Spike Jonze, fashion guy?: Editors' Blog: Wmagazine.com

In almost every photo we've seen of Spike Jonze, the director is wearing the same geeky straight-guy attire: rumpled shirt, skinny tie. Not exactly the vestiges of a dude who's into fashion. This and the fact that Jonze's movies are full of anti-style statements (he turned Cameron Diaz into a total dog in Being John Malkovich), make his collaboration with Opening Ceremony all the more curious. As we reported in our September issue (see "Cool & the Gang") the hipster retail mecca will be selling a line of faux furs by OC co-founder Humberto Leon and jewelry by Pamela Love inspired by Jonze's upcoming film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are, a project with a less than obvious fashion angle. Then again, Jonze has clocked plenty of hours on the arm of Michelle Williams (not to mention ex-wife Sofia Coppola). Perhaps his is a case of style by osmosis.

How did the collaboration come about?
When the store first opened in New York, a friend and I went in and it just seemed like its own world. Even the name itself is such a mysterious name. Like, who would name a store Opening Ceremony? And uh, it just seemed modern in that way that like everything is now interconnected, happening in all cities at all times simultaneously. It's like a post-Google, post-MySpace kind of world where it's more combinations that tie everyone together than geography.

Are you a big shopper?
No, but, I mean, if I need a pair of pants... Actually I bought a pair of pants there last year and they still haven't fallen apart.

Well, that's good. Was it your idea to do something related to the movie with Opening Ceremony?
Yes. I met Humberto a couple of years ago -- he's friends with my cousin. And I was wearing one of his jackets at the time, a jacket that I wore probably every day for a year. Then when I ran into him again about six months ago I asked him about [a collaboration for the film]. It's a big Warner Brothers movie so we have the potential to do all kinds of tie-ins.

What do you think of the collections?
The jewelry looks amazing. I'm very excited. And Humberto and Carol are really easy to work with. I just stopped by their store a few months ago and we basically had a meeting in the dressing room downstairs. We brainstormed on stuff, and then a couple weeks later they sent over designs.

Jewelry by Pamela Love
Are you doing anything else retail-oriented to promote the movie?
We're doing shoes with Lakai shoes, a skateboard shoe company, we're doing skateboards with my skateboard company, Girl Skateboards, and we're doing some stuff with Urban Outfitters.

Back to the Opening Ceremony jacket that you said you wore for a year straight. Just what was it about it?
I liked it because it had this Han Solo/Empire Strikes Back vibe. I'd always wanted a jacket like that.