Interview

BLASBERG: Do you think that one day, after exposing so much of yourself, you will be—

SCARRY: Healed?

BLASBERG: Yeah, exactly. Just the way you look: I only see you in torn jeans, black lace and leather, and combat boots. After this journey, will I see you in something more ladylike? Pink satin high heels and sundresses, perhaps?

SCARRY: I don’t know about that. I don’t think the sundresses will happen, but you never know where life will take you. I’m not an angry person; that’s not where all of this comes from.

BLASBERG: Under all the chains and leather and metal is a really sweet girl?

SCARRY: Don’t make me sound like some sort of S&M dominatrix, but yes, I’m a nice girl.

BLASBERG: But you won’t be that bubbly girl bopping around in pearls until you figure out the centuriesold miscommunication between men and women.

SCARRY: Exactly. I’m working on a new piece where a man and a woman are each on a swing, positioned so that they are parallel and facing each other. They’ll both be naked, and they’ll swing back and forth, each looking in a singular direction but not toward each other. It will embody this notion of being together with someone sexually but never connecting emotionally. You’re always following your own path. And being on a swing, you’re throwing yourself into love, and then you retract from it. Then you thrust yourself again.

BLASBERG: And the rhythms of the partner are never the same?

SCARRY: Yeah, it’s different. You don’t pump your legs at the same time. It’s a constant backandforth.

BLASBERG: So, on the swing, who will the boy and girl be?

SCARRY: Performers.

BLASBERG: Wait, can I be one of the boys? Will you be one of the girls?

SCARRY: For sure.

BLASBERG: That way we won’t even be tempted to look at each other!

SCARRY: The swing is part of a bigger picture, too. No matter how mature you are or how old you are, you are still playing childish games.

BLASBERG: I agree with that. People will always be bullied at recess, or at least pushed to the ground.

SCARRY: We all still live on a playground.

DEREK BLASBERG is a New York–based fashion journalist. He is one of V magazine’s senior editors and a contributing editor at style.com.