Here is a rough draft of my write up for Fashion Wire Daily on Brooklyn Fashion Weekend. Check out Jill’s review of NaturevsFuture over at Fiftyrx3 for more Brooklyn Fashion Week(end) coverage.
And of course you can find all of our photographes on Coutorture’s Brooklyn Fashion Weekend Set
This weekend the borough of Brooklyn worked overtime to up its fashionista quotient by hosting the cleverly titled Brooklyn Fashion Week(end) May 5-7 at the Tobacco Warehouse at Empire- Fulton Ferry State Park.
The weekend featured 19 designers over three evenings of shows. “We definitely want to take the Bryant Park model and give it a Brooklyn edge,” says BK Fashion Week{end} co-founder Cybele Sandy. The goal of Brooklyn Fashion Week(end) was to promote the wider Brooklyn fashion scene. “We’re not just about style and glamour,” says Sandy, “We want to help our community and our designers.”
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz thoroughly endorsed the event. “We are thrilled in Brooklyn that we finally have a place to showcase our ever growing numbers of designers. Now we have an opportunity for the designers that live in Brooklyn, work in Brooklyn and produce in brooklyn to showcase them in Brooklyn as well and invite the buyers, the retailers, and the magazines and others to be here and really celebrate what is becoming a fast growing industry in Brooklyn.�
Friday evening featured Project Runway designer Zulema Griffen showing 11 pieces from her unfinished Matador collection. Zulema paraded a variety of vibrantly hued pieces in red and fuschia. The dominant silhouette was skinny with capris and fitted fitted bodices. Zulema seemed pleased with her collection saying “I got to do it on my terms. And that is what I wanted to do more than anything.� With photographers grumbled about the poor lighting and several of the looks appearing unfinished, it seems that while Zulema is doing it on her own terms, she is still a work in progress.
Many collections were heavily influenced by Brooklyn’s hip-hop community. Designer Anita Watkins of Sixfoota showed an entire collection of clothing perfect for the bling set complete with chinchilla and leather.
One notable to watch is design collective, and project of Kilo International, Rock Smith. Instead of straining to exhibit many looks like other designers at Brooklyn Fashion Week(end), they showed a very well edited collection of streetwear including flashy Puma sneakers. The pieces perfectly highlighted their aesthetic . Erik Marino, one of the designers, spoke excitedly about the collection’s influences. “ It is all about sneaker culture right now. Rock Smith fits right in there, we try to bring out the colors. It is a new streetwear, it isn’t what kids are used to it, it is not sweat suit outfits, it is more about bringing out the color, being vibrant. Have an attitude. That’s Rock Smith�
The real star of shows however did fit neatly into any fashion subcategory or box. Lopeti Etu, designer for H.O.R.R.S or Habana Outpost Recycled Rejects Shop, showed a collection of clothing made entirely out of recycled material. “The design came about because there is so much waste and we are about being eco friendly and green,� says Etu. “We took stuff that people gave us, old clothing, and put them into a collage and cut it to make clothes.� And what clothes they were; ranging from highly wearable sun dresses in easy patchwork, to highly conceptual geometric pieces that played widely with volume, featuring bubbles extending out from the bust and posterior.
His final piece, and the highlight of the collection, was a recycled down quilt made into a veritable eco-chic ball gown with the most intriguing peek-a-boo element. Chinched at the waist, the top of the quilt reached up towards the models face, a rigid triangle mask built right into her dress. Describing the piece, Etu said “I like that feeling, that people are hiding, because it is the same thing for modeling, they all are hiding their faces, it isn’t really who they are, like any human being would be.�
A bold statement from a fashion designer. Too often fashion hides behind masks of luxury and consumption without ever thinking of the wider consequences. We as fashion consumers hide behind our base assumptions and habits. But not Lopeti, his clothing asks for a thorough reevaluation of what we wear and how we wear it while slyly peaking out from behind the mask of fashion.
[...] However I soon discovered after wearing the shoes a mere 5 blocks that they were hell on heels pinching me terribly around the straps. Because I am a busy girl it took me a few days to make it back to the store to on Elizabeth street to report the problem. The girl who sold them to me Nathalia suggested that I take them to be stretched and even promised me that United Nude would pay for that to be done at the cobblers. In the meantime I had been to Brooklyn Fashion Weekend which used the shoes in many of the shoes thanks to a lovely sponsorship. Incidentally, I spoke to a designer there Cotrice, who while she was pleased to have found a shoe sponsor was decidedly uncomfortable wearing the shoes and told me as much. But I was undeterred, and wore them out again and found that not only did the strap area pinch but the arch did not fit my own and that was that after another few stumbling blocks [...]
Hey…I love my shoes, and they are actually comfortable!
I wear them with jeans, dresses…anything that could stand that fierce
metal heel.
I plan on adding a few more United Nudes in my collection…
Cotrice