Loeffler Randall

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I was recently out in Brooklyn visiting with a girlfriend who works in fashion PR. These girls always know what’s cool and true to form she walked in the door and I obsessed over her shoes and bag. “Where are they from?” I asked, “Loeffler Randall“. Of course they are.

It seems almost every time I love a New York girlfriend’s shoes they are Loeffler Randall. I myself am a fan girl… I’ve worn them to the beach, at southern mansion cocktail parties, and over coffee in L.A. They are easy and cool. Quality and comfortable. Or, as the founder and designer Jessie Randall puts it, “understated, elegant, effortless.” I stopped by their Soho studio to see what’s new this summer, what I will be lusting after like those red strappy heels above… UGH sooo good. And to talk with the beautiful designer herself only to realize, the products are good because the soul of the designer is too…

10 Questions with LOEFFLER RANDALL‘s President and Creative Director Jessie Randall 

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If you could give advise to yourself 10 years ago when you started Loeffler Randall, what would it be?

JR: Hire a merchandiser. Stop being so hard on yourself!

Above, Jessie wears Arbella Platform Sandal with Drawstring Tote in her Soho office. 

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Where do you find inspiration? 

JRI find it everywhere – especially in craft techniques and doing crafts myself, art, furniture and I love love love ceramics. 

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What one famous person has worn your shoe where you had a holy-cow moment? 

JRRoz Chast

Above, Drawstring Tote & Flap Bucket bag // Below, Bo Tassel Wrap sandal

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ESME VIE

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The elevator doors opened onto the fifth floor of the historic Rafael Hotel in Paris, most notably the place where Grace Kelly & Jacqueline Kennedy called home, and there sat this beautiful woman in a blush colored dress with an explosion of satin roses cascading over her shoulder like a vision of what women looked like so many decades ago. The woman was designer Julia Voitenko and like what all modern women battle with, she was searching for a wifi signal. Not knowing who she was at that moment of meeting did not stop me from showering her with compliments and inquiring about every detail before me. When she realized I was there to see her collection, was the moment I realized the collection I was about to see was hers and into the suite we went.

She walked me through the idea of the “new wardrobe” for the modern day woman where she needs only own a few pieces that can be mixed and matched to create a variety of classic looks, one in which Julia describes as “beauty made to wear”. Pulling inspiration from the 50s and 60s the silhouettes remain timeless and flattering to all body types while being hand constructed in Italy from the most prestigious Italian silk {something we know a thing or two about}.

In suite fit for a Princess, overlooking that dreamy view of Paris, I fell in love with ESME VIE and her idea of dressing for ladies.

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A New Class of Designers

CFDA Incubator // Behind the photo shoot from Ann Street Studio on Vimeo.

As you know, we love working with the CFDA. They work to support up-and-coming designers with the CFDA Incubator program, and this latest class of incredible designers happened to include two we’ve worked with before – the lovely Misha Nonoo and Katie Ermilio (Katie even designed my wedding dress!). So when we were asked to take the official portraits of the 2014 class of designers, we couldn’t wait. We created an entire portrait set up in our studio and the designers came in and out throughout the day (which you can see in the time lapse video above!).

It was so wonderful to meet all of you, CFDA Incubator class of 2014! Now tell us…

“What is fashion to you?”

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Misha Nonoo, NONOO

“Fashion is transformative.”

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Dana Arbib, Farah Mailk, Jesse Meighan, A PEACE TREATY

“Fashion is a universal language of self-expression.”

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Lucio Castro, LUCIO CASTRO

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NOVIS

NOVIS__01This week, we’ve been talking to the three winning designers of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award, exploring various fashion ideas from just hanging out with friends with Timo Weiland to the extremes of nature and knitwear with DEGEN.

All of these designers have been wonderful, but one of them captured our hearts right off the bat with her traditional silhouettes and re-interpreted vintage prints: Jordana Warmflash of NOVIS.

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What is your favorite piece that you’ve designed?

There are different aspects to each piece that I love. Right now I’m really into this blue coat that’s going to come out in fall 2014. It’s fairly simple but the fit is amazing…it’s a great piece.

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DEGEN

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Yesterday we had the chance to hang out with the designers behind Timo Weiland, and today we venture further into the world of knits with fellow Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award winner, Lindsay Degen of DEGEN.

Lindsay admitted to us that she was thrilled and surprised by the call that she had won, as her aesthetic is “kind of crazy”…working solely in knitwear, her past collections have explored and delved into various topics surrounding the body, ranging from cultural anxieties to microscopic views of DNA and bacteria.

Her presentation this season featured live knitters in addition to male and female models, Crocs, and LED lights as well as various new materials knitted into the funky pieces she is known for.

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To start off…how excited are you to be a winner of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award?

I’m super excited about it. I thought there was no way I would ever get it, because – if you look at the list of designers, they’re all incredible well-known designers, and none of them really have a really crazy, out-there aesthetic. They all look different, but my line aesthetically doesn’t really fit in with the bunch. So I was super excited that they chose me, because it’s a real honor to be lumped in with those other designers. Additionally there’s only one other knitwear designer – Tom Scott – who has won it, and while he has mostly knitwear he also has some woven, so I was really glad to hold down the knitwear niche.

[The grant money] is allowing me to make a 20-foot interactive LED rainbow for my presentation. I really wanted to do it this season anyway, but it allowed me to do it in a less makeshift way. It looks so good, I can’t wait.

A 20 foot rainbow??

This collection, I’m introducing some bizarre things, including fishing line and reflective yarn…because I was inspired by all these materials I’d never used before, I was having all these moments of “Wow, I’ve never had these moments before, I never knew knitting could be like this.” I wanted the viewers to have a similar experience, but they wouldn’t have that by watching someone knit. I thought, “What makes people go wow, what are we amazed by as children?” And the answer was rainbows. It’s the craziest thing nature does.

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Timo Weiland

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Good taste never goes out of style…

I’m all about having a great drink, and as you all know, I live for a beautiful fashion moment. So I was thrilled to hear about the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation, a marriage of great taste between Italian wines and awards for emerging fashion designers.

The EDFF and their elite panel of judges works hard to select the best of the best, and their choice of three emerging designers receive a grant to go toward their presentations at New York Fashion Week. In their 13 seasons, the EDFF has given $1.8 million to designers, many of whom now have flourishing careers such as Joseph Altuzarra and Derek Lam.

This week, we’re featuring the three winners of the EDFF award. Being able to talk to up and coming designers about all aspects of their work – personal style, inspiration, and dreams for the future – is so wonderful and eye-opening for me. As a photographer I love beautiful moments and being able to tell stories, so hearing the tales behind stunning collections makes the experience even better.

For our first interview, we got to talk to the three designers behind menswear winner Timo Weiland – Timo, Alan Eckstein, and Donna Kang. They were so lovely to talk to, it felt like friends just hanging out…which is exactly what their collection is about.

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Who ideally wears Timo Weiland?

Alan: For menswear, it’s classic with a twist. It’s a very wearable collection but it has signs of care, great tailoring, and personality to it.

Timo: Everything we do is classic with a twist, I think. There’s definitely a New York feel and inspiration. And we’re constantly inspired by our circle of friends and their personalities.

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How do you think winning the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award will affect your business?

A: It’s incredible. It’s pretty much our greatest honor to date. Every designer needs some sort of validation, and this is definitely a really great thing for us. It’s a great community, it’s a great award. We respect so many past winners – we look up to people like Proenza, Alexander Wang, Rag+Bone. And it’s a really good year – we love Degen and NOVIS too!

It also gives us the chance to show. We may not have been able to show men’s this year for budgetary reasons, but now we’re able to.

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Millinery in ManHATtan

We live in a world of constant change and developing technology, a world where everything moves so fast. Sometimes this is a brilliant whirlwind to get caught up in, but sometimes this fast-paced world means certain time-honored traditions may fall behind.

So it nearly was with Makins, one of the last remaining millinery factories in New York City’s Garment District. They had been in the city for “forty years, making hats for Frank Sinatra, Brad Pitt, Kim Kardashian, the works.” Our friend, hat designer Satya Twena, had been using their factory for her own collection for a few years, when suddenly everything changed.

“One day we got a call saying, “We closed, come pick up your stuff before we sell it off,” and I ran over here, met with the owner…and literally we needed to come up with money within two weeks. So we raised money pretty quickly to acquire the factory.”

Satya and her cousin Malka made the decision to purchase the factory in order to save not only all the American-made equipment or the hand-carved hat blocks, but to save the employees who worked there, the small business suppliers and the history of millineries in Manhattan. While they were able to make the first major purchase to save the factory, now they’re raising funds in order to continue the tradition of hand-made hat making.

“We’ve raised the money to buy this place, but we don’t necessarily have the funds to run it month to month…we’ve started a Kickstarter to help support it, and also get awareness out there of the fact that an American-made hat is something that would be lost forever unless we do something about it.”

All of the money raised on Kickstarter is going to the preservation of the factory, hiring back the employees, and getting the factory up and running again.

We spent an afternoon in this historic place, making our own custom-made hats with Satya, which you of course can buy through their Kickstarter, or just take a glimpse at what it looks like to go through the generations-old process of creating a hat…

  

A lifetime’s worth of sourcing and materials…

Satya explained to us that these blocks for shaping the hats are all hand carved; some are from Paris, some from London, and having them all together is extremely rare. If she had not bought all the factory’s equipment, the pieces would have been sold off to individuals, and this library of incredible, beautiful history would have been separated forever…

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In the Studio With…

I have always loved Prabal Gurung’s understanding of the modern woman in his designs (and so have some incredible modern women!), and his spring/summer 2014 collection was no different.

Prabal stated that his main muse for this collection was Marilyn Monroe – the perfect choice for a designer so focused on femininity. To bring her into the modern era, however, was a challenge…and one Prabal took on fun, bright, edgy way.

Marilyn was represented in the elegance, glamour, and curvy silhouettes of the collection, but the punchy colors, abstract florals, and plastic harnesses made sure she felt at home and in vogue in the fast-paced 21st century.

“It was a celebration of women,” Prabal explained. “I was thinking about preserving elegance, but making it modern and right for now with the right amount of danger…I like the idea of femininity with bite.”

I’m sure Marilyn would have approved.

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In the Studio With

A moment of crazy fun turned into a dramatic coronation.”

On a rainy day in Manhattan, I walked into the studio of Robert Lee Morris and all of a sudden, like a scene from a musical, we were pulling out drawers and drawers of jewelry!  accessories! belts! crowns! cuffs!… a whole lifetime of creating extraordinary, one-of-a-kind pieces for the world’s top designers. “This walked down Calvin Klein’s runway and oh yes! This walked down Donna Karan’s!”

All around the studio were artifacts from travels, books for inspiration, sculptures and studies on the human form, work benches, sketch boards, mood boards, old ad campaigns and editorals framed and leaning on one another – layered through time and history. Taylor, Kelly & I were like giddy little girls finding treasures while Robert told all the wonderful fairytales that accompany each of his masterful pieces.

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A Handbag Designer, a Dog, & the West Village

This former stylist and accessories editor is now designing her own line of luxury handbags made with exotic skins and surprising colors which reflect where she finds her inspiration, most recently from a trip to India. With a new store opening this fall in the West Village it goes without saying she went from showing us what is cool to making something cool.

I met up with Khirma at her work studio in the Village recently to see the new space and collection, talk boys and fashion mags, and, over dirty martinis, why we love NY in the fall.

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Girl Talk

Recently I went to dinner in West Village with fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff who, to me, is the queen of “cool”… like hippie chic meets Coachella and collided with an artist who loves Frida kind of vibe. My favorite moment of the conversation was when Rebecca recounted the time she first saw someone carrying a bag she designed – she ran up to her and said, “That’s my bag!” in which the stranger replied “NO, that’s MY bag!”

We talked about babies (hers) and how she gets such cool artists to perform at her NYFW runway shows. After a few minutes I noticed her jewelry, which turned out to be samples from her new jewelry line she was testing out in the wild. Well, that’s cool… but of course it is. It’s Rebecca Minkoff after all.

PS- The first time I met Rebecca Minkoff for a shoot she was pregnant in heels! Whoa mama! x

In the Studio With…

Fashion can be a lot of things from edgy to extreme… but every now and then it can be the total essence of beautiful. Perhaps I’m drawn to Lela Rose because of our Texas roots but I’m also a fan for what she gives to women, the confidence to be lovely.  I had to stop by her design studio to see what she had in store and talk about just what the inspiration was for Spring.

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CFDA Awards

Celebrating 50 years of the CFDA! Last night at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center the all-stars of fashion came out to celebrate another great year of design, achievement, and an ever-evolving industry. From the old legends to emerging talent, hand in hand with their muses they walked the red carpet as we watched and shared in celebration for the love of fashion.

Watch the awards online at 5pm EDT on Style.com!

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