Authors Interviewing Characters: Jessica Siskin

Part satire, part emotional character study, LOOKS PERFECT explores identity, performative culture, and what authenticity means in a hyper-visible world offering a timely look at internet fame and the gap between how we’re seen and who we are. Siskin brings a uniquely informed perspective: a former fashion executive and founder of the viral Instagram brand Misterkrisp, she writes with firsthand insight into image-making and online identity.

LOOKS PERFECT

What comes between a fashion icon’s perfect image and her genuine self? The perfect stranger―in a sharp and witty novel about identity, performance, and what it takes to make a true connection.

One million people follow Stella Lerner’s every move. And now the buzzy fashion designer is fulfilling her lifelong dream and taking her indie clothing brand global with the help of the industry’s biggest investor. Sounds perfect. Except offline, the optics aren’t so great.

Her relationship with her boyfriend, Alex, is crumbling just as the pressure to curate her image online only builds. Feeling trapped between the picture-perfect life she’s promised her followers and the messy reality she’s facing, Stella anonymously joins a new dating app. Blindr promises deep, private conversations, free from the burden of anyone’s expectations, especially her own. That’s when Stella connects with a stranger called Pineapple who’s intuitive, honest, and empathetic. Stella may be watched by millions, but this man, who’s never even laid eyes on her, makes her feel seen.

What starts as a diversion becomes a journey of radical transformation. As Stella’s search for authenticity intensifies, every chat with Pineapple takes her further down a path she never could’ve imagined.

Jesicca interviews Stella

Me: Stella, it’s so nice to meet you. I feel like I already know you from following you on Instagram.

Stella: It’s nice to meet you too, and honestly I get that a lot.

Me: I’m not surprised! What do you think when people say that to you?

Stella: Well, it’s kind of complicated. On one hand, yeah, if you’re following me and paying attention there’s a lot you probably know about me. My matcha order, my opinion on flip flops, where I go to Pilates, which is actually probably a security concern come to think of it. But there’s also a lot that doesn’t come across on social media and there’s also a lot I don’t share, so like, I guess yeah, you might know me but you don’t really know me.

Me: I think I’m following what you’re saying. So why don’t we back up a little, how did you end up becoming an influencer?

Stella: I still don’t know how I feel about that word, influencer. I know I influence people, but that’s not really why I built my platform or why I keep it going. It happened totally by accident; I started reworking vintage clothing when I was working at a PR firm a few years ago. I’d wear the things I made to work, and the other girls in the office started asking if they could buy them.

And then their friends started asking, and I decided to start posting the clothes I made on Instagram. And before I knew it, tons of people were following me and buying the clothes. Like I’ll never forget waiting for the 6 train at Canal Street next to a girl who was wearing a pair of jeans I’d made. So surreal.

Eventually I started designing and manufacturing my line, Stellar, and more and more people started to follow me and I realized pretty quickly that they didn’t just care about the clothes, they started caring about what I was doing and wearing. And now here we are, and I’m so proud of Stellar and know that my platform is what allows my designs to reach more people. I sometimes wish people would just let me say I’m a fashion designer, but I know that being a content creator is a huge part of the reason why I do what I get to do.

Me: Wow, what a journey. What would you say to someone who wanted to become a content creator today?

Stella: I think it’s really important to know your why. When I started out, there was really no such thing as a content creator, and now I talk to college-age girls who tell me they’ve aspired to be influencers since they were kids. Aside from making me feel old, it makes me wonder what exactly they want to influence people about. I think it’s really hard to sustain the amount of work and sharing that you need to do to be successful if you don’t really, truly, know what you’re working towards and why.

Me: Speaking of your why, where do you find the inspiration for your clothing designs?

Stella: Honestly, everywhere. Sometimes I’m really surprised by what strikes me. Lately I’ve been drawn to the proportion of toddler clothes, like I pass a playground in my neighborhood most days and there’s something very chic about the way they’re dressed. Sometimes it’s a piece of art I saw in a museum and sometimes it’s the way the sky looks or the way the half and half marbles my iced coffee, and other times it’s more traditional, like I’ll come across a runway collection from the ‘90s on Pinterest and form an entire new collection in my mind and have to run as fast as I can to find a sketchpad.

Me: I love to hear about how creativity shows up for people. On that note, if you weren’t a fashion designer, what do you think you’d be doing?

Stella: It’s so hard to imagine a world where I wasn’t designing clothes, it’s just so central to who I am. Before I was a designer I worked in PR, and I liked some things about it but I’d hate to imagine I would still be there if my Instagram had never taken off. I think if I wasn’t a clothing designer, I would’ve ended up in another more creative area of the fashion industry, maybe as an editor or stylist.

Me: I could see those for you, but I agree, you’re a designer through and through. What are your favorite fashion rules?

Stella: I am a strong believer in the idea that rules are meant to be broken, but you also can’t break the rules if you don’t know them. I have strong opinions but I hold them loosely, so I reserve the right to break any of these, but a few that I stand by are no velvet or corduroy if it’s over 70 degrees, no open toed shoes with tights, and no bare legs if it’s below 45 degrees.

I love a short dress, but it needs to cover your butt if you lift your arms above your head, which should be obvious but I promise you it’s not. And this isn’t really a fashion rule, but it’s crazy how people put on full summer dresses the minute theres an unseasonably warm day in like March. Season supersedes weather, like, keep it in your pants. I used to be a no white after Labor Day girl, but I wear white year round now, so like I said, rules are meant to broken.

Me: One last question: I haven’t seen your boyfriend, Alex, on your Instagram in a while. What’s going on there?

Stella: Oh, he doesn’t like to be on my Instagram. He’s busy with work and he’s like, a real professional, so I get it. But everything between us is totally fine! Fine! Great, even.

Me: Are you sure? You don’t seem fine?

Stella: I think that’s all the time I have today, great meeting you!

BUY HERE

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Jessica Siskin earned her MFA from the New School. She is the founder of Misterkrisp, a popular Instagram-based food art business specializing in custom Rice Krispies Treats and social media content. She is the author of Treat Yourself!, a cookbook featuring her inventive food art and edible creations. Jessica lives in New York City.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing