CITYist

Standing 6-feet tall (not including a few extra inches, courtesy of stiletto heels) with platinum blond hair and glam eye makeup, Chicago native, and New Yorker since 2002, Justin Tranter makes quite a statement. As the front man of Semi Precious Weapons and the owner of Fetty Jewelry (sold at venues ranging from Hot Topic and Urban Outfitters to Barneys New York), Tranter has proven he has widespread rock ‘n roll appeal. Before he embarks on the Hell on Heels concert tour, Tranter opens up on tabloid domination, tranny heels, kunty baubles, and exactly how he became so damn beautiful.

I saw you at Chloé the other night. Your shoes were hot. A lot of guys who wear pumps wear bad ones. I always judge people on their shoes and am sure about your fashion sense after seeing those shoes. Tell me about your choice of shoes?
Why didn’t you say hi? Or did you and I didn’t realize it was you? I have two pairs of custom Stuart Weitzman’s. Some fabulous people that work for him alerted him to my existence, and I got the honor of going into his office and customizing two pairs of heels. He is such a classic shoe man, and I think borderline trannies need to be very classic in their shoe choice. Oh, and I only ever wear boots—ankle or knee high. A slip-on pump is too Bank Teller Transsexual, and thigh-high is way too Strippery.

Not sure if you saw my blog entry on this.hearts.on.fire.com, but I mention that I saw press for Semi Precious Weapons on perezhilton.com and totally discounted SPW as I do with every band he covers because his taste is so bad. He’s so lowest-common-denominator and such a bad name for good gay style. I feel really dumb, because now that I’ve heard the LP, I’m a total fan. I’m not going to quote you on anything negative related to this because I know you were in his music show thing and he does get a lot of eyes, but how do you feel about the idea of how bad press can sometimes be worse than getting no press? And by “bad,” I mean by low rate mags and sites, not bad as in scandal.
My goal is actually to exist in the tabloid world. You know, the mainstream middle America — E! News, US Weekly, reality show magic. My biggest dream is to be the face of Diet Coke. My existence is my favorite art form I take part in, and if I can inject Star and Access Hollywood with an intelligent, dangerous, and gorgeous man in high heels, I think I will have done my job. I will have changed the way pop culture looks, even if only for a couple of years. Rock & roll, meaning music and fashion, to me, is meant for teenagers and people who don’t know how to find amazing magazines and blogs. I want to change people’s taste in music and fashion when they don’t want to be changed. 

What did you want to be when you were a kid?
Ariel from The Little Mermaid, or Monica Seles.

I know this isn’t an easy question, but who’s your all-time favorite musician?
Stevie Nicks.

What television shows and celebrities have influenced your style?
There are a lot! But whenever dressing or designing, I say to myself “Would the Olsens wear this? If Marilyn was still schwerking it out would she approve? Can me and Cindy Crawford both wear this necklace?”

Who has influenced you most in life and career?
Marie Ivanoff. She was my first real retail boss. She is this stunning 6-foot tall French woman, who I don’t see nearly enough. She taught me so much about selling, managing, buying, designing, crunching numbers, and how important it is to look good doing it. And everything she taught me helps with the music biz, fashion biz, touring, designing, everything! Oh, and she would yell at me when I fucked up. Not a lot of people have the balls to yell at me. Unless they are threatening my life on subway, which happens a lot.

Top five favorite places to hang out?
1. Parties with “step and repeats” and photographers. That’s my true element.
2. My best friend Krista’s house
3. In our tour van
4. Don Hill’s in New York
5. At my parent’s house in Chicago

Best cities for playing shows?
St. Louis and Toronto, hands down. 

What’d you do before the band?
I went to music school, and for a day job I managed Calypso Bijoux in New York.

I know you started Fetty as a way to sell merchandise for the band. Great idea. Tell me about how the line started? Did you design the stuff alone?
I did design all alone. Because of working in jewelry stores I knew where to find the pieces to make the band’s Gun and Heart logo I had designed. That’s how I do…before we ever played a show I had a band name, logo, and jewelry.

Tell me about your mom’s role? Was she involved or was she your “in” to get the ball rolling.
My mother is a custom engagement ring designer, so I always worked in jewelry for a day job. When the band merchandise took off, my mother helped me make it with fine materials and we took it to Barneys New York. We got into Barneys and that’s really when Fetty began. It took on a life of its own outside the band, especially with the Diamond Zodiac and Diamond Braille Collections.

What’s your favorite part about designing the jewelry, and do you still design the line yourself?
I design the line by myself for the most part. I run ideas by my business partner, Perry, and my mom, but mainly I design alone. Me, my mom, Perry, and some of my band members made over 100,000 pieces in my loft. But now we work with amazing bench men in Chicago for the high-end line at Barneys, and a factory on 39th Street for the lower price point styles. My favorite part of designing jewelry is challenging myself to create something very new, but still really wearable. I want every woman to be able to wear my jewels. Not just rockers, not just preps, but everybody.

Any plans for new designs? Have you thought about getting into clothing at all?
At the moment I just want to grow, tweak, make different price point versions and expose more people to our three main collections. Precious Weapons (weapons and hearts), Braille (diamond and crystal), and Zodiacs (diamonds). But I am going to try to design scarves, with help from the Glitter Kids. Each scarf is going to look like you are wearing 5 different small scarves, and they have metal chains in the mix.

Do you still sell the line at shows?
We still sell the inexpensive kunty weapon and heart pieces at shows, and always add a new design for each tour, because a lot of our fans collect the necklaces. It’s fabulous to look out and see girls wearing like 10 necklaces at once!

Tell me about the relationship between you as an artist and the jewelry line? Is it just a moneymaking endeavor or is it an extension of you as an artist?
It is for sure an extension of me as an artist. I love creating something and then selling it to an audience. A song or a necklace, it is still the exact same process.

Anything I didn’t ask that you want the world to know?
I wasn’t always attractive. I willed myself pretty, and they can too.