Jeanne’s own words speak volumes about her clothing line, The 615 Project:
It isn’t about trends.
It’s about what makes real women look and feel amazing.
It’s about unique details, beautiful craftsmanship, and unexpected materials.
It’s about you wearing the clothes, not the clothes wearing you.
Photo credit T. Shane Gilman ( www.tshane.com)
SD: How did you end up in the fashion industry?
Jeanne: I was working for a startup software company in Los Angeles after college–but after working 16 hours a day for 3 years, I was feeling burned out and ready for a change. I left that company and went to Portland, Oregon (my hometown) to chill. I wandered into a leather store where they had saddlery supplies and tools. I figured it couldn’t be that difficult to make some basic sandals. So I started by designing and making shoes. But making shoes turned out to be a slow process that required a lot of specialized equipment, so I turned to handbags. I thought it would be a great way to use my left-over leather from the shoes. I didn’t really know how to sew at the time—I ended up experimenting a lot, which can get pretty expensive when you’re using leather. But I wound up learning a lot and making some cool bags that I still carry today.
I moved to San Francisco a few months later. I started thinking about branching out into clothes, but I realized I needed formal training. I looked into MFA programs at a few local art schools… I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want to do a full-blown degree. I just wanted to be able to turn my chicken-scratch sketches into clothes. The pattern making program at Apparel Arts in San Francisco was perfect for me. It’s a self-paced program in French flat patternmaking—it took me about three years to finish because I was working full-time as well.
SD: What was your first job?
Jeanne: Launching my line, The 615 Project, was my first job in the industry . I definitely wouldn’t recommend that aspiring designers start their lines without another job for income—I still do quite a bit of freelance writing and marketing consulting for technology companies.
SD: What inspired the name for your line?
Jeanne: The name of my label is a reference to the address of my first studio. I wanted to keep it simple and easy to spell—it makes it easier for people to Google the label and find the Web site. My name isn’t the easiest thing to spell for a lot of people.
SD: What inspires your designs?
Jeanne: It can be anything. Recently it’s been a lot of architecture and interior design. So far, my collections have tended to reflect my surroundings and the environment around me. It could be from the view out the window or a piece of furniture in one of my rooms. I recently moved and I am very aware of the fact that some of the interior elements in my new apartment are in my collection. Things that are handmade, like the cotton waxprint fabric from Ivory Coast that’s in the upcoming spring line, are also very inspiring to me.
SD: What is your design process?
Jeanne: Once I have an idea, I do a few basic sketches to work out the construction, then draft or drape a pattern. I usually do four or five rounds of muslins of that pattern to develop the fit and the detailing. And unless I’m working on a couture piece, I definitely take production of the garment into consideration as part of my design process. I constantly look for ways to simplify the construction of the garment and still make it look great.
SD: Describe your philosophy behind your designs?
Jeanne: For me, clothing design is about making the body look great. I want the wearer to feel confident that she looks amazing. I appreciate the goals behind avant garde design, but as a woman I really don’t care how cutting-edge something is if it makes me look fat. That’s why I obsess over patterns and shapes—the structure and proportions of each garment are really important to me.
SD: What does your average day entail?
Jeanne: Depends on what day it is! Most days involve responding to a lot of e-mail, calling and following up with fabric vendors, checking on orders, and checking on production. When a collection is ready to be photographed, I coordinate with stylists and photographers and models to do the shoot. If I am getting ready for a show, there’s a lot of prep work and publicity—sending out postcards and invites, doing media interviews, throwing parties. After a show there is always a lot of follow up—sending out look books and contacting new stores. If I’m lucky, maybe 25 or 30 percent of my time on each collection is spent designing at my favorite place, my drafting table.
SD: If you knew then (before you started your business) what you know now, what would you do differently?
Jeanne: I guess I would have made sure that I had more connections in the fashion industry before I’d started. The production side of the business has been a tough nut to crack… you have to find the best suppliers and production facilities through trial and error, and through introductions from other people in the business. If I’d worked for another fashion company before starting my own, I’m sure it would have been easier to get started because I would have known where to go for certain things from the outset.
SD: In your opinion what is the best and worst current fashion trend?
Jeanne: I would have to say that the best trend right now is eco- fashion. I think it’s really important for consumer to know where the fibers in their clothes are coming from—and even more importantly, to be aware of the impact of buying cheap garments that get thrown away when they fall apart after a few wearings. The fashion industry has a long way to go toward being truly eco-friendly, but the fact that people are even talking about the environmental impact of the industry is great. Hopefully that discussion will push the industry to make even bigger, more effective changes in the future.
The worst trends are the ones that people follow just to show that they’re aware of what’s going on in fashion at a given moment. I don’t care how trendy something is—fundamentally, getting dressed is about making your body look good. So a trend that’s a good move for one person might not be good for another.
SD: What do you think the hardest aspect of your industry is?
It is really an established industry. You can’t just pick up the phone and get things done the way you can in software, which is the industry I was in before starting the line. You need connections. Dealing with factories is hard. They don’t always answer their phones and finding the right resources can be difficult for new designers. It’s very opaque coming from the outside.
SD: Do you have any events you are getting ready for in the near future?
Jeanne: I will be showing my Spring 2008 collection at San Francisco Fashion Week on August 25th. I’m also doing my first TV spot! I’ll be participating in a panel discussing San Francisco style on View From the Bay (a live TV show on San Francisco’s ABC affiliate) on August 20.
SD: If there was one person on Smashing Darling you were curious about questioning…who would it be and what would you ask them?
Jeanne: I’m really impressed with Krelwear’s client list. I would love to ask Karelle Levy how she went about getting celebrity clients.
