What is it that makes a designer inspiring?
Why is it that we do not approach sustainability in a way that embraces ecological thoughtfulness of any extent, rather than total prosecution for trying at all?
I love fashion as art. I look to the labels I admire to be inspired on many levels, be it branding, identity, design, craftsmanship or ethical practices. Very rarely do I get to meet designers promoting all of the above characteristics. I am a little bit of each and hopefully, more of some.
Gretchen Jones, Sara Didzinski of Better Late Than Never jewelry and Austin Bates, production manager at Pamela Love
I came to New York City as a designer so I could be a part of a strong movement towards good design, not just green design, but design that will last a lifetime based on how and where it’s made and its inherent, timeless style. So on the 5th day of NYFW at Pamela Love’s A/W 2011 collections, all I can feel is pure love for the opportunity to view designers doing their best to inspire – and to be as conscious as they can.
I crave viewing good work in person, in the fantasy that is created in the presentation of a fashion week event, and it’s killing me that I am not able to present this season. To pacify my anxiety, I’ve turned my little black book into an all out agenda filled with infatuations. This past Saturday night it was for Pamela Love. Love has taken her vertically integrated in-house line (which is made to order and hand crafted domestically) to new heights this season with an air of altruistic power hippie.
Pamela Love, A/W 11′
I adore Pamela Love. I love everything about the line and that it breathes the ethos of the designer. It’s apparent that the line speaks to her, she is her own client and she knows what she wants to communicate as a designer to the world. At the show, a glowing white stage clad in crystals and transient bass notes from the band drew me into the space at Milk Studios.
Pamela Love’s presentation took hold of the 8th floor studios in a manner that demanded undivided attention with six white angels for models, gigantic crystals as backdrop (and infused in the jewelry) and ethereal lighting to make us think we were somewhere in the clouds.
I wanted to be those girls. Wanted to fill my jewelry box with huge cuffs, even bigger necklaces and focus on the centering energy of a quartz crystal.
Pamela’s collections are highly curated and edited, only presenting truly thoughtful ideas. Her presentations create otherworldly plains that make you immediately connect to the identity of the brand, the fantasy, the conversation between dark and light and the aching of the bohemian-gypsy-dark-angel in us all.
I was truly floored and inspired.
I walked away feeling so confident in knowing all it takes is a good team and a powerful sense of self and I can (and will) show you what I can do, and inspire you come fall.
If Pamela Love can do it, why cant I?