Meet Lace Manhattan and Dixie Normus, AKA Margaret Qualley and Talia Ryder

At the end of June, in the run-up to the premiere of Ethan Coen’s dark comedy Honey Don’t!, a strange thing happened. Two new profiles popped up on Instagram bearing the faces of Margaret Qualley and Talia Ryder.

It all began when @lacemanhattan posted an image of Margaret lying on a towel, in a Calvin Klein bralette, with the caption: ​“Dixie, I’m sorry I stole your bra. I know you’re mad. It’s not my fault you left it at my house. But it is my fault I packed it. I love you, forgive me? Music soon, Love, Lace”.

Tagged was @d1x1enormus, an account which soon followed up by posting a teary-eyed selfie of Talia – wearing a black snapback with ​“victim” written on the front in red stitching, no caption provided. An early comment from a follower reads: ​“We’re confused, loves”. Same.

What was this all in aid of? The release of two original songs, co-written by Ethan Coen and produced by Jack Antonoff. Performed by Margaret’s musical alter ego, Lace Manhattan, ODDWADD and In The Sun She Lies are set to soundtrack Honey Don’t!.

The former is a brash, Eurotrashy burst of electro-pop containing a repeated chant of ​“We are ODDWAD wankers” whilst the latter is a moody, Baez-esque folk song driven by acoustic guitars.

In the accompanying music video for ODDWADD, directed and choreographed by Talia Dixie Normus, the former dancers-turned-actors mirror each other in matching babydoll sets and diamond earrings, dancing seductively under studio lights.

For In The Sun She Lies, Dixie and Lace, this time wearing angel wings, lose each other in an overcast New York – what else can Lace do, then, but look for Dixie in a pair of pink joggers? When they finally find each other, they hold on tight, hugging and swaying on a rooftop.

Obviously, we wanted to hear the lore behind all of this, so we gave Lace and Dixie a call.

Hi Dixie, hi Lace. How did the two of you meet?

At the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas. Norman Mailer introduced us, actually. Very hairy knuckles, he had.

Tell us where your names come from?

Dixie Normus is actually my birth name. My mother was the co-creator of the Big Johnson T‑shirt line. While I appreciate that the profits from Big Johnson sales gave my siblings and myself a relatively comfortable upbringing, it became something of a hindrance in later life.

Lace Manhattan is a combination of the fabric and the New York City borough Manhattan or, as Walt Whitman called it, ​“Manahatta”.

Where are you both from?

We are both from rural Poland but we both grew up living between Nashville and Washington DC. Well, Langley, Virginia, technically.

How did you get into music?

“When you can’t talk, you sing; when you can’t sing, you dance.”

Which artists are you most influenced by?

We are most influenced by each other and the artists that are all around us. This tree, that dog, everyone is singing music, you just have to be open to hearing it.

More specifically, though, I’d have to say Pierre Guyotat’s Eden, Eden, Eden, Samuel R. Delany’s Hogg, the entire Coil discography, Peter Brötzmann’s Machine Gun, and anything Sonny Sharrock plays on.

What’s one album you’d recommend to our readers?

The Honey Don’t! soundtrack, of course.

What was on the moodboard when it came to planning these videos?

The Art of Toshio Saeki, Charles Atlas’s film Because We Must, and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show from 2011.

Could you tell us anything about the scenes in Honey Don’t! that feature your songs?

They are very fabulous scenes. Directed by the fabulous Ethan Coen. He discovered us. We were busking outside of the Sweetgreen on Avenue D in Washington, DC.

What have you been up to this summer?

Eat, studio, yoga, sleep, repeat.

Lace, how did you get Dixie’s bra? Dixie, did you get it back?

Isn’t it best to leave some mystery in the world?

Where’s your favourite place to hang out with each other?

Shinto shrines. The Schlitterbahn water park in New Braunfels, Texas. The room where Franz Schubert died in Vienna. The Musée Dupuytren in Paris. The Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo. Camp Washington Chili in Cincinnati, Ohio. Denny’s Pub off the Church Avenue F stop in Kensington, Brooklyn. In your hearts and minds.

If you could steal one thing from each other’s wardrobes, what would it be?

Lace has a piece of the True Cross that I’ve always wanted to get my mitts on. For her part, I’ve seen her look longingly at my rather extensive collection of JNCOs. Oh, and obviously the Big Johnson label is well represented.

Where can we usually find you at a party?

We just post up and let it come to us. Our model in this is the 1896 presidential campaign of William McKinley. While his opponent, the Democrat William Jennings Bryant, was making a whistle-stop tour of the country, McKinley just hung out at his house in Ohio, periodically coming out onto the porch to give a speech if anyone showed interest. As we all know, Mr. McKinley soundly trounced his opponent.

If you were to have your own reality show, what would it be called and what would it be like?

Probably a dating show, like Love Island except you pick who you’re coupling up with by smell. And then you have to date them on a beautiful island. We would be the hosts.