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Yves Saint Laurent

trish

Darling Designer Profile: Katie Burley, Milliner

by trish on January 13, 2009

Before opening a Darling boutique on Smashing Darling, couture milliner Katie Burley followed her heart and hands to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD to study Fibers and Wearable Sculpture.  After many interesting adventures, from working in a one room “sweat shop” in NYC, to making one of a kind hats for the runway, she now calls San Francisco home. Each hat is hand-blocked and hand-trimmed by her, with selected materials that are few-of-a-kind or vintage, making each piece couture. She is inspired by pieces of discarded history, hunting in alley ways and digging through thrift shops for abandoned souls.

Get to know her better below, and p.s. images taken by Katie, hats modeled by Katie…fabulous, darling!

Darlings: How did you get into Millinery?
Katie: After switching my major just about every semester in Art school, I took a non credit course in millinery (from the now famous Jennifer Behr, http://jenniferbehr.com/). I was in love within the first five minutes! Finally I had found something that combined every aspect of art that I loved, line gesture, color, composition and sculpture. I settled into the Fibers department where I explored wearable sculpture and my love of all things cranial.

Darlings: Where do you turn for inspiration?
Katie: I love digging through thrift shops! When I don’t know what direction to go in, I’ll go to my favorite thrift and dig for hours. My inspiration definitely comes from vintage lines, whether it’s a belt buckle or a tattered piece of old lace.

Darlings: What does your average day entail?
Katie: As hard as I’m working towards being my boyfriends sugar momma with my hat sales, I do have another job. I’m a florist by day, mad hatter by night. I wake up early every morning and go to the San Francisco Flower Market. I am definitely enchanted with the tiny universe that is in each flower.

Darlings: What surprises you the most about having your own line?
Katie: Evolution. I constantly look at my older designs and just when I think what could I possible do next, I see exactly what has to happen. Once I work through a season of styles, that evolution seems to naturally come out in the next.

Darlings: Have you had other careers along the way?
Katie:Besides being a florist, I was an art teacher for a while. I was really inspired by children and their uninhibited imaginations. I sometimes felt I was learning more from them!

Darlings: Who is your customer? How do you market yourself?
Katie: Someone who appreciates attention to detail and the timeless beauty of a well crafted, handmade piece of art. Wearing my hats has been my best advertising. I’ve sold many right off my head!

Darlings: Describe your personal style.
Katie: I always top my outfits with a hat! A hat is the perfect exclamation point!

Darlings: What is the one item in your wardrobe you can’t live without?
Katie: My shoe rack! Without it, where would I possible store my Imelda Marcos sized shoe collection?

Darlings: If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?
Katie: Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I’ve been to a lot of different countries, but to be in the midst of something so ancient and mysterious really excites me.

Darlings: Do you have any events that you are getting ready for in the near future?
Katie: I’m always involved with local artists’ events in the city, from indie fashion shows to living room dance parties! The next event that I’m excited to be a part of is a neighborhood gallery party, if you’ve painted, photographed, stitched, built it or mixed it…you’re in it!

Darlings: Tell us about something you LOVE that you want others to know about.
Katie: If you are in San Francisco, RUN don’t walk to the Yves Saint Laurent show at the DeYoung. It is  the only US showing and you will absolutely melt.

Darlings: Is there anyone in the Smashing Darling community you have a question or comment for?
Katie: ALL of you are SMASHING darling! I’m very flattered to be a part of this community.

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trish

A great read from NY Times about internet affecting fashion

by trish on September 5, 2008

This article from the NY Times was brought to my attention and I thought is was well worth blogging about today. The Title Wanted: Genius Designer. How very appropriate given the fact that the tents in New York for fashion week are buzzing already. The article touches on some very important changes in the fashion industry. There are lots of reasons the fashion industry has changed over the years. This latest reason, the internet has finally caught the fashion industry. This is very important to me and other smaller indie/emerging design houses because we actually get to have a presence. Here are a couple of excerpts from the article:

Yet, contradictory as this may seem, the notion of a Next Big Thing in fashion may itself be culturally discordant. As in film, music and other arts, consumers have wearied of big names and labels. Except on TV, they are bored with diktats, with taste legislated by self-appointed “experts” and with camphor-scented archaisms like “stars.”

This is my favorite paragraph and happens to be that last in the article:

“Very few people have this ability to be the great designers and also generate the necessary buzz and excitement,” Ms. Gilhart of Barneys said. “It’s a trap.” So formulated around star-creation right now, she added, that the business may actually be “closing out a lot of opportunities for people who are original and good and who actually have something to say.”

The article also talks about Yves Saint Laurent’s passing and from an industry point of view what may have gone with him. He stood and still stands as a cultural icon for the industry. The fashion industry that he belonged to was artful and graceful. Fashion meant something. I really hope that part isn’t gone forever. It would mean all my training and hard work for what I really know would have been for nothing. I am hopeful that pendulum will swing back as more indie/emerging designers open up their own smaller, intimate design houses we will see some of the old fashion industry return. The part of the industry where design is really design and branding isn’t the deciding force.

I think it would really be interesting for the NY Times to follow up the article from that point of view of the smaller indie/emerging designer. Find out from our point of view what it means to us and how we see the industry in the future.

I would love to hear any and all comments because I think this is a really broad topic and just the beginning of changes. Tell me who you are, customer, designer, editor, blogger,stylist… Where do you think the internet will take the fashion industry?

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