Charleston Fashion Week, Day One

Celebrity Guest Judge, K.Cooper Ray of Socialprimer.com giving tips on being a ‘classicist’ & on his bow tie line for Brooks Brothers

Charleston Fashion Week (CFW) is no small ordeal. It isn’t your average fashion show either. Let me tell ya, CFW is the real deal! Celebrities, well known designers, emerging talents, 2 tents that rival the old tents of Bryant Park, and truly well dressed men & women!

The first day I attended CFW I had the pleasure of interviewing K. Cooper Ray of Social Primer, 4 emerging designers, famous swimwear designer Marysia Reeves of MARYSIA, and Troubadour designer Lindsey Carter. A FABULOUS experience!

HERE’S THE RUNDOWN OF WEDNESDAY AT CFW…

Marysia Reeves was first & foremost absolutely stunning and sophisticated. She was actually the 2009 Emerging Designer Winner of CFW, shows the power of this Southern Fashion Week. MARYSIA swimwear & beachwear are now being sold around the world at places like Barneys, Anthropologie, and even Urban Outfitters. Her swimwear recently landed the cover of Shape magazine AND in a spread in Sports Illustrated, pretty impressive. Upon me asking her what the future of swimwear looked like, she said she would continue creating her high-waisted bathing suit, a bestseller. Definitely made me happy as that is my faaaavorite style.

3 of the CFW Emerging Designers that compete with their fellow designers for a chance to win the title of The Emerging Designer of CFW! From left to right: Mary Labberton, Cody Sai Adler-McAllister, & Angelika Krishna.

Lindsey Carter of Troubadour was another emerging designer at the 2009 CFW. Her fashion background runs the gauntlet from working at J.Crew & Madewell to designing a Charleston based golf line. But her inspiration is definitely drawn from her time at Madewell (a J.Crew owned store that was originally created to be a worker’s retailer with denim). Her Fall 2011 RTW ‘tomboy cool’ collection (see below) is being sold at famed retailers around the world like Mark Shale in Chicago.

Emerging Designer Angelika Krishna creates sustainably made feminine pieces inspired by her Indian heritage. I asked her what spurred her collection to become organic, she told me after working in manufacturing & seeing the horrible conditions in the factories overseas she couldn’t bare to create a collection any other way than but sustainably and fair trade.

Mary Labberton moved to Charleston from Atlanta and told the press that the city is making her designs more preppy (which I could definitely see after spending a few days in Charleston). Mary loves vintage and wanted to create a collection based on a ‘debutante biker chick’, with 1930’s undertones.

Stephanie Mejia is Lady Gaga gone Southern. She is inspired by pop culture and likes to tell a story through her collections-this collection’s story being rocker grunge dirty girl like a Courtney Love. She hired a woman out of Raleigh to knit the pieces in her designs to create unexpected texture.

Cody Sai Adler-McAllister WON the Emerging Designer Competition for Wednesday night! He is now set to compete against the other finalists from the other nights…exciting! He currently works for a PR firm in NYC but has always been an artist & more recently got into design. His designs are clean and sophisticated.

Fabulous finale of Cody Sai Adler-McAllister

Troubadour was the Featured Designer for the Wednesday night festivities. I enjoyed her ‘tomboy cool’ collection and look forward to seeing more from the Southern designer!