To read the papers — this one included — with their stories of fashion’s recession casualties, one would think the number of new entrants in New York Fashion Week would be slim. Think again. From a duo fresh out of Parsons to Francisco Costa’s protégé, here are some of the most promising new names.
LORICK NEW YORK: Thursday, Sept. 4, 6 to 8 p.m., Gary’s Loft, 28 West 36th Street.
Designer: Abigail Lorick
“Gossip Girl” features a never-ending parade of designer labels, from Jenny’s Valentinos to Serena’s Vena Cavas. But Lorick’s designs appear on the show as more than eye candy. As a stand-in for the Eleanor Waldorf line, they’re a major plot point. This season, Lorick has cooked up 24 looks that are pure 10021, like high-waisted silk and linen shorts and cocktail dresses in shades such as “seared-tuna pink.” And, OMFG, Blake and Leighton will be there!
Wholesale prices: $60 to $270.
Sells at: Barneys New York; Thistle & Clover, Brooklyn; The Tannery, Cambridge, Mass.; Guestroom Boutique, Saudi Arabia.
VICENTE VILLARIN: Friday, Sept. 5, 11 a.m., Bumble and bumble, 415 West 13th Street.
Designer: Joanne Cordero Reyes
The designer named her line after her grandfather, a musician and composer. “I think of a whole collection as a kind of composition,” she explains. “It’s kind of the same approach to the way he would compose.” Since her résumé includes stints designing eveningwear at J.Mendel and Reem Acra, it’s no surprise that her line features dramatic evening pieces such as a chiffon bustier dress and column gowns aplenty.
Wholesale prices: From $450 for a blouse to $3,500 for an elaborate gown.
Sells at: Villa Moda; Des Kohan, Los Angeles; Septième Etage, Geneva; Mahna Mahna, Tokyo.
CUSHNIE ET OCHS: Friday, Sept. 5, 3 p.m., The Glass Houses, 545 West 25th Street.
Designers: Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs
As seniors at Parsons The New School for Design, these two were neck and neck for the 2007 Designer of the Year award (Ochs won, and Cushnie was the runner-up). Now, instead of being competitors, they are collaborators with a fledgling line. Though they have their aesthetic differences, neither is a fan of what Ochs calls the “loose, rolled-out-of-bed look.” Perhaps that’s why their muse this season is the compulsively neat Patrick Bateman from the novel “American Psycho.”
“We really related to the character,” Ochs explains.
“Not the killing part,” Cushnie is quick to add.
The 24 looks include a nude, plastic-coated silk trench and minidresses complete with body-revealing cutouts and slashes.
Wholesale prices: $150 to $900.
Sells at: The line is in its first season, so no stores yet.
MISCHEN: Friday, Sept. 5, 3 to 4:30 p.m., Twelve21, 12 West 21st Street.
Designer: Carla Knapp
“I’m definitely not the designer who’s pumping out skintight cocktail dresses,” says Knapp. Instead, she’s the designer whose quirky prints (this season includes one of the liquor bottles smeared with lipstick traces) have won her an indie-girl following. For spring, she started with the idea of a preteen girl “exploring her mother’s wardrobe and getting into the liquor cabinet.” Oversize blazers and dresses give the lineup of 15 looks what Knapp calls an “experimental trying-on-others’- clothes feeling.”
Wholesale prices: $95 to $500.
Sells at: Henri Bendel; Intermix; Fred Segal Flair; Azalea, San Francisco; Vionnet, Los Angeles.
IRIS LOEFFLER: Friday, Sept. 5, 6 p.m., LaViolaBank Gallery, 179 East Broadway.
Some people have all the luck. Munich-born Loeffler worked in the costume department of the Resident Theater there, but found that she “actually missed what fashion can do — that you can actually dress people on the street, not a character on the stage.” After landing in New York in November, she met the designers of Threeasfour through friends and began interning for them. Internships at VPL and Zero + Maria Cornejo soon followed. At her upcoming show, she plans to literally blow them away — with industrial fans that will be strategically placed along the runway, accentuating the movement of the clothes. Loeffler has titled her range of 25 looks in geometric shapes Schwerkraft, German for “gravity.” Isaac Newton would be proud.
Wholesale prices: From $125 for a silk tank top to $350 for a leather jacket. So-called “showpieces,” such as a leather dress with cube-shaped appliqués, start from $500 and up.
Sells at: This is her first season, so no stores yet, but “it would be
great to be in Barneys New York,” she notes.
ALICE MCCALL: Friday, Sept. 5, 6 p.m., Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street.
The stylist-to-designer trajectory has become a bit of a cliché, but for McCall, it seems only natural. “I love playing with clothes,” she reasons. “I did this as a stylist, and [now] I do this as a designer.” After outfitting everyone from Destiny’s Child to Marianne Faithfull and designing for Buddhist Punk and Sass & Bide, she started her own line in 2004. For spring, she’s inspired by scientific drawings of insects, with cocoon and pod shapes showing up in the 30-odd looks.
Wholesale prices: $300 to $599.
Sells at: I Heart, New York; The Royal Family, Austin, Tex.; Damsel, London; Tigerlily, Dubai.
UNCONDITIONAL: Saturday, Sept. 6, 11:30 a.m to 2 p.m., The Maritime Hotel, 363 West 16th Street
Designer: Philip Stephens
In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono bedded down at the Amsterdam Hilton for their notorious “Bed-In” protest. Almost 40 years later, Unconditional is getting models to do the same at the Maritime Hotel for a presentation that will be conducted au lit. The 30 looks are in organic silk and cotton, adding to the do-gooder vibe.
Wholesale prices: $40 to $500.
Sells at: Oak, New York, Selfridges, London; Printemps, Paris; Podium, Moscow; Seibu, Hong Kong.
ANDY & DEBB: Saturday, Sept. 6, 2 p.m., The Promenade, Bryant Park.
Designers: Andy Kim and Debbie Yoon
The husband-and-wife team met while attending Pratt. In 1999, they launched their collection in Korea, where they also found a side gig designing McDonald’s uniforms. Now, they’re taking their showcase of 40 looks to the tents. Every season, the couple collaborates with an artist: This time, it’s Chang Sub Choi, who’s provided drawings of cupcakes with children’s faces (cuter than it sounds).
Wholesale prices: $500 for a silk faille taffeta dress; $450 for a wool-silk zibeline jacket.
Sells at: Shop at Bluebird, London; Beyond 7 Boutique, New York.
CHADWICK BELL: Sunday, Sept. 7, 2 p.m., 16 West 10th Street.
One of Bell’s favorite photographs depicts Slim Keith on a hunting trip. She’s sporting a striped cardigan and toting one hell of a gun. “Here’s this delicate woman, nicknamed Slim,” he marvels, “holding a double-barreled rifle.” Bell, who worked at Chado Ralph Rucci, plays with that duality in his 21 looks, including a leather riding jacket with men’s wear-style interior pockets. “I like those masculine touches,” he explains.
Wholesale prices: $475 to $3,500.
Sells at: Last season was sold only to private clients, but the designer is on the lookout for retailers for spring.
HARLAN BEL: Sunday, Sept. 7, 6 p.m., The Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street.
Designer: Brandy Lunsford
Girls love horses. Just look at “Black Beauty” or “Misty of Chincoteague.” Lunsford, who grew up in Kentucky and worked at Ralph Lauren, is no stranger to the equestrian lifestyle. Her 25 looks are inspired by the grace of Lipizzan horses, with pieces such as a harness-style top.
Wholesale prices: $139 for shirts; $300 for dresses; $172 for shorts; $289 for jackets.
Sells at: Armoire, Brooklyn; Milk, Los Angeles; Buy Definition, Austin, Tex.; Leo, Miami Beach.
SOPHIE THEALLET: Monday, Sept. 9, 10 a.m., The Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street.
As a transplant to New York from Paris (she moved there when she fell in love with a male model whom she later married), Théallet identifi es with what she calls “borderless fashion.” She envisions a woman who “travels a lot and feels that she doesn’t belong to any culture anymore, because it’s a mix of everything.” Théallet developed her design chops working under Jean Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa, and even had a resort and beachwear line with makeup artist François Nars. She plans to show 30 looks — expect lightweight cotton and silk frocks with feminine prints.
Wholesale prices: $400 to $1800.
Sells at: Barneys New York; Colette, Paris; Maxfield, Los Angeles; Blake, Chicago; Linda Dresner, New York.
MACQUA: Wednesday, Sept. 10, 3 p.m., Eyebeam, 540 West 21st Street.
Designer: Meike Vollmar
There aren’t many Bedouins roaming the Upper East Side, but if there were, they’d do well to don a piece from Macqua. Vollmar was inspired by the lightweight ease of traditional Bedouin clothing mixed with the sophistication of the Spence set. Pieces such as an olive green trench and a gathered white minidress may not exactly telegraph that inspiration, but they do give off an effortless chic on which desert and Park Avenue dwellers alike should be able to compromise.
Wholesale prices: From $175 for a simple silk dress to $900 for a very constructed dress.
Sells at: Quartier 206, Berlin; Penelope, Italy; Re-Style Isetan, Japan.
JULIAN LOUIE: Thursday, Sept. 11, 1 to 3 p.m., Drive-In Studios, 443 West 18th Street.
It’s not easy to please both Tara Subkoff and Francisco Costa. But Louie has covered that ground working both as an intern at Imitation of Christ and in the design department at Calvin Klein. Costa was so impressed with his work that he chose to mentor him as part of Project Protégé, a program sponsored by Australian Wool Innovation Ltd. “He was at all my fittings. It was a real mentor experience,” Louie says. Spring’s 16 looks are
inspired by growing up by the ocean in Santa Cruz, Calif., and thus combines delicate fabrics such as silk faille with neoprene (aka wet suit material).
Wholesale prices: $300 to $8,000.
Sells at: The line is in its first season, so no stores yet.
OMNIALUO BY ZHENG LUO: Friday, Sept. 12, 5 p.m., The Salon, Bryant Park.
Designer: Zheng Luo
The name may be unfamiliar to New Yorkers, but OmniaLuo is a giant in Asia, with $25 billion in sales, more than 200 stores in China and a Chinese CFDA award. The brand plans to open stores in the U.S. next year, but until then, New Yorkers will have to be content with 40 whimsical looks, including lace-trimmed Empire-waist dresses.
Wholesale prices: $95 to $145 for pants and skirts; $98 to $120 for tops; $275 for a jacket; $275 to $345 for dresses.
Sells at: OmniaLuo’s retail stores in China.