So much goes in to creating a new collection. And for an individual, so much goes in to considering what to buy each season. I bring the two together here, to give perspective. This will help you make the best decisions, for you. It will also give you an inside glance on the day to day. Ok?
The Spring Collection is tethered to the notion of grit and elegance. You know that triple axel jump in figure skating? Swan like, fluid. But the amount of grueling work to get to that is incontestable. I’m craving elegance in my life, I’d like to move about swan like. But that’s contrary to my reality and I would likely feel in costume, disconnected to who I am. We fixated on merging the two concepts for Spring 26. How can we just feel more elegant, chic but so very much like our real selves?
Here are the 5 steps from concept to runway:
IDEATION. The design process starts with the craving, what we strive for, what we know to be our constraints. That creative and pragmatic approach that always gets us in the right place. We build a board with the musts - the shapes, the colors, the contradictions. Traci begins the sketching and draping process, we go to Milan to find the fabrics and we work with our atelier to bring the ideas to life.
PROTOS. Traci and I meet, daily, hourly, to try on the pieces right from the sewing machine. We do this in my office, I’m trying on various shoes to see what feels right, how I stand in an item, if I can imagine the pieces from my closet that I’ll pull out and wear with the news. This is the most stressful stage, it’s where I’m doubting how deep a pleat should be - we’re wrangling practicality with making a statement, flattering vs. just really interesting. Sometimes it gets heated, there’s no point in mincing words at this stage, and that’s fine. No intense discourse means we haven’t pushed for the best. Tension is good.
STYLE OUT. This is when we bring in Sacha, our model, and Sarah and I get to work. Up till this point, Sarah’s been out of the process. Traci and I gut check with her, we get inspired by her, but the actual design takes place in a more secretive way. We do this so Sarah has completely fresh eyes. This is the stage where I want to really see the collection through her eyes. Our first pass of styling takes place with Traci out of the room - it’s important to separate the design from the styling - it helps me see where we may have some disconnects or opportunities to push further. Traci joins up with us and we start to create the looks that will head down the runway
PRESENTATION TO THE STYLISTS. As all the casting for runway is happening and the deciding of the looks, we have to photograph the line for our sales team and I show them all the easy ways to wear the items, how runway translates to reality, and what’s important to point out to people like Sherri McMullen when she visits for her appointment. I show how a dress transforms to a skirt, how pleats that may seem exaggerated get tamed with a belt, how a skirt feels quite bare and sexy but gets relaxed immediately with my favorite sweater. THIS STAGE is critical because the stylists are seeing the collection for the first time and I need to get their eye adjusted quickly, the items that have more friction are the hardest to embrace at first and I just need them to believe in Traci, Sarah and I unequivocally that if we love it and know we will wear it they can be confident convincing the small stores we work with do feel the same.
RUNWAY. No going back now. We’ve selected the models, the soundtrack, the set design. Now it’s up to others to decide.
Grit and Elegance? Our life. Because after that show, the unbelievable hard work happens - the rounds and rounds of fitting - did you know some items are fit 5 to 6 times - perfectionism is a must at this stage. At the creation stage it can break the flow, but when it comes to the technical fittings it’s a liability if it’s absent. We tweak, check the details, shipping, packing, unpacking.
You can view everything here to see how it landed: CLICK HERE
And now we are on to Style Class. Where we talk, explain, answer DMs, and get to wear it in real time. All of us, from Fana, to Grace to Keturah.
This is so interesting. I love getting an inside look. Is Ruth Asawa's work one of the "inspiration" images?
The brilliance of the "Big" idea chiseled down to its most granular powerful self..... Whew!!!
The details and minds that need to absorb it all and communicate, it's genius .......You are a great success evolving in each collection + a powerful team..... Joyous!!!