Left coast awardees get shot at N.Y. show
Score another point for West Coast fashion. Two L.A. designers are among the winners of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award, a prize that comes with a $25,000 grant to produce a runway show during New York’s Fashion Week in February.
Jasmin Shokrian’s sculptural garments appeal to artsy types, or “galleristas,” as she calls them. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with degrees in film, painting and sculpture, she started her business in 2000, launching a line of handmade interior objects. In 2001, Shokrian turned her attention to fashion, designing hand-dyed T-shirts.
Now the 31-year-old’s business has expanded to include artfully draped handmade dresses and tops. Her most recent collection, based on a theme of trying to fit into someone else’s clothes, was inspired by a wrong-number voicemail she received on her cellphone. Her line is available at Maxfield and Barneys New York.
The other local winner is the menswear label Trovata, founded in Orange County by John Whitledge, Jeff Halmos, Josia Lamberto-Egan and Sam Shipley. The look is a cross between preppy and D.I.Y., with felt-patched blazers, thermal tops, striped sweaters and other pieces with details such as screen prints, mending stitches and narratives printed on linings. American Rag and Fred Segal stock Trovata.
Designers from around the country submitted applications for the contest. The other winners are Mary Ping, Richard Chai, Thakoon and Costello Tagliapietra. Ecco Domani wines created the foundation in 2001 to support emerging designers. Past winners include Zac Posen, Proenza Schouler, Derek Lam and Libertine.
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For one designer, it’s adios America
Known for presenting runway shows steeped in social commentary, New York-based designer Miguel Adrover has decided to pack it up and move home to Majorca.
“It’s been three years. I spent my life savings, I spent a lot of time and energy, and we have a big following in New York. But that’s difficult to maintain. We don’t even have the money to pay the rent,” he said, referring to his volunteer design team, which lives and works in a loft in the East Village.
The Spanish-born designer, the son of an almond farmer, created a runway sensation in September 1999 with a town coat made from a mattress tossed out by a neighbor, writer Quentin Crisp. Other pieces in the show included a deconstructed Burberry trench coat and a backward dress made from secondhand military shirts found at an Army Navy surplus store. Immediately, he was anointed the next big thing. His clothes were sold in such stores as Barneys New York and Neiman Marcus, but later also turned up at the discounter Loehmann’s.
Adrover’s shows were always eerily topical. Just two days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he presented a collection called Utopia, inspired by the Middle East, with models in caftans and head-to-toe veils.
In a phone interview this week, Adrover, 38, expressed sadness over how the fashion industry, and New York City as a whole, has changed in the last few years.
“If you’re not a banker, you cannot live here anymore. A lot of artists come here to express themselves, their hopes. But so many creative people have been locked out for commercial reasons,” he said. “People have said that I shouldn’t be mixing politics with fashion, but I cannot do that because my life is affected by politics today and tomorrow. It would be superficial and silly to have the opportunity and to not say things about war. I feel that I’m much more respectful of the times. I don’t try to cover them with pastel colors.”
His most recent collection, presented in a Bowery park in September, was a riff on the American West, from the obvious (a fringed suede tunic dress and cowboy boots) to the not-so-obvious (a cream shift with abstract black-and-red stripes that brought to mind a deconstructed Navajo rug). His provocative shows were often held in offbeat settings, such as a synagogue and a schoolyard.
“I think maybe I am not in a higher position because I’ve been honest to the city and the people who live here,” he says. “In New York, there are a lot of creative people. There should be more support. It’s starting to feel like a mall.”
The designer plans to open a studio in Majorca and hopes to show his collection in Paris.
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Makeup, with Latinas in mind
After 10 years in the business, makeup artist Monica Ramirez knew better than anyone that finding cosmetics for Latina skin tones was difficult. So she made her own: Zalia Cosmetics.
“I was always custom-blending products for the yellow and olive undertones in my skin,” she said. “And I saw other women were equally frustrated.”
After three years of development, the New York native launched the brand last month in beauty stores on the East Coast. Recently, she’s expanded into select Victoria’s Secret and Robinsons-May locations here.
The full line of cosmetics consists of foundation, lipsticks, mascaras and eye shadows. Foundations have a yellow base instead of pink, which is what most brands offer, she said. “Putting pink on olive looks unhealthy and gives that mask effect. A lot of women wanted to wear foundation but hadn’t found anything that didn’t produce that line between the face and the neck. This makeup makes you feel like you don’t have makeup on.”
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A Bloomie’s treat for ‘Opera’ fans
Joel Schumacher’s adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera,” in theaters Dec. 22, is visually stunning. But is it a fashion film? Bloomingdale’s thinks so. The retailer has partnered with Warner Bros. Pictures to open in-store boutiques showcasing clothing, makeup and accessories inspired by the film from such designers as BCBG, Tracy Reese and Dior. The boutique will be open this week at the Beverly Center location.
Our vote for most salable trend? Emmy Rossum’s hair jewels.
