6 posts tagged "Ecco Domani"
Susan Woo Fall 2013
Label: Susan Woo
Need to Know: Now in her fourth season, Susan Woo (who won the 2013 Ecco Domani award for sustainable design) was inspired by feminine strength. Her Fall woman, she says, is a romantic damsel in distress who becomes her own heroine. Focusing on black and white with pops of violet and wine, Woo merged tough independence with ladylike charm in a gray wool wrap coat; shirts and dresses with sheer mesh panels; and a cream wool georgette tulip skirt, which, paired with a sweetheart black bustier and black leather belt, had a rockabilly feel. Particularly cool was her use of perforated leather—it appeared as a pair of shorts (topped with a cotton poplin button-down and cropped wool turtleneck) and the arms and pockets of a short-sleeved wool coat.
She Says: “I think the key to sustainability is creating a product that uses organic materials without sacrificing the integrity of the aesthetic. It’s about making the two exist beautifully and making sustainability palatable for people. I sometimes compare it to how parents sneak vegetables into their kids’ food.”
Where to Find It: Bhoomki in Brooklyn, NY; Atelier 360 in Greenwich, CT; and shop-e-mode.com.
Ecco Domani’s 2013 Winners Announced
Winemaker Ecco Domani’s Fashion Foundation Awards—an initiative that aims to support New York’s up-and-coming talents—has helped jump-start the careers of Prabal Gurung, Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy, Alexander Wang, and Derek Lam, just to name a few. Today, the foundation’s 2013 winners, each of whom will be given a $25,000 grant to help them present their collections at New York Fashion Week, were announced. A panel that includes Vogue‘s Sally Singer, consultant Julie Gilhart, Neiman Marcus’ Ken Downing, and Paper magazine editor in chief Kim Hastreiter (among others), selected honorees in four categories: Tome, a New York-based label launched in 2011 by Australian designers Ryan Lobo and Ramon Martin, won the womenswear category (left: a look from their Spring ’13 collection). Ian Velardi won for menswear, Susan Woo was honored for sustainable design, and Deborah Pagani won for her line of accessories inspired by Art Deco and rock ’n’ roll. The awardees will be toasted during a luncheon on January 30.
The Winery’s Winners
The early bird catches the worm—that saying was certainly appropriate this morning when, before rush hour, a crowd of industry insiders flocked to the Museum of Arts and Design for breakfast to fête the winners of the 11th annual Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation awards. The birds? Designers Tim Coppens, Sunhee Moon’s Sunhee Huang, Titania Inglis, Eighteenth’s Alexa Galler, Haus Alkire’s Julie Haus and Jason Alkire, Correll Correll’s Vera and Daphne Correll, and Dezso’s Sara Beltran. The proverbial worm? $25,000 grants to fund their Fall presentations at New York fashion week, starting next Thursday.
“This is not something I would typically do on a Wednesday morning,” mused Coppens, who launched his menswear collection in April. “I was surprised to win, but it feels really good.” The judges, including former Barneys fashion director Julie Gilhart, Gilt Man’s Josh Peskowitz, and Paper‘s Kim Hastreiter, were all on hand to congratulate the recipients. “We all know how hard it is to get a solid footing in this business,” Peskowitz told Style.com. “This industry requires new people to be able to put forth new ideas, and having this award ensures that process continues.” Meanwhile, retail guru Gilhart bestowed some words of wisdom to the newly coronated designers. “Show up and bring something different to the table,” she advised. Adding, “This is not an award that is about lights, camera, action—it takes time.”
That is certainly true for industry veteran Huang, who has been working on her collection for the past 15 years. “I started crying when I heard the news,” Huang admitted. “I tried to launch the line several times, but it was difficult financially. This is the third time and I feel like it’s the start of my career.”
A New Class Toasts Its Fashion Week Benefactor
You might expect otherwise from a winery, but there are no booze-goggles at Ecco Domani: The California-based vintner has a long history of clear-eyed perceptiveness about young fashion talent. Its Fashion Foundation awards have been supporting emerging designers with much needed grant money for years, and many of the industry’s now established names—Derek Lam, Alexander Wang, and Proenza Schouler among them—have benefited from its largesse.
This year’s crop of winners (for womenswear, Bibhu Mohapatra, Mandy Coon, Marcia Patmos, and Maayan Zilberman and Nikki Dekker for their line The Lake & Stars; for menswear, Kyle Fitzgibbons for Native Son; for accessories, Pamela Love; and for sustainable design, Tara St. James for Study NY) was on hand to celebrate last night, along with alumni like Lam, Erin Fetherston, John Patrick, Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs, and editors and style setters like Julie Gilhart and Sally Singer. One of last year’s winners, Prabal Gurung, presented Bibhu Mohapatra (above, with Lam) with his award. (“His love and my love for Bollywood has cemented our friendship,” the Nepal-born Gurung, who worked for the Indian designer Manish Arora after graduating from New Delhi’s National Institute of Fashion, confided.)
“It has really pumped me with such a rush,” Mohapatra said of his latest accolade. “This award not only gave me confidence, but it also gave me some extra funding to make my product that much better.”
Pressed for advice to the young designers, Gurung modestly demurred. “I am still in the process of rising,” he said, “and I don’t think I am in the position of giving advice to anyone. What I can say is be true to yourself and trust your instincts because you have to just believe in yourself.”
Bodkin and The Dalai Lama
“It’s not easy being green,” quipped Bodkin designer Eviana Hartman at her presentation Monday afternoon. “People seem to forget that that’s how the song goes: It’s ‘not.’” Maybe so, but Hartman is making the creation of green fashion look like a breeze. The ex-TeenVogue and Nylon staffer has earned beaucoup press and plaudits for her less-than-a-year-old label. And this season, Bodkin became the first sustainably produced brand to land one of the coveted Ecco Domani awards. But as Hartman took pains to point out, Kermit had the green thing right all along. “Working sustainably imposes constraints,” Hartman acknowledged. “You can’t just think, ‘What do I want to make right now?’ You start there, but the next question is, ‘What’s possible? Can I dye that color organically? Is there a recycled fabric that exists that gets me to the right look?’” But the constraints also open up redemptive possibilities: For instance, Hartman’s Fall ’09 collection includes a berry-dyed patchwork dress made from silk blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. “I needed to find a silk that hadn’t been treated synthetically,” she recalled, “and that led me to a factory that produces silk without killing the silkworms. So the factory was blessed by the Dalai Lama, and I guess that means all the silk it makes is blessed, too.” And she who wears the silk dress will be blessed, as well? “Hmm,” replied Hartman, looking skeptical. “I’d rather people just wear the dress because it looks cool.”