Style Record: All Our Exes Live In Texas

All-female, all-feminine and all-badass, Sydney-based foursome All Our Exes Live In Texas is not your traditional folk outfit. Hannah Crofts, Georgia Mooney, Elana Stone and Katie Wighton came together at an O Brother Where Art Thou show in 2014, and have bonded over everything from heartbreak to vintage shopping since.

With their debut LP, When We Fall, released earlier this month, and tours with The Backstreet Boys (talk about coordinated clothing), Passenger and Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats behind them, All Our Exes are on a roll. Most recently, the Aussie babes brought their style stateside for SXSW, and will embark on an Australian tour in June. Until then, we caught up with Croft to talk Nikki Lane, bad tattoos and the hunt for one-of-a-kind wardrobe pieces. Read on below.

Paste: Tell us a little bit about your style and how it influences you and your performance on stage.

Hannah Crofts: Someone described me as looking like a high school art teacher the other day which I thought was quite funny. I recently got big retro framed glasses and all of my clothes seem to come from a thrift shop or vintage store so I sometimes look like a 55-year-old art teacher. I love finding bright, interesting and unusual pieces. I like to think my stage outfit makes me a heightened version of my personality so that I can be an exaggerated version of myself.

Paste: What do you think makes up an ideal stage outfit, especially when you have to work together as a four-piece?

Crofts: We are all obsessive vintage and second hand shoppers so my ideal stage outfit is something really fun and unique that we have pieced together. We generally try and look cohesive, but the most important thing is to feel comfortable. In a dream world, I would be dressed by Nikki Lane in Texas and get to wear nudie-suits and gold boots.

Paste: How would you say your on-stage style differs from your off-stage style?

Crofts: To be honest, it’s very similar. My day to day outfits are just more toned down. I love clothing and how it can represent your personality and love getting dressed in the morning, a lot of what I’d wear on stage I would wear around Sydney.

Paste: How does Australia’s style differ from the States?

Crofts:I have really only spent about a month in the states all up in my my life. I think I especially loved the New York fashion, mostly because it was Sydney x a million. It’s not massively different, it’s just that it’s bigger and bolder with more variety.

Paste: Are there any specific artists who have influenced your style?

Crofts: I adore Nikki Lane. I think she is gorgeous, and her style is phenomenal. She has a shop that I follow on Instagram which sends me on the hunt for new clothes. I think First Aid Kit are incredible, and Margret Glaspy’s clothing is effortlessly banging.

Paste: Any favorite places to shop or find one-of-a-kind wardrobe pieces?

Crofts: Regional Australia. Once you go out of the major Australian cities, all of the country towns have the best op-shops (thrift stores). Everything is under $10, and you find a dress that someone has kept in incredible condition from the 1920s. My mum and I spent the Christmas holidays in Italy walking from vintage to vintage store. I got this bright orange 1950s twin set I wear all the time now for $40.

Paste: What’s your favorite bad tattoo?

Crofts: There was a guy in Melbourne who loved Jim Morrison and got him tattooed on his back… but he had just typed the name into Google and taken in a photo of James Franco dressed as Jim Morrison and got that image tattooed on him. That’s pretty fucking great.

Paste: If you had to sum up your personal style in three words, what would they be?

Crofts: Dorky art teacher.

As a side note, a stylist gave me a great quote for my fashion I now try to live by: ‘Put more fanny in the nanny.’