Anya Phillips (1955 – June 19, 1981) was an American fashion designer and the co-founder of legendary New York nightclub the

Mudd Club The Mudd Club was a nightclub located at 77 White Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It operated from 1978 to 1983 as a venue for underground music and counterculture events. It was opened by Steve Maas, Die ...

along with Steve Maas and

Diego Cortez James Allan Curtis (September 30, 1946 – June 21, 2021), known professionally as Diego Cortez, was an American filmmaker and art curator closely associated with the no wave period in New York City. Cortez was the co-founder of the Mudd Club, ...

. Phillips had an influence on the fashion, sound and look of the New York-based no wave scene of the late 1970s. She was also the manager and girlfriend of New York-based musician

James Chance James Chance, also known as James White (born James Siegfried, April 20, 1953), is an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer. A key figure in no wave, Chance has been playing a combination of improvisational jazz-like music and pu ...

(aka James White).

Biography

Phillips was born in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. Her mother travelled to Taiwan from

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, China before the civil war between the Communist Party and Nationalist party ended in 1949. As the Nationalist Party moved the government to Taiwan while the Communist Party controlled mainland China, her mother was not to return to China due to the political rivalry. Later her mother married a

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

of the American embassy, Wade Phillips, and gave birth to Anya Phillps and her younger brother Kris Phillips, later known as

Fei Xiang Fei Xiang (born Bart Hsiao Luan Phillips, known as Kris Phillips; ) is a Taiwanese American pop icon and musical singer who was one of the biggest popular music acts in China during the 1980s. Early life Born to an American father and a Chines ...

. Phillips grew up in Taiwan and on various military bases. Phillips moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where she formed a fake band with Cortez and Duncan Smith in 1977. She had a

dominatrix A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for inflic ...

act at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

with Terry Sellers. Phillips worked with Cortez to shoot his film ''Grutzi Elvis'' in Munich. In March 1978 Phillips first encountered

James Chance and the Contortions James Chance and the Contortions (initially known simply as Contortions, a spin-off group is called James White and the Blacks) was a musical group led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, formed in 1977. They were a central act of New York ...

, at a

Colab Colab is the commonly used abbreviation of the New York City artists' group Collaborative Projects, which was formed after a series of open meetings between artists of various disciplines. History Colab members came together as a collective in ...

benefit for ''X Motion Picture'' magazine. Phillips persuaded Mass to open a club, envisioning it as an elegant place called the Molotov Cocktail Lounge. She was to manage the club, but her involvement ended after a dispute with Mass. Instead she went on to manage the Contortions and, for a brief period,

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

. For the Contortions' debut album '' Buy'', she photographed Sellers wearing an outfit designed by Phillips for the album's cover artwork. Not knowing how to sew, she designed dresses by tying together strips of cloth. Singer Debbie Harry wore some of Phillips' creations. She was also involved in New York City's late 70s underground film scene, appearing in Amos Poe's ''The Foreigner'' in 1978. She makes a rare vocal appearance in the recording of the June 1980, James Chance and the Contortions concert in Rotterdam, Holland (tape released on ROIR in 1990), to introduce the band and as backing vocals on "I Danced with a Zombie" and "Melt Yourself Down". Phillips died of cancer in June 1981 in

Valhalla, New York Valhalla is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the New York City metropolitan area. Its population was 3,162 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The name was in ...

, at the age of 26.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Anya No wave 1981 deaths Punk people Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Year of birth uncertain People from Valhalla, New York Taiwanese people of American descent American musicians of Chinese descent Women in punk