Daniel Clowes’ comic book inspired the film, and graphics take centre stage in the collection. Enid’s ‘Raptor’ t-shirt gets a nod in an appliquéd motif. An ice-cream cone makes a witty placement print on t-shirts, and appears embroidered onto candy-coloured knitwear. And a cartoon ghost floats by, as a patch, and as a repeat print on cotton mussola shirts, crêpe de chine peplum tops, and shirtwaist dresses.
Elsewhere cotton and lurex knits in yellow, lilac and blue have something of the synthetic beauty of small-town America, as does a jacquard Jensen calls Twist – perhaps in reference to Enid’s interest in sixties dance routines. But this isn’t the time for all-out glamour. The designer is more interested in the tomboyish daywear that the characters slum around in – crisp shirts, cotton pants – a well as skirts and tops that would have been perfect for Enid’s so-called ‘little old lady phase’: printed shirts with frill sleeves, gathered-waist skirts, jacquard skirts with patches, and oversized dresses that would be perfect for the Prom – except that you totally hate the Prom, naturally.
And why Ghost World, this season? As Jensen explains it, the film was released the same year he started his business. Is he still the same designer? How has his customer changed in fourteen years? Well none of us are getting any younger, but Jensen likes to think that there’s a part of himself – and the woman he dresses – that will never conform. The film seems to have a similar message: once an oddball, always an oddball.