Petra Collins

🎀🪽👙 Blythe Dolls, 🗺️ 🍔🕸️ The Roadside America App, 💒🛐😁 Precious Moments Chapel, and more.

July 19, 2024

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Petra Collins is a Los Angeles-based photographer, director, and designer. I was lucky enough to grow up on Rookie Magazine, which housed some of her early works as the photographer in residence. Her career has flourished since, from publishing numerous photo books, directing music videos for artists like Rihanna, Olivia Rodrigo, and Cardi B, and shooting a campaign for / being named the face of Gucci. Earlier this week Petra relaunched her SSENSE-exclusive collection I’m Sorry with a new Mimi Wade collaboration, and you can expect to see more drops this fall and next spring. Petra also told us that she’s cooking up some other exciting projects including a “super top secret feature film” and a photo book coming out next year. Lucky for us, Petra’s here to tell us what she’s been into.

🎀🪽👙

Blythe Dolls

I love collecting pretty much anything cute or haunted. Blythe Dolls are perfect because they are the right amount of kawaii and scary. I spend hours every night looking at them on eBay and Etsy. This helps me sleep and I feel like it soothes my anxiety, and possibly helps with my insomnia. The image is of my Blythe Doll – found in Tokyo – that was customized and happens to look like me. She's wearing a custom I’m Sorry by @esoteric.dolls.

🩻🪩💊

The Final Scene in All That Jazz

I recommend watching this movie in its entirety so you can get the full impact of this scene. It makes me cry every time. It is so sexy and beautiful and psychedelic. It is one of my favorite movies and I will never get over how Fosse was able to make something about his life that perfectly encapsulated who he actually was (kind of a piece of shit genius).

🗺️🍔🕸️

The Roadside America App

I’m a big tourist in America and have always been infatuated with American oddities. Roadside America has hands-down the best list of freaky places to see. I have planned countless trips around their lists. Their app also feels very web 1.0 which is fitting to me with all the nostalgic locations that are listed. You really have to put work into finding the treasures on there – so it's just the real heads that end up visiting these places.

💦🔪🔥

The I’m Sorry Drop 4 Sash Dress

This is my dream dress. Put it on with a pair of white underwear and maybe jump in the pool with it and you’ll be the hottest version of yourself.

👯‍♀️😭🫀

My Sister @annaballins

I love her so much. We are trauma bonded. Only she knows the terrors of our childhood. She’s also gorgeous, and is my first muse. I used to make her star in all of my movies, musicals and plays. She survived the Petra Collins performance torture chamber. She’s also very lols.

👽🛸😱

Being Afraid of Being Abducted by Aliens

I would highly recommend this as a cornerstone of childhood. We had so many alien abduction, alien theory, alien story books in my house that I was convinced it was going to happen. I made my sister close the blinds every night so that I could be safe – which I guess isn’t chill because then she would get abducted…

💒🛐😁

Precious Moments Chapel

This is the most demented and beautiful place I've ever been to in my life. I would get married here. No one steal my idea.

🍲🥵☀️

Hot Goulash Soup on an Even Hotter and Humid Day

I eat this every summer at Lake Balaton in Hungary. It’s the biggest lake in Europe and also the most shallow lake. These are facts that I did not fact check, but as a Hungarian, I’m going to say they are correct.

😿🚊🌆

Crying in Public Places

I guess I'm an exhibitionist because this feels good. I used to do this a lot when I lived in Toronto.

🎥🍿💋

Erotic Thrillers

My favorite movie genre. I’m just going to list a bunch that I love: The Last Seduction, Crash, Secretary, Body Heat, Cat People, Call Me, I could go on and on.

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Petra Collins

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