Who’s Next?

by Anna Cooperberg Gonzalez

ARTS / style

Who’s Next?

emerging designers strive to make their names known

By Anna Cooperberg Gonzalez

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Yves Saint Laurent did not become a household name overnight. Nor did Marc Jacobs shoot to the top of the fashion world without time and effort.

Amidst the big-name glamour in the fashion industry and consumers’ penchant for purchasing clothing from established designer labels, what’s left for designers who have yet to make their mark?

It’s difficult to get noticed in the fashion industry. When New York’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week rolls around twice a year—this week and next September—new designers hope to be selected to show their collection at the tents in Bryant Park. Placement in the official Fashion Week schedule gives designers the amazing chance to become the next new “it” brand, bringing their labels one step closer to becoming major players in fashion.

But not all designers are fortunate enough to show during Fashion Week, which has a notoriously critical selection process. The Subdivision Boutique Presents: Fashion Week, a show with a program that declares, “Not every fierce fashion show will be in Bryant Park this February,” presented a unique opportunity for 10 of New York’s up-and-coming designers to show off their wares at a chic showing in Queens. After a combined runway show, a trunk show gave viewers the opportunity to purchase clothing from each designer’s current line.

How can small, not-yet-established designers possibly get noticed amidst top fashion houses? At the Subdivision show, I interview Sumie Tachibana, who designs a self-named line of delicate menswear-inspired pieces with a touch of edge. She cites the difficulty of “finding connections in the industry and getting noticed” as major obstacles for emerging designers. The Subdivision show was just one of many staged by small designers who were not selected to show in Fashion Week. Mounting a show, even independently of Fashion Week, can be a smart career move: a small start can prove beneficial in the fashion business, where news travels quickly after a hot new designer is spotted. A degree from a prestigious design university can also help a designer get noticed by the upper echelons of the style world.

Like many top-name designers, the majority of those that I speak with at the Subdivision show attended design school. Sarah Yu of Yu Clothing, a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, says her education greatly expanded her design knowledge and set her on the right career path. “I started small,” she explains, “making clothing out of my apartment. Then I moved on to boutiques, and eventually presenting at shows.” Yu says that finding a business partner was a key challenge to her brand: “I want to focus on design, my passion, so it is necessary to find someone to take care of the business side of things.” Designer Moriah Carlson, a graduate of Wellesley College who codesigns the playful and artsy line Feral Childe with fellow alum Alice Wu, agrees. “With the economy right now, everybody’s freaking out. But it is still important to trust yourself and trust that you and your designs will get through it,” she says.

Times may be rough, but emerging designers mustn’t lose hope. Just look at Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel—although her first shop went out of business, she persisted, and her name is now iconic. Young designers can look to Chanel’s story for inspiration, as an example that the dream of making it big in the fashion industry can be realized—even without Bryant Park.

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19 February 2009
vol. 6, issue 4

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