American Fashion Podcast

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Episode 181: Fashion Journalism, Feminism, and Mickey Boardman Jun 21, 2018

Show notes

Guests Stephan Rabimov, Julie Zerbo, and Mickey Boardman discuss the current state of fashion journalism. Charles Beckwith asks if it can even exist at major publications. The conversation turns to movements like #meetoo and its impact on the fashion industry and culture.

Julie Zerbo is the founder and editor of The Fashion Law. Mickey Boardman is the Editorial Director at Paper Magazine. Stephan Rabimov is the Director of Fashion Journalism and the Social Media Center at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Fashion Journalism Episode Links:

Episode 180: 180 – Director of The Universal Studios Costume Department, Poppy Cannon-Reese Jun 14, 2018

Show notes

Discussing the logistics of managing one of the world’s largest costume rental houses with the Director of the Universal Studios Costume Department, Poppy Cannon-Reese.

Poppy is a former costume designer who stepped into the role a few years ago and brought new organization and technology solutions to the massive Universal Studios working archive.

Poppy Cannon-Reese https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134287/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/poppy-cannon-reese-7126aa73/
http://universalstudioslot.com/costume

This is Part 11 of our Los Angeles mini-series.

Episode 179: 179 – Accessorized in L.A. – Pocket Square Clothing Jun 12, 2018

Show notes

Los Angeles Magazine called Pocket Square Clothing “the king of the Made In L.A. accessories scene.” The brand was started in 2011 by two UCLA graduates who set out to just make interesting things. Andrew Cheung and Rodolfo Ramirez are the founders, and they speak about clothing the “gentleman of today” in this interview from the Downtown Los Angeles Fashion District near their new flagship store.

“I studied architecture formally, he studied business and film, and our mutual interest in fashion just came through a GQ subscription and being like, ‘one day we’d like to dress that way.’ … I don’t think the fashion scene in Los Angeles is as big as we would like for it to become, so part of our mission for our brand has been bringing exposure for all the creatives in Los Angeles who are in the menswear industry, and the flavor and identity and stylistic qualities that they add to that industry.” – Rodolfo Ramirez, Pocket Square Clothing Co-Founder

https://www.pocketsquareclothing.com/

Episode 178: 178 – Sara Angelucci Makes Jewelry and Fashion For The Art Jun 08, 2018

Show notes

Sara Angelucci is the woman behind Armature, a Los Angeles-based clothing and jewelry brand. She makes and sells zeitgeist-inspired pieces both ready to wear and unique in the Venice area near the beach. Despite having her work dangling from the ears and necks of some of the most beautiful people in Hollywood, the designer is surprisingly low key in this revealing interview about her approach to her sometimes strikingly original work. THe interview also covers Sara’s personal take on having her work copied by others and the nature of manufacturing artisan jewelry in Los Angeles.

“Right now I feel like the best way to make the most out of my margins is to sell it myself online.” – Sara Angelucci

References:

Episode 177: 177 – Fish Leather In Virtual Reality May 29, 2018

Show notes

“Los Angeles is basically one of the largest cities that all of America does garment production in, so we have a lot of vendors that have buttons, trims, whatever. So, technically if you have a wholesale license and you Google deep enough you can find it.” – Christine Ko

This interview with Los Angeles-based Venia Collection designers Christine Ko and Keeter Ly involves a lot of tech talk. The sustainability-focused brand, which sells to fashion-forward knowledge workers around the world, spends a lot of energy on R&D. They sourced fish leather from Canada, hang out with the Silicon Valley crowd, and are part of the group developing the Neue VR marketplace and its proposed shoppable immersive online experiences. A fascinating conversation with two designers who aren’t afraid to try new things.

Episode 176: 176 – Cucculelli Shaheen May 17, 2018

Show notes

Husband and wife design team Anthony Cucculelli and Anna Rose Shaheen met while working for Diane von Furstenberg, and then moved to Italy together, where they worked for major houses such as Emilio Pucci and Roberto Cavalli. They now have their own custom demi-couture clothing line, Cucculelli Shaheen, which employs advanced fitting technologies.

Guest co-host Gretchen Harnick (Parsons) joins for this interview which delves into the differences between working with large American and Italian houses and doing business independently in New York.

“In Italy, if you dream it you can do it, and there is a team to make it happen. Whereas, I think sometimes the challenge in New York is you can dream it but you have to figure out how to make it happen. But it goes both ways because if you can figure out how to make it happen you can do it. Whereas, I think in Italy it’s not so easy for young designers to get off the ground, up and running.” – Anna Rose Shaheen

Cucculelli Shaheen is carried in Bergdorf Goodman and on Moda Operandi.

“Each dress has its own palette. That’s the amazing thing. Instead of doing our palette for the collection, we really think about what’s the palette for each piece, and how does each piece sit next to each other.” – Anthony Cucculelli

https://www.cu-sh.com/

Episode 175: 175 – Fashion Manufacturers United In Los Angeles May 17, 2018

Show notes

“It’s a very exciting time in fashion right now. It’s exciting because anyone that has a passion to start a clothing line– ten years or so ago you would have to go overseas, you would have to get big production, you would have to get into all the big box retailers, if you couldn’t get into them you weren’t selling– now with the advent of the Internet and we can sell online, there are so many brands that are strictly online. So, you could literally draw a sketch of an idea you have, or as long as you could convey your message to a production house in America, anything could be done. The production that we can make in America is amazing, and we’re all previewed to a free brand name that no one knows about, it’s called Made In USA. Made In USA is a great brand name. It’s the same if you and I go buy a suit and it’s Made In Italy. We’re like, ‘oh, it’s great quality.’ That quality still exists in America, so if people want to get into the business, just put your heart into it. Don’t spend a dollar to save ten cents. Do your development– do everything– correctly. Launch it with a small collection, and as long as you are willing to put your efforts into it, people are willing to buy it. Made In America is having a huge comeback. We have a lot of clients who are growing.” – Adam Khoda

Adam Khoda is a long-time garment manufacturer, president of The Elite Fashion Group and founder of veterans-support brand Never Forgotten Apparel. He fled Iran with his family at age 11 and came to the USA when he was still fairly young. He is very proud to be an American citizen and cares a great deal about Made In USA. Adam coordinates factories for both overseas and Made In USA production, but as you’ll hear in this interview he has a definite preference between those two options.

This interview is part of a Los Angeles Fashion mini-series.

Links:

Episode 174: 174 – Los Angeles Fashion, Fighting In Style May 10, 2018

Show notes

Continuing our Los Angeles fashion adventure, Charles speaks with two men who are changing how boxers and MMA fighters dress for work.

Will Hoover is a veteran designer who knows downtown L.A. fashion like few others. He is the founder and designer at Paul Dunne, a co-founder with J.R. at I.G.M.O.B. Clothing, and teaches at Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM). Hoover discusses what L.A. fashion is all about, the impact of runaway real estate development in the Los Angeles fashion district and surrounding areas, and how fashion students are learning their trade on the West Coast.

The FIDM campus is downtown, and in the face of this real estate pressure, they are still expanding. FIDM has been providing associates degrees for some time but is now introducing bachelors degree programs and adding a menswear track as the school expands.

Also in the studio, J.R., whose I.G.M.O.B. label stands for I Got My Own Back. The brand that started as a personal trainer’s basic marketing approach now produces high-end high-performance clothing for the world’s top MMA fighters. J.R. entered fashion sideways after finding himself drawing looks in his real estate office. A very interesting story.

https://www.instagram.com/igotmyownback_fighter/

https://www.instagram.com/pauldunnestyle/

http://www.igotmyownback.com/

http://fidm.edu/

Episode 173: 173 – Johnny Was Boho Chic May 04, 2018

Show notes

They’re riding high with the boho chic trend, but that look was in the Bob Marley song-inspired Johnny Was brand’s main playbook for a long time before it was popping up everywhere. As executive vice president, Catherine Nation says, “We’ve been doing this for 30 years, these signature embroideries, and it’s fantastic that we’re in-trend right now. That’s very helpful, but this is just what we do, what we’ve always done: signature prints and embroideries.”

In this interview, Catherine Nation and CEO Rob Trauber discuss the classic California brand’s legacy and future, and how they manage e-commerce, their own stores, and selling wholesale for the brand. Johnny Was is opening a lot of stores, uses interesting marketing strategies, and is using big data to keep up with their customers, so Trauber and Nation have a lot of insights in this discussion about how to best approach those things. Johnny Was has recently opened a New York City store on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan.

https://www.johnnywas.com/

Episode 172: 172 – Lykke Wullf Designer Jemma Swatek May 03, 2018

Show notes

Continuing our look at the Los Angeles fashion scene, in this interview Charles speaks with designer Jemma Swatek, whose popular Lykke Wullf brand is all about the Scandinavian cowgirl.

“I moved here and I tried to get a design job, and I interviewed with some really big companies, and I would be like ‘So where’s your knitting department? Where are your machines? Where are your swatches?’ And they were all like, “Oh, we don’t do that. You just go in the swatch closet and you pick something out and you decide on a yarn and you’re basically making tech packs all day for China. And it’s not like I was completely naive, but I was like ‘Woah, this is like… not what I want to do at all.’ You know, because I’m a creative person, and sitting around doing tech packs, I have nothing against the people who do them, but that’s not really designing to me. Ultimately, that’s why I started my own brand.” – Jemma Swatek, Lykke Wullf

https://lykkewullf.myshopify.com/

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“Right now I feel like the best way to make the most out of my margins is to sell it myself online.” – Sara Angelucci

“Each dress has its own palette. That’s the amazing thing. Instead of doing our palette for the collection, we really think about what’s the palette for each piece, and how does each piece sit next to each other.” – Anthony Cucculelli

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