Emerging Trends Runway Show: Meet the Designers

Hi Ladies,

I recently attended the 7th Annual Emerging Trends Runway Show during Boston Fashion Week. I got to attend the show as press. One of the perks was getting the opportunity to meet with the designers the day before and interview them. I also got to preview their collections.

Below are the designers that I met with and little bit of info about each.

MAJ by Jamie Johnson

• Jamie is from Anchorage, Alaska.
• She is completely self taught and started sewing at age 12.
• MAJ was created in 2007 and was her initials backwards. 
• Coincidentally, MAJ also means "hip" in the dictionary.
• Her collection consists of even gowns and cocktail gowns.
• The colors in her collection were inspired by the Alaskan sunrises.
• She uses a lot of leather in her last collection.
• Her favorite dress in her collection is the light pink dress with white leather.
• Emerging Trends is her first fashion show outside of Alaska but her 4th show in total.
• She had 30 pieces in her spring collection.
• One fashion show that she was in was to raise money for Awake, which is a foundation to help abuse women and children.
• Jamie's goal for the show is to sell her collection to fashion buyers and boutiques.

Brigid Horlander

• Brigid is from Georgia and recently graduated from LSU with a degree in Apparel Design.
• She grew up around bridal gowns as her mom was a seamstress/tailor.
• Her collection consists of ready to wear designs with southern charm and simplistic silhouettes.
• Most of the fabrics are made from cotton or jersey.
• Her favorite item in her collection is her Jack Daniel's dress which was a screen print of the Jack Daniels logo.
• Brigid's inspirations come from designers like Kate Spade, Chanel, and Lilly Pulitzer.
• Her most challenging part of designing is the time it takes to create the designs.
• Her favorite part is the create aspect and seeing the finished result of her designs.
• Emerging Trends will be her very first fashion show.
• Her short term goal is to pickup wholesale and small boutiques.
• Brigid's long term goal is to have her own store in Georgia.
• She is currently working on a Fall 2015 Collegiate style collection.

Jungsu "J" Choi

• J is from South Korea and has been designing for three months.
• He graduated from Parsons-The New School for Design.
• Emerging Trends is his first fashion show.
• J's collection consists of menswear inspired by Sci-Fi shows and movies like Battleship, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek.
• One designer that has inspired him is Raf Simons,
• He says that the hardest part of designing is brainstorming and creating a concept.
• His favorite part is the Graphic Design element. He focused on this in school and uses it alot to create his designs.
• His short term business goal is to start his brand and get his name out into the industry.

This is my favorite piece from his collection. I love the lines and detail of this jacket. I told him he should make one for women!

Joyce Penas Pilarsky

• Joyce is from the Philippines and is not only a designer, but an English teacher and model as well.
• She used to be a flight stewardess and traveled the world.
• In September, she was in a show during New York Fashion Week.
• Joyce designs wedding dresses, gowns, evening dresses, and more.
• She recently expanded to plus size dresses.
• Her collection is full of color and intricate beaded detail that was all stitched by hand.
• Joyce used light material that is sheer and gives the illusion that you are wearing nothing.
• She wants women to feel beautiful, fabulous, and like a star of the evening.
• She strong believes in individuality and expression of oneself. 
• Her designs are currently sold in her store in Manila and also online.
• They are also sold online in Abu Dhabi.
• She hopes to have a store in the U.S. one day.

All of her gowns are stitched by hand.

Aussi Bella by Kelly Gehman

• Kelly is a self taught handbag designer from Pennsylvania.
• She is a but always loved design and does it on the side.
• She sketches and designs the purses and they are manufactured in New York.
• Kelly gets inspiration from fashion magazines, photographs, clothing and accessories, and everyday on the street.
• She has a Fall and Spring collection of handbags.
• All of the bags are limited edition.
• Her bags are named after different cities that inspired that design.
• The purses are made of real leather, suede, vegan leather, wool, and silk.
• Her short term goals are to sell to small boutiques and to gain exposure. 
• She also wants to work for a few years and get a solid website created.
• Kelly's long term goal is to have her own boutique.

The polka dot clutch and gray and black clutch is named Dallas. The brown and white suede work tote is named Boston. Proceeds from the sale of the bag go to the Boston Strong Foundation.

The plaid clutch and teal clutch is named London.

This is my favorite bag in her collection.

Taylor Lane Designs

• Taylor is a self taught designer from Fort Worth, Texas.
• She has been pattern drafting for 12 years.
• Her collection consists of corsets, corset belts, and clothing with built in corsets.
• Taylor went to culinary school and bar tended which led her to fashion design.
• She got the inspiration from working as a waitress and having to wear uncomfortable corsets. 
• Taylor decided take apart her work corset and recreate it. Shortly after that, her co-workers asked her to do the same for them.
• All of the embroidery on Taylor's corsets are hand made.
• The corsets come in different sizes and are made of leather, lace, and wool fabrics.
• Emerging Trends is her first fashion show.
• She currently has her designs being sold in Texas and Colorado.
• When selling to boutiques, she sits down with them and lets them designs the corsets that will be sold in their stores including shapes, colors, fabrics, etc.

Open Style Lab at M.I.T.

taken from google images

• Open Style Lab is a summer educational program at M.I.T. that runs for 12 weeks.
• Design students work with engineering students, and occupational therapists to design clothing solutions for people with disabilities.
• Disabilities such as people bound to wheelchairs, amputees, or people with arthritis sometimes have difficulty with everyday things such as buttoning a shirt or putting on a jacket.
• The Open Style Lab constructions clothing items to help make these things easier.
• Grace and Cavita , then Open Style Lab representatives have created a raincoat with lap flap for a man in a wheelchair to help preventing rain from soaking his lap. 
• They also created snap pants that fuse to magnets to make it easier for a man in the a wheelchair to use the bathroom. The pants looked like normal dress pants.
• The Open Style Lab has been featured in the Boston Globe and is sponsored by  Eileen Fisher and five M.I.T. graduates.
• They plan to do a kickstart in November and have a goal of commercializing and selling their designs on a website.

 I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to interview all the designers before the show. It was really cool to hear their start up stories and to preview and hear about their collections.

Which designer interests you the most? Post your comments below!

-Tanya xoxo