How Dennis Hopper’s Daughter Connects Fashion to the Arts

START
body

Marin Hopper was raised in a world like no other—enchanted with creativity and steeped in film and art legend. At the moment of New Hollywood’s beginning in 1960s Los Angeles, her parents Brooke Hayward and Dennis Hopper created a fully dynamic home. Brimming with art and design ingenuity, the setting was completed by larger-than-life personas—Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jane Fonda, Marin’s godmother. One Warhol, “Mao,” unintentionally bore two bullet holes after surprising Dennis (The actor, according to Christie’s auction house “mistook the portrait on his wall for Mao [Zedong] himself and shot at it.”). Rock stars—and occasionally Hell’s Angels—were also houseguests of the family. Truly no element in this life was ordinary.

The late Dennis—famed for his memorable role in Apocalypse Now and directorial debut Easy Rider—was an avid photographer, an art he pursued at the prompting of fellow Rebel Without a Cause actor and friend, James Dean. Even Marin’s grandfather, Leland Hayward embodied his own tale: Hayward was a super-agent turned producer that collaborated with Ernest Hemingway. He also took an interest in aviation and co-founded an airline, while courting and marrying some of the most desirable women of his time.

Stirring elements of Hollywood, cultural rebellion, and art history in the making, this lineage undoubtedly influenced Marin’s own multi-hyphenate creativity. Across her career, she has worked in arenas of fashion, design, art, photography, and writing. Today, she leads the archives of the Hopper Art Trust to keep her father’s artistry alive—and her family legacy has, in turn, inspired her own design prowess. Hayward and Hopper, her namesake accessories and clothing brands, are testaments to the magnetic whir and boundless vision of her youth.

Here, Marin speaks with CR about her innate blend of creative spheres, how her heritage informs her aesthetics, why storytelling is at the heart of all her expressive endeavors, and a new book of unpublished photographic works from her father.

How has your family influenced your approach to creativity?

“My family has always been creatively multidimensional. My mother was a model, then an actress, and later, an author and interior designer. My father thought of film as an extension of photography, and he enjoyed both mediums. My grandfather, Leland Hayward, was a producer, aviator, and avid photographer, who also enjoyed making his passions into cufflinks he had made for him at Cartier in New York. The city was originally the home of his father Colonel William Hayward, and stepmother, Maisie Manwaring Plant Hayward. She famously exchanged her house for a perfectly matched strand of pearls at Cartier, and her home then became known as the Cartier Mansion. So, everyone had varied paths and interests that they followed.”

Your parents collected contemporary art and artists Andy Warhol and Ed Ruscha were regular guests in your home. How did these exposures influence your own sense of art and style?
“I grew up around art and artists, and my parents were personally involved in the emerging LA art world—both as collectors and creators—in the 1960s. After the Bel Air fire in LA, my parents bought the 1712 house [1712 North Crescent Heights Boulevard], and filled the home with art, much of it Pop Art from the Ferus Gallery with pieces made by many of their friends—artists Ed Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein, Claus Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol. So, my love of all things visual started at an early age. I always knew that I would do something related to the creative arts; it was just a matter of what that would be. I worked first for Christophe de Menil, when she was designing costumes for Bob Wilson’s Olympic opera back in the 1980s, then as an assistant editor and later as a fashion director at two magazines. I also worked as an editor for photographic books, before starting my own accessories collection. Ultimately, I am interested in mixing different worlds and their influences, and you can see that in my work and sense of design.”

You lead your father’s archives and recently collaborated on a book of his unpublished photography, Dennis Hopper: In Dreams. What do these images express about him as an artist?
“When my father was preparing for an exhibition, I found photos of his that were very different from the iconic pictures and portraits he is known for creating. In Dreams shows his fascination with day-to-day life and how he loved documenting the world around him wherever he was, whether it was cowboys, night clubs, or beach scenes. He believed that you can train your eye to see the most important details, and he loved to capture those small, poignant moments of everyday life.”

How would you describe the aesthetics of your accessories and clothing brands, Hayward and Hopper?
“I come from a family that blends worlds—art, fashion, film, and photography, and the concept of both brands reflects that mix. Hayward is a luxury brand—it’s very feminine and animated. It has a sumptuous, richly-embellished essence. Hopper is a mix of California cool meets cowboy and all with a touch of ‘Take Ivy,’ prep style. Both brands are made in the US and tell American stories. I love that I have my own factory in New York and am able to make our products there. I remember when I was little, my father always said we should try to ‘buy things that are American made’ and support our country. I feel proud about that.”

How has your eye for art applied to your fashion pursuits?
“I am always looking at things and trying to make things happen. When I was a fashion director, I was always searching for the perfect piece of clothing or just the right object for a story. Your eye learns to see what is needed to complete the picture. In a way, you become a kind of storyteller, and that is really how I see myself—a bit of a fashion editor gone rogue.”

END


prev link: https://www.crfashionbook.com/culture/a30242417/marin-hopper-dennis-hopper-photography-book/
createdAt:Mon, 16 Dec 2019 15:00:05 +0000
displayType:Long Form Article
section:Culture