over the undies: New York Designers

Showing posts with label New York Designers. Show all posts

Take Me Upstate

Upstate's hand-dyed scarves and garments have a dreamy, escapist feel, and this spring's gorgeous lookbook has me fantasizing about a long weekend in the country. Each piece is individually dyed by designers Astrid and Kalen using traditional shibori techniques, making them one of a kind, as well as infusing them with a certain wabi-sabi quality of imperfect perfection. Structured grids and geometric patterns go fuzzy around the edges, and the cuts are simple, yet often convertible, and versatile.

-Tiffany

Factory People

As much as I've tried to organize my life via Google calendar, plotting appointments, meetings and events with obsessive compulsive attention to time/location/date, I inevitably wind up making a fair share of mistakes. One such mishap involved arriving an hour late to the Factory by Erik Hart presentation during fashion week, only to see all the show-goers exit, and the models run off to their next shows dressed in their civilian attire. I had no idea what I missed until I stopped by the showroom to take a look at the collection in person. Hart is both a designer and an artist, and his multidisciplinary approach is evident in his collection of elegant, minimalist designs, and his directional silhouettes. His Spring 2012 collection echoes the 90's work of another artist/designer, Helmut Lang, and all of his clothes appear to be made for a gallery girl in Berlin. Every piece is cool, elegant, and sophisticated, yet still completely wearable. And, if you're living on a meager gallery assistant's salary, Hart's clothes are miraculously within reach: prices start just below $100.

-Tiffany

Black on Black

Top courtesy of Yoana Baraschi, Bruno Pieters x Weekdays skirt, Devaki hat.

Now that I'm in Sweden, where it's already pretty much transitioned to winter, I've found myself reverting, at least temporarily, to an all-black wardrobe. While I normally prefer more color, it's hard to think outside of black when the weather is permanently grey. However, black can still be fun, and I've been wearing this Yoana Baraschi feathered neckline top non-stop since I picked it up at her press preview last month. This is definitely one of Baraschi's less colorful pieces, as the designer definitely favors bold hues and bright prints. At the preview of the Spring collection, I was particularly drawn to a series of graphic striped knit pieces with a nautical vibe, as well as a group of lace dresses and separates that came in neutrals as well as an eye-popping coral. They're something to look forward to when the spring time comes in six months.

-Tiffany

My Bloody Valentine

While there have been thousands of love songs written about heartache and heartbreak, there haven’t been quite as many jewelry lines that have broached the subject. After all, jewelry is more often associated with ground swellings of intense love: diamonds that say forever, lockets that are filled to burst with your lover’s hair, and, of course, wedding and engagement rings that are wrapped up in promises and vows. Nonetheless, Michelle Ng, designer of Young&ng, was up for broaching the challenge. While her Spring collection is about broken hearts, she approaches the subject with optimism, trying to look for the beauty in unrequited love, as well as finding comfort in the belief that you leave a soured relationship stronger than when you entered it. Rather than basing the resulting pieces on saccharine hearts, Ng instead was inspired by blood cells, and the fractal arrangement of cells serve as the basis for her latest series of necklaces, cuffs, and headpieces. The results are breathtaking, and I’m particularly obsessed with the laser-cut metal pieces, which become lace like lattices once the blood cell patterns are applied to them. I’m sure putting on any of these gems would take the sting out of any breakup.

-Tiffany

Season of the Sea Witch

Last week, I stopped by the Langolier's showroom to view the new Spring collection, and of course pre-order some jewelry for myself. Designed by my friends Zon and Pam, the collection started as a series of pieces based on knits, mixing knit chain, knit fabric, and metal castings of knit thread. While the collection is still heavily based in these textile oriented roots, I'm awestruck by how much they've managed to develop this concept and expand their collection with other ideas that compliment their base collection. This season's show-stopper is the Ursula the Sea Witch inspired breastplate necklace and matching earring set, which both look like slightly malevolent yet majestic gills, worthy of the wickedest sea witch. The giant necklace is of course suspended from a net of knit chain. Another example of Pam and Zon's ingenuity comes in the form of intricately patterned metal mesh bracelets that were made from weaving gold and silver chain together. The amount of anal-retentive labor required to produce such a piece is pretty much beyond my comprehension. I naturally couldn't leave without ordering something, and I can't wait for my Ursula gill earrings to arrive this spring. If you also feel like you cannot live without some Langoliers, you can find their pieces on their online shop.

-Tiffany

Six Six Sick Presents NOMIA!

After months of talk and planning, we're incredibly excited for our party this Thursday for NOMIA, a New York based women's wear collection designed by our talented (and drop-dead gorgeous!) friend Yara Flinn. We'll be screening the new NOMIA Fall/Winter Collection Video, and toasting with complementary Asahi Beer and an open vodka bar from 10-11PM. Just in case you're not familiar with NOMIA, here's a peek at the new Spring collection, which centers around an agate digital print applied to minimalist, body-conscious silhouettes. I'm personally obsessed with the dresses with agate panels. Hope to see you on Thursday at Anchor Bar!

-Tiffany

Mini Me

Andrew with my finished doll

A while back, Christina and I made some miniature jewels for our dear friend Andrew Yang, and his collection of couture inspired Kouklitas. In exchange, he promised to make us each one of his signature doll in our likeness. A year has passed, and Andrew has since had his dolls displayed in Barneys New York and Joyce in Hong Kong, and has received a continuous stream of special orders from the most prestigious retailers around the world. He even just got back from a trip to China, where the sale of his dolls built an entire orphanage!

Now I'm getting ready to leave for Stockholm, and Andrew is packing his bags for an extended stay in Paris, where he will be doing a special window installation for Galeries Lafayette. Since we will both be moving, I thought it was best to finally pick up my doll, which has been in the works for many months, and sat to have my face drawn on. I found my doll in an Erdem-like floral dress, made by our gifted friend Soteris, complete with a matching ruffled hat. I'm already dreaming of all the little outfits I'll make her, starting with some cold-weather appropriate attire for our impending move to the North.

Even though we will both be moving, I'm really happy that Andrew will be nearby in Paris, and am already thinking of visiting him for the opening of his Galeries Lafayette show in November. Although all of the dolls have already been shipped to Paris, he showed me the preliminary sketches for the all-doll rock band he created, complete with groupies, photographers, roadies, and screaming fans. There's a sneak peek below, but you can see more photos of the actual dolls on Andrew's blog.