Never-Before-Seen Photos From the Set of Larry Clark's 'KIDS'

Photographer and director Larry Clark first released KIDS in 1995, and the controversial cult film continues to maintain relevance in our culture today. Written by a then-teenaged Harmony Korine, the movie is delightfully entertaining as it is subversive — a true tale of teenaged debauchery laced with underage sex, skateboarding, teen drinking and drug experimentation. Heralded for its effortlessly cool and candid documentary-styled aesthetic, KIDS immediately set itself apart from other teen films of the period (such as Clueless, which released the same year) as a real portrayal of the raw, gritty culture of NYC’s youth, where a young Chloë Sevigny shone as lead character Jennie who struggles with becoming HIV positive after losing her virginity. In addition to having Jeff Pang, Rosario Dawson, Javier Nunez, and some of Supreme’s original riders like Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter on board, the movie featured a cast of regular NYC teens and skate kids that Clark knew from the area who were, for lack of a better word, just being themselves.

“I knew exactly what I wanted… I wanted to shoot it like it was being shot like a documentary. I wanted the audience to be eavesdropping, or feel they were eavesdropping, on a world that they had no chance to enter at all. And so it was filmed that way,” Clark said in his recent interview with Supreme. Having been filmed right around the corner from the Supreme store, the streetwear label even celebrated the movie’s 20th anniversary with a special collaboration last year.

DAZED DIGITAL recently tapped KIDS costume designer Kim Druce-Sava, who pulled a collection of extra polaroids of the cast from the set, to share her favorite memories about working on the film. You’ll find excerpts from the interview below, and you can view Supreme‘s interview with Larry Clark here.

On the cast:

“Every film is a learning experience and a challenge – I’d never done skateboarders in New York before, or Gen-Xers. But luckily I didn’t need to be an expert because the cast were the experts – they knew who they were and they were basically playing themselves in their own little micro-culture. I just followed their lead.”

On dressing the cast:

“It was anti-fashion. It had very little to do with what you would find at Macy’s. It was utilitarian, it was thrifted. There are teens and twenty-somethings who live in downtown Manhattan and don’t have any money, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have style.”

On Chloë Sevigny’s signature blue shirt:

“That blue t-shirt was Chloë’s, she brought it in. That was the one piece I couldn’t get multiples of so I just babysat it all the time, it was very precious! Chloë was a sweetheart, and Rosario too, they were just lovely and so professional – even though it was their first film they did everything right. Tracy – who did the hair and make-up – and I were the mature girls so we took them under our wings.”

On Supreme lending clothes for the film:

“I got some promos, they hooked me up! They were already in that scene so I just had to get to the store and they gave me a bunch of stuff.”

On filming impromptu scenes at her apartment in New York:

“With the cast, I got their phone numbers so I could call to get their sizes and talk about the character and the clothing. But every time a new cast member joined, the phone number that they would give me was my phone number! It turned out they were all crashing at my studio. It was cute, it was really cute! I was glad I could help, because they were all my babies! I was old enough that they could have been mine!”