Fall 2011 preview

Here’s a little peek at some of the shots we took of the Fall 11 collection yesterday.  They’re not retouched yet, but I’m so excited I thought I’d share!

As always, they were shot by Graeme Mitchell… on a digital camera this time!  In the 5+ years I’ve been working with Graeme, I have never seen him pick up a digital camera, let alone use one, so yesterday was a whole new experience for me!

The team that worked on the shoot was great, so here’s a little shout out:

photography: Graeme Mitchell

styling: Molly Williams

model: Mirielle @ APM

hair: Kelsy Osterman @ Cutler

makeup: Jordy Poon

producer: Sonia Manalili

assistant: Julianne Margiotta

and a big thank you to Susan from DLC Brooklyn for loaning her amazing F11 collection for the shoot!

Come to the Chromat party next Thursday night!  A great way to kick off early fashion week!

Necklaces!

For the Fall 2011 presentation I’m accessorizing with pieces from good friend, and former studio-mate, DLC Brooklyn.  She’s making some custom pieces for the show using recycled and vintage chains and components. Everything from necklaces, brooches, earrings, and bracelets!

And at the Study studio this week, my trusted sidekick, Julianne, has been working on necklaces using leftover fabric from the collection and discarded copper piping.  Here’s a first prototype of what she’s working on.  So excited to show these with the clothes!

The pieces Julie is making will only be available in limited edition at International Playground in the Fall.  The DLC pieces will be available through her website, also in the Fall.

Patchwork!

Organizing a show for fashion week is incredibly stressful.  Despite having a whole army of people helping me (PR team, show producer, sales reps, assistant, friends and family), it’s still been an insane week.  The venues I’m choosing aren’t working out, I can’t get all the models I want, there are a thousand things to think about like invitations, lighting, music, projector rental, chair rental, and making sure there are people to fill the chairs, just to name a few!  And all I really want to do is sit in my studio and knit sweaters out of ultrasuede.

Amidst all this craziness I’ve managed to meet with some incredibly talented people who I’m really excited to work with.  One of them is Hannah Learner, a final year student at Parsons who contacted me last Fall to talk about her thesis presentation.  She’s using recycled and scrap textiles from local designers and asked if I had anything to donate to her.  She’s very talented so remember you heard the name here first!

A couple weeks ago I asked Hannah if she wanted to collaborate with me on a piece for the show and she agreed, so I handed her a bag full of scraps from the Fall 10 and Fall 11 collections and this week she came back with incredible panels of patchwork, one of them shown above!  I’m working on transforming them into a jacket.

Working with young talent on projects like this make the madness of putting together a show all worth it.  So thank you Hannah for redeeming my faith in the craft I have chosen as a profession.

Awamaki Lab Launch at Guilded this week!

I’ve mentioned my work with Awamaki in previous posts, and I’m now very happy to be announcing the first official launch of the Awamaki Lab project.  After many months of intensive labour on the parts of a very dedicated team in Peru, we can finally show off the finished product at a little party being thrown in my new studio space on the Bowery.

Come check out the beautiful textiles woven by the Awamaki weavers and finished garments by Nieli Vallin. Enjoy some Fair Trade Vodka punch and great conversation.  And if you’re luck, get a sneak peak at my Fall 11 collection which will be hiding in the back room (and which incorporates some of the woven textiles from Peru).

rsvp at AwamakiLab@gmail.com