by Margot Ross ’24
This summer, I had the opportunity to cover Gidgie Bass ‘24’s endeavors in film—specifically, her role in organizing Film Kitchen (a youth film workshop created in partnership with the Belcourt). While Bass set out this summer with the intention of changing the Nashville film scene, she spent the fall reshaping another artistic community: the Nashville fashion landscape.
Though Bass is known by her peers for her projects in film and photography, she’s been sewing for fun for years; on one of her Instagram accounts, @studio.gdg, she’s occasionally displayed a customized shirt or pair of pants. Bass cites Nigel Xavier, a streetwear designer and the 2023 winner of Netflix’s Next in Fashion, as her main source of fashion inspiration.
Etourdiex—Bass’s newest and most prominent fashion project—took off after Bass met Xavier Catalano, another senior currently enrolled in homeschool. In the fall, Catalano reached out to Bass asking her to collaborate on a photoshoot. After their initial meeting, they spent nearly every day together sewing, planning shoots, or taking photos.
“Really quickly, we realized we could make a really cool brand and had a lot of stuff that we could take to the next level fashion-wise, so we started shaping a collection. We did this one campaign shoot, and we got a couple really big models in Nashville, and I did the photography for it,” Bass said.
The initial campaign shoot proved to be a success.
“All of a sudden, we were opened up to this network of all of these photographers and models across Nashville and greater Tennessee. We started doing all of these shoots with these models and these amazing photographers, and since then we’ve been continuing to build that network,” Bass said.
However, the success has not stopped there. Bass explained that Etourdiex might have the opportunity to make a debut at New York Fashion Week in February. Though the trip is contingent on the interests of investors, Bass seemed enthusiastic about the process of assembling a runway collection and growing the brand.
In expanding Etourdiex’s reach, Bass hopes to accomplish a few objectives. First, she wants to diversify the Belmont fashion scene beyond its current, more consumer-driven proclivities.
“There’s not even a big fashion scene in Nashville, but there’s especially not one with young people. It all feels very mainstream. For me, fashion is a source of creativity, but I think it can kind of turn into this corporate money-making thing that I just don’t love. The stuff that I make—I want that to be for everyone,” Bass said.
Second, Bass wants to emphasize the intersection between fashion and sustainability through the materials the brand uses.
“We’ve been working with a lot of repurposing fabrics and reusing old clothes to make new garments…[we’re] trying to bring our individuality and our fresh perspective to what we hope will become a high fashion brand,” Bass said.
Finally, Bass hopes to change some of the expectations around modeling, both in terms of how models are treated in work enivronments and the beauty standards they are expected to meet.
“The modeling scene in Nashville is…very exploitative and unhealthy. It’s not been healthy for me, either, to be in those environments. I’ve had to kind of take a step back from some of those situations, honestly, and just not engage with all that as much,” Bass said. “The body dysmorphia is insane, and I just don’t like the way that these models are used for their bodies…so I want to use more diverse models, or just everyday people.”
So far, Bass has primarily expanded Etourdiex—and its network of models, photographers, and creative directors—by leveraging the power of social media platforms such as Instagram. Instagram allows Bass to connect with other creators in an informal environment; due to its visual focus, it also enables her to scout the work of potential collaborators before she initially reaches out.
Bass connected with Hume Fogg senior Shae Camardo in this manner. What began as a DM grew into collaboration across multiple shoots, where Camardo provided assistance in several different facets of production.
“[Camardo and I] were accquaintances, and I knew I wanted to use her for a fashion shoot. [She] kind of creative directed alongside me and Xavier and did most of the photography for one shoot, and she also edited for one of ours before that,” Bass said.
Bass emphasized that while her focus has broadened to include fashion in the past few months, the creation of Etourdiex does not necessarily signify a total departure from her aspirations in film.
“I am moving into a place now where I’m finding more of a balance, and way to still focus on my film stuff and my fashion design stuff that’s separate from the brand,” Bass said.
