Written by Ifat Pridan
This won’t be another lecture on the environmental benefits of slow fashion, but I will tell you why you should buy your mushrooms at the farmers market…
Working with small, independent designers is less flexible and takes stress levels to new heights, but it’s worth it because it makes us feel like we’re wearing clothes that matter and that make us, yes, important!! The designer’s energy is reflected in the clothes, there is no doubt about it. Every layer is intentional, the inspiration for every piece, the research of fabrics and the fit.
It’s like the mushroom guy at the farmers market. He loves to talk about his mushrooms, what you can do with them, which ones are best for cooking and which ones are okay to eat raw. You can see the respect he has for mushrooms in the way he puts them in a paper bag. He raised them since they were babies, sometimes I feel like telling him “ok, just give in, I’ll take good care of them”.
How does it actually work?
OK, let’s say it’s summer. While you were on the beach, the designer worked by sketching, erasing, talking to fabric manufacturers, choosing chains, laces. Yes, as in Project Runway. Eventually, the collection is born: a perfect sample of each style is sent to be photographed. The collection may have several different sets based on color, fabric or style (depending on the size of the collection) but should be a coherent collection with the designers thumb print.
We are now at the end of summer. It’s fashion week. Boutiques are traveling the world to buy. We meet the designer in a certain showroom with a model, always too skinny… We are shopping just like you: touching the fabric, checking the fit, turning the model, visualizing how it will fit the boutique “look” and thinking for all the questions you will ask us (“how do you wash it”? hahaha). We have to be very delicate. As with mushrooms.
Orders will dictate the final offering of the collection, of course some items will be removed if there are not enough orders. Now we are in the beginning of autumn, the designer has to buy the right amount of fabric based on the orders of each piece. Once they have the fabric, and while you’re busy shopping for coats and Christmas presents, the summer collection is being made. We call it “Cut to Order”. This is why it is almost impossible to re-order an item once it is sold.
Fall 2022 collection
Last week we hosted one of our favorite designers, NY77 Design, in the boutique. Alek just returned from Ukraine, sewing uniforms for Ukrainian soldiers. He was saying a prayer for each finished coat, to keep the person who will wear it safe, and was even inspired for his next collection.
For his fall collection, one of the sets is based on the Brooklyn Bridge. The print was transformed from a photo he took on a rainy night while taking a walk in NY. Another set is based on a new Japanese innovation on the embroidery scene. Not only is the area ten times larger than traditional machines, but it also has the ability to create different levels of embroidery height. A true 3D!
And that’s why we love the mushroom boy!
