Beginning of Hope/Craigslist is a wonderful thing

A few months ago I got bored and started searching the creative gigs on craigslist.  This was certainly not the first time I've done so, and not the first time I wound up making great contacts as a result.

The first paid design job I ever had thanks to Dee.
A motorola campaign with Danica Patrick and "her dog"

The first time I found success, I found a listing by stylist Dee Anderson.  She turned out to be the stylist for one of my all time favorite bands, Green Day.  I cannot even begin to explain the many MANY things I learned in the several months I worked for Dee.  She's an amazingly talented stylist and was such a great influence on me.  So many of the great things I have done were a result of knowing Dee.

the poor Dresden Dolls
fan I had the pleasure of
dressing on set

The second time, I worked on a Dresden Dolls music video assisting Katie Kay as the stylist.  Not only was it just a super fun video, knowing Katie resulted in Linden being sold at her fantastic boutique Gather and her being my sales rep, getting the line out  into the world.  Yet another incredible contact via CL.






The third time, I found an internship with Park Showroom owner Kristen Aguilera, and without her I would never have gained enough knowledge of the fashion industry to start my own line.

Four and Five were within a week of each other.  I met up and coming stylist Corina Garcia through her CL ad where we teamed up to shoot the spring 2011 photos on www.Lindenca.com AND I found the Elite fashion academy posting that led to my very first Linden fashion show.  Just check the website and past posts to see the results of those efforts.

And now here I am, several months later with yet another successful contact made.  I replied to an ad early in the year regarding a charity fashion show event in San Diego.  Stacey Blanchet, of Blanchet Designs, has coordinated a wonderful event, titled "Beginning of Hope", benefiting two charities dedicated to foster youth.  The event will take place this coming Wednesday in San Diego (May 18th, 2011) and will feature 3 designers showing, some local artisans vending, wine tasting, food, a silent auction, and a raffle, all to benefit these charities.  I haven't shared the information about this show until now because I only finally met Stacey a day ago, and finally started to feel more involved in the whole thing.  I have cast my models, and cannot wait to be a part of this show.  I know most of you reading this are in Los Angeles, but should anyone find themselves in San Diego wednesday, here's how you can attend this wonderful event.  http://www.blanchetdesigns.com/news.html


Photos WILL be posted asap!

The L.A. Version of Runway

So I finally tracked down a video of the fashion show I was privileged enough to be in last November - it was on YouTube - who knew?

Since it was my very first solo show, I thought I'd share a bit about it.

It all happened very fast - I responded to a craigslist ad on a sunday, and was selected to be in the show that evening.  Tuesday I met with the stylist and the models where we chose the outfits for each of the girls.  Of course, the stylist and I didn't exactly see eye to eye on the concept, but that wasn't important - what was important was that Linden was having a public debut in Hollywood.

A really interesting thing has happened in LA - its so common for clubs and bars to put on fashion shows year round and not just be dedicated to organized tents and runways during fashion week.  It's a little refreshing, actually, for small designers to have venues where their clothing can be seen by the consumers themselves and not just the fashion elite.


So back on track, I showed up at the venue early - too early of course - parked*, and rolled racks into the venue.  I spent the next several hours with my mother and some backstage assistants steaming while the models had hair and makeup done, and then dressing the models once they were ready.  And then, we were all ready...and still ready...and still ready.  So we had a bit of a late start, but when it finally happened, I was backstage with the dressers, my stomach in knots, my hands shaking, and finally it was done and I had to walk out and wave at the crowd.  I stood out there for the finale with the models for what felt like ages, I could hear my close friends and family screaming every time I looked in their direction.  I went backstage, took some photos with the models and then joined the party where I had an excited group of friends waiting for me.  I'd never felt more justified in my choice to start a line than right there when I heard about the audience reaction from my friends, and even got to see the stunned looks on their faces.  Truly a memorable experience.

**It was almost a perfect night until about 30 minutes after the show I was asked to clean up the backstage area.  I packed everything up and took it all to my car, to learn I'd been towed.  WIN!

It's the little things

To most people, fashion is clothing.  It's what you wear, what you buy, and yes we all have some personal taste, but for the most part all of the subtleties go ignored.  Things like the right zipper to match the color of the fabric, in the right length, size, width of teeth, are often the kind that get left until the last minute - at least for me.  I'm dealing with several small details at the moment which may seem insignificant, but are actually quite important with regards to presentation.  And as we know, presentation makes a huge difference.

At the moment, I am preparing for two things.

1. Production of Spring 2011

2. Trade shows for Fall 2011

1. Production of spring includes several details that must be attended to.  Zippers are one, but another is care labels.  What size should they be, what weight, how much information should they hold, etc.  Each season fabrics differ, so they must be ordered season to season.  One thing you may not think of is called fusible interfacing.  Most waistbands are reinforced with it so they don't roll or shift.  There are dozens of weights with different adhesives, and I have lately been spending time tracking down the right one for spring.  It's not a visible part of a design, so it's something people don't necessarily consider when buying clothes, but it is very important.  Beyond that I'm just trying to round up everything from trims to fabrics so that the garments will get shipped on time.

 

2. Trade shows are tricky.  I spend so much time getting the collection together that sometimes I fail to remember the small things.  Customized order forms, hang tags with prices for a clean presentation to buyers, the right hangers - it all matters.  The trade shows are vast spaces filled with booth after booth - buyers look at hundreds if not thousands of designers in a matter of days - presentation makes a huge difference.  Someone may be more willing to stop if you have a striking item on a mannequin, or at least something eye catching hanging in the front of your rack.  So right now I am trying to make sure all of my samples are pristinely put together and that the presentation is immaculate.

the countdown begins Pool Trade Show - Las Vegas - Feb 14-16

And now I must get back to sorting out the details

Hanger Appeal

I very often sketch out styles that can never exist as I imagine them.  They defy gravity and the laws of physics sometimes, or maybe I just haven't found the right materials to make them exist.  But I still I find myself wanting to get as close to those ideas as possible, so I work with my pattern maker to make it happen.  Sometimes, things just look much better as a sketch, but sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised with the result, and other times I'm appalled by the way a sample looks when it's handed to me on the hanger.  

This happened to me yesterday.  I had a dress in mind which was heading toward disaster before it was ever cut and sewn.  First I couldn't track down the right fabrics, then the right zippers, and then I had to change the design slightly to make it work, etc.  So yesterday when I looked at this sample, my heart sank.  But maybe I'm too close to the designs.  I have the ideal in my head so when it doesn't look like my vision, I panic a little.  I took the sample home, and tried it on - its actually pretty cool- but even so, a garment has to have hanger appeal - or nobody will buy it.  This got me thinking from a marketing point of view.

I'm a designer and an avid shopper and I fall victim to hanger appeal regularly.  I know better, I know that sometimes clothing can never look as good on a hanger as it does on a person.  I do sometimes see something that looks bizarre and decide to try it on, just to give it a chance, and I would say about half the time what i've tried on is actually a great piece.  But what if it's not great?  What if it's just nice, or ok?  Chances are you wont buy something that's just ok, especially if its a more expensive piece.  Will a buyer for a store even pick up a style that doesn't look great on a hanger?  It happens sometimes, but more often than not those things are passed over at trade shows and never produced.  It got me thinking, we designers spend a fortune on samples to take to trade shows, many of which may never be made because they lack hanger appeal.  But how do we know that it wont work out?

For me, design is an instinct.  It's a curiosity to see if two fabrics will work well together, or if that fit line is flattering or not.  More often than not I'm satisfied with my decisions, even when they don't turn out how I had expected - sometimes they turn out even better than I could have imagined.  So what is the lesson?  Do I consider the hanger more when I start my initial sketches?  Or do I continue as I have on instinct and curiosity and hope for the best?  I should probably attempt to blend the two, but I have a feeling one will win over the other - I guess we'll see.

Inspiration

I have never blogged before, but here I go.  It's almost 2011, and I have been thinking about how just over one year ago I resolved to start my own company, and how just under one year ago I began the process of making that happen.  In the past year I encountered a lot of questions that I've only begun to have answers to.  For example, I am regularly asked what inspires me and how I come up with my designs.  I of course have my favorite designers I admire greatly who inspire me, like Helmut Lang (both the original line as designed by him, and its current incarnation now that it is a contemporary brand owned by Theory), Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia, and Miuccia Prada of Prada (obviously) - among others.  I name these three in particular because I love their shapes, use of unconventional fabrics (often combined with more conventional ones), and the nod to femininity while maintaining a modern and unique point of view.  I do not look to these designers as people to emulate, but as innovators to admire.  My true inspiration comes directly from the things I love in life be it a story, a song, a film, or a photograph taken by a friend or family member.

The first season of Linden was to be small; 15 designs in total.  Ultimately, 12 were made into samples, and 8 were produced in a limited run.  The original 15 designs were comprised of 3 colors: black, white, and red.  My inspiration for my colors, as well as my designs, was the Grimm's fairy tale Snow White.  I reread the story last year and saw themes I'd never noticed as a child.  The whole story seems to be about domination and submission, death and reincarnation, and undeserving reward.  Snow White is helpless and easily fooled, constantly being controlled by men or the evil queen.  I translated these ideas into visual concepts.  Many of the details come from the idea of being bound or wrapped as a means of control.  All of the photos can be seen on the Linden website.

 


My second season was more than twice the size of the first.  For Spring 2011 (soon to be in stores) I found inspiration from the Beatles animated film, Yellow Submarine along with the 1990s grunge rock movement.  There were two sides to the collection - the Yellow (submarine) side, and the Blue Meanies side.  Shapes and color blocking were inspired by the film, but I looked back at my childhood for those soft, relaxed, sloppy shapes brought about by bands like Nirvana, and incorporated them into the stark colors and shapes that the film had inspired.  Some images of this collection can be seen on the Linden facebook page, and will all be up on the website very soon.

My current inspiration for Fall 2011 is a photo taken by my mother

It took me some time to take this image and convert it into designs, but eventually I began to look beyond the image and thought about the location itself as a spiritual and meditative space.  I started to think about where I go to find my own inner peace and decided on Richard Serra sculptures.

You'll have to wait and see how I've combined these two ideas.