanctuary set the backdrop for the collection’s final procession. The whole thing took maybe 12 minutes.
“I always started things [slowly] turning into an energetic piece, but Kelly taught me that we’re starting hard,” says Radcliffe. “We can get down to the middle.” He’s referring to fashion mogul Kelly Cutrone, founder of PR agency People’s Revolution, of which discovered him. hearing protector by accident. Radcliffe first moved to New York to work in fashion, as many of us do. To support his style dreams, he began working the front desk at a SoulCycle. I attracted by the musical component of the class (and captive downtown clientele), he eventually began teaching himself. More importantly, the budding DJ began mixing music for these endeavors. One of said playlists drew the attention of Cutrone, who had taken a class before him and listened to the music playing in the lobby. “She pulled me aside and said, I’m a witch and I think you’re going to be a famous DJ,” he says. ( He also met L iang through a SoulCycle class.)
Cutrone “got [Radcliffe] under her wing,” and they played shows together for five years. In between, Radcliffe attended RunDMC’s DJ school, the Scratch Academy. The stylist-turned-DJ assistant explained to me that it was basically a course six-week old where he learned to mix on vinyl records. He then had a residency at East Village club Bedlam, where he experimented with electronic DJ sets—that’s the point when he also started mixing his SoulCycle class. Now, he describes the class as “the perfect fusion of New York fashion or grit and partying fun without going to a club.”
Despite all those efforts, music role Radcliffe still loves the fashion world. “My dream was to do fashion shows,” he says. “I really look up to Michel Gaubert and I have so many heroes who were musicians, but [specifically] within the world of fashion. To do and do [my own] the election feels so exciting.” He first tried this kind of ecstasy at a men’s fashion show a few years ago. He walked into a room of tired editors, buyers and general industry people. Radcliffe was no stranger to the gloom the industry feels during fashion week, but it suddenly hit her. “It was my job to freeze the energy or create one so you could live within it.” Find out more about Radcliffe’s career trajectory, creative process and general obsession with music below.
What is it about a fashion show when viewed through the lens of music that gets you so excited?
“I think the first time I got it, I was doing a men’s show — which a lot of times is just an introduction — and it had the worst energy. When I got there, I said, ‘Oh, I’m used to this. I worked in styling, people are stressed, whatever. I suddenly realized that it was my job to freeze the energy or create one so that you could live within it. [I love] fashion, but I’m more into style. So I wasn’t following every little thing. The stylist I worked for said, ‘It seems like your natural talent is in music, but you respond visually to clothes.’ And I love how he works so long on such a short mix and finally gets it out there and it’s over in 12 minutes. That big rush is exactly what I live for.”
Tell me your and Sandy’s story. I’d love to hear how you connected and then what it looks like to conceptualize an event and pair that brand identity with a playlist.
“Sandy had attended my class for a while, but I didn’t know who she was. And I’m friends with Danny Bowie who runs Mission Chinese. I went to see her and she was in the restaurant, too. So we eventually connected and then she started taking my class and we just bonded over music. And then her show that she did on Canal Street—the thing that everyone went crazy for—we made a playlist together for the track. I also walked in the show, which was a dream to do both at the same time. And that’s how it all started.”
What are the conversations you two have when you’re conceiving the sound of a collection?
“It was really interesting this time. I know how he creates and sees clothes. It’s a mix between who her daughter is and what her clothes are and somehow finding, especially with Sandy, classic references that feel like a throwback fantasy, but also push us forward in a modern way.”
DJ Parker Radcliffe at Sandy Liang’s Shoe and Jewelry Party;
Photo: Steven Yatsko
Can you describe to me what will be played at the event?
Sandy’s original idea was that she wanted the fantasy of New York that our age group didn’t have that we looked at in the nineties. So mixing it with a modern pop, almost upbeat – I don’t really know the word to use. But she definitely wants people to exhale, to leave feeling relaxed but at the same time upbeat and inspired.”
When preparing for an event or a performance, what are the boxes you look to check and how do you do it? Are there certain emotions you’re looking to play with? Are there any big red flags you walk away from?
“I think when you DJ things like that, the room expects you to know a lot about each genre, so if they give suggestions, you can kind of ping pong back and forth. [You have to be] open to the fact that there are many different ways it can go. I always enjoy seeing the collection and giving input from someone who wasn’t there to make it. What does it make me feel? Do you feel the same way? And it’s a lot of communication. For me and Sandy, it’s been two months since those conversations and our playlist has gone from one thing to a whole other thing that we’re both very excited about now. It grew as we worked together.”
What does your daily work look like? Are you still working at SoulCycle? Are you doing many other DJ projects? What are you doing?
“Last year, I really started to refocus on my class because it’s so good now. A lot of SoulCycles have closed, but I feel like the one I have going is good and it’s in a place where I can do what I want. I have left the clubs. Now I’m thinking of all the ways I can take my sound tracking knowledge into my future. But New York probably still works for me because of the fashion stuff. I love to create with all kinds of designers, brands and pop artists and include all my ideas here. I’m excited about it.”
You’re obviously more of a music person, but do fashion and music evoke similar reactions in you emotionally, visually?
“I think fantasy goes hand in hand. I am very inspired by visuals. I love photographers and I love television and cinema because it’s like hearing how they see. So when the designer shows me what they’ve created, my mind just goes so crazy with ideas because it is [about] creating a feeling. You can bring the case before you and there are many ways to solve it.”
If you’re creating your own playlist, say you’re doing one of your classes, what does the inspiration process look like? Are you listening to just stuff or other areas flowing into a playlist you create?
“God, that’s such a good question. Honestly, I moved to the East Village five years ago. I left a link to do what I’m doing now. So I spend a lot of time attaching my music to my evolution. I’m into a lot of philosophy and stuff like that. And that’s why at the same time, my class is kind of the perfect fusion between New York fashion or grit and release. [aspect of a] party fun without going to a club. The nuance of that has made me pay attention to music in a different way, where I just want to take what we did last time and make it even more applicable to a post Gen Z era where things are changing versus the millennial way of thinking. that.”
Tell me about your musical knowledge. Is it really spread out everywhere? Are there certain subgroups that you specialize in or do you listen to everything across the board?
“There have been waves throughout my life. As a kid, I was really, really into hip hop. My other brothers—I’m the youngest of five—were into Nirvana and the grunge stuff. Then I came out to love Emo and get involved in more of the Indie 2000. I feel like Robyn brought me back to the world of pop through my Emo lens. But I feel like you, especially in a classroom [try to] reach every person with a song and make the genres work together, even if they’re so broad, so that someone who likes this can like it and commercialize it enough that people don’t feel alienated. I treat it like a fashion show and it forces me to expand my musical knowledge.”
How are you creating a desired energy through things like tempo and lyrics?
“I would say it just depends on the feeling I’m trying to create. I always started things off by building up to an energetic piece, but Kelly taught me that we’re starting hard. We can go down the middle. The way she handled the fashion show got me [approach] my class is different. Not always changing it, but making it feel like your brand and your voice, that’s the game for me too.”
How often do you listen to music?
“Constantly. It’s so nice when I can hear it and enjoy it. But, I’m just psycho about it all. I’m embarrassed every time I hear something because I like to go back to my actual life when I create things and make it real. I’ll have everything ready and then create an atmosphere from there.”
In your free time, what do you like to listen to the most?
“I wanted the summer to be cold, but still with five girls at the party. Always Charlie XCX since her Pop 2 album – so good – but especially her new stuff. And I love Earth Eater. It’s where we’re going next, but it’s also comedy in a way, which I also feel is kind of where we are. 100 Gecs do this a lot too. These are some of the things that speak to the future, but it’s also fun and hilarious.”
Do you have an all-time favorite song?
“As a kid it was always TLC, any of them. The CrazySexyCool album – that was it for me. So I stay true to my daughter sometimes.”
And then do you have a dream fashion client?
“Oh, I always wanted to work for Demna [Gvasalia]. That would be all.”
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