FRESH FACES IN FASHION NY | DESIGNER BIOS

Cloak & Dagger

CLOAK & DAGGER
At a young age, designer Brookelynn Starnes fell in love with New York City when her father would take her each birthday to marvel at the lights of the city and windows of Saks Fifth Avenue during the holidays. Brookelynn moved to New York in 1999 to study design at Pratt Institute. During her last two years at Pratt she began working as a stylist assistant and high-end tailor with the worlds leading fashion houses (Prada, Valentino) and celebrities (Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal). In 2003, Brookelynn moved to Europe to study style, language and culture. Upon returning to New York, Brookelynn started Cloak & Dagger. In just two seasons she landed high profile accounts such as Barney’s and Fred Segal.

DUSKIN
Duskin, the brainchild of designer Stephanie Tran, made its debut for Spring 2009. Barely a year old, Duskin has already appeared in Elle, InStyle and style.com. In the middle of a retail slump, Duskin has defied the odds by gaining traction in ahead-of-the-curve stores like Steven Alan in New York and Confederacy in Los Angeles. The runaway success of the line would be surprising if one weren’t familiar with Tran’s pedigree. With stints in retail, editorial and design prior to starting her own collection, Tran has a comprehensive approach to building her company’s brand identity and aesthetic that sets her apart from the pack. Her innate style of offhand chic was honed in the halls of Vogue Magazine, American Eagle Outfitters and Forever 21 and it’s that unique blend of high and low, fantasy and practicality, flash and function that gives shape to the beauty of Duskin. Stephanie Tran and Duskin are based in New York.

LINUS
From the time she was a child spending time in her mother's Los Angeles clothing store, Stella Lee's passion for creating easy, beautiful fashion has filled her life. Stella began her career in 1996 as a designer for BCBG. There, working directly for both Azria brothers, she designed a variety of lines and products touching on all facets of women's ware - sweaters, dresses, tees and knits. When she met her Franco/American husband David-Michel in 2000, he became her partner and collaborator in realizing her dream of starting her own women's line. After moving to Paris with David-Michel, Stella traveled around the world and designed freelance collections for French labels sold at Printemps, Galeries Lafayette and throughout Europe. Now based in New York City, Stella brings her love of life and great fashion to creating and designing LINUS, now in its third season.

MIN YOUNG LEE
As a child, Min studied classical piano but what she loved most was the cashmere shift dress, white panty hose and black patent shoes that she wore for her piano recitals. At age 14, Min moved to the US from Korea to attend school and in 1995, enrolled in Parsons School of Design. However, Min left Parsons early to start her own business; a women’s clothing line called M Collection. Within 3 years, she had established a $2 million annual business, selling to the top specialty stores, including Barneys, Scoop, Intermix, and Fred Segal. From 2000-2003, Min owned her own boutique in Nolita where she managed and designed the collection Min Lee. After closing her boutique in 2003, Min held the position of Director of Design for Calypso, designing the high-end collection “Christiane Celle” and after 3 years, she was ready to re-launch her own collection, Min Young Lee.

Min Young Lee is a beautiful collection of separates for women. Clothes that look and feel amazing on the body. Many pieces have hand-sewn embroidery and hand crochet details. Colors are soft, yet strong and the quality is high. Min is inspired by all the incredible women she has met: of all ages, who work, vacation, party, have children, and look for practical clothes that travel well, yet exude sensuality and innate style. The Min Young Lee collection launched for Spring/Summer 2008.

VICENTE VILLARIN
VICENTE VILLARIN is the realization of a lifetime aspiration of Joanne Cordero Reyes, an experienced entrepreneur and creative fashion designer. Growing up Joanne was influenced by her family's women's boutique. By age nine, she knew how to hand embroider and hand sew garments, and by age eleven began designing for the boutique's custom made clients. Joanne moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design in order to pursue a career in fashion. She interned for top New York design houses such as Vivienne Tam, Jill Stuart, House of Diehl, and Maggie Norris Couture.

In 2002, Joanne moved to Paris to complete her third year and design for the Fall 2003 haute couture collection of Ji Haye Couture. At the completion of her studies, Joanne became a freelance designer for Reem Acra's Spring 2005 women's eveningwear collection. From 2004 to 2006, Joanne joined J. Mendel as Designer for the evening and luxury ready-to-wear collections. Under the J. Mendel label, Joanne was an integral part of the design team that created dresses for many celebrities including Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez, Demi Moore, Rhianna, Kyra Sedgwick and Teri Hatcher. In 2007, Joanne moved to Los Angeles to design Monique Lhuillier's Fall 2007 luxury ready to wear collection. By launching VICENTE VILLARIN, Joanne created a vehicle to present fashion as an art form. The VICENTE VILLARIN client is an independent woman who is sophisticated but edgy, classic yet modern. She is an individual motivated by life: loves to work, travel, enjoys dinner parties and events, and is active in her community.

YEOJIN BAE
Just over two years ago, Korean born, Melbourne Based Designer Yeojin Bae unveiled her self-titled label and her capsule collection of dresses to an enviable list of stockists worldwide. Yeojin Bae designs for herself and the modern women, who like her, appreciate simplicity with sophistication. Yeojin works with modern clean lines with a feminine point of view to create effortlessly cool collections.

In March 2007, Yeojin Bae was awarded the Tiffany and Co Young Designer of the Year Award in Australia. This was followed by collaboration with Target on an exclusive line of dresses as part of the Designers for Target collection launched Australia wide. In 2008 the UK Sunday Times featured Yeojin Bae as the only Australian among an international list of boutique designer brands.

S2VS
Sean William Salim was born in 1983 in Jakarta, raised in Singapore, and had lived in many U.S cities prior to settling down in New York. S2VS was formed in May of 2007 in New York following Sean’s graduation from Parsons where he had gained experience working for designers like Isaac Mizrahi and Tim Hamilton. The brand launched with its SS08 collection and through the past 5 seasons, S2VS has made allies with retailers, press and customers around the world. Salim had envisioned a brand that was well designed, and extremely well priced. He felt that most good designs were inaccessible due to affordability and distribution.S2VS is a contemporary brand that embodies the essence of today’s youth culture, which is a reflection of the past but a curiosity of the future that is to come. We avoid trends altogether, because the definition of trend is that it does not last, and that it wasn’t for everybody. Instead, we mix vintage details with futuristic and utilitarian ideas that come together to create looks that is not only current, but timeless.

Wendy Nichol

DIEPPA RESTREPO
After living on and off in New York for 11 years, Andrea Vargas Dieppa and fellow Colombian Elisa Restrepo were united by mutual friends. After graduating from NYU with a B.F.A. in theatre and living in Paris for a very inspiring year, Elisa studied Fashion at Parsons School of Design. Meanwhile, Andrea graduated SVA with a B.F.A. in Graphic Design, and began freelance work as Art Director in Fashion Advertising for companies such as Lloyd & Co., among others. Both Elisa and Andrea have interacted with the fashion industry for several years, working for companies such as Kooba, Vanessa Bruno, Generra, and opening international stores for American Apparel. Their passion for creating beautiful things drove them to launch Dieppa Restrepo in May of 2008.

Inspired by classic gentleman's style, Dieppa Restrepo is a sophisticated unisex collection of shoes for the modern customer. Blurring the division between the sexes, the collection is refined, androgynous and elegant. The shoe is the quintessential grown up sneaker: beautiful and simple enough for the chic and fashion-minded, yet comfortable and durable enough for their contemporary urban lifestyle. The shoe is a walking dichotomy, both non-intrusive and timeless, yet modern and undeniably present.

SAMMA
SAMMA is a sensibility of form. SAMMA is the Swedish word for same, wherein the repetition of letterforms emphasizes the repetition of basic shapes that make up the designs. An intuitive handling of materials informs an aesthetic that is simple, though idiosyncratic.

Hanna Sandin is an artist residing in New York and the sole proprietor of the jewelry line SAMMA. She graduated with a BFA from RISD in 2003, and has since worked within the arts in various capacities. SAMMA is developed out of a material sensibility honed by Hannah’s skills as a sculptor. Hanna debuted the jewelry line in 2009. She also recently finished a residency at the LMCC Workspace program in lower Manhattan. This June, Hanna had her second solo exhibition entitled: “How many are several? How many are few? How big is big?” at the Fake Estate. Hannah has also participated in numerous group shows, most recently a group show curated by Michael Nevin and Julia Dippelhoffer, of Journal, at Galerie Susan Tarasieve in Paris.

WENDY NICHOL
Wendy Nichol is a jewelry and handbag designer living in Brooklyn, New York. Her line debuted at Bird in Spring, 2007. Wendy's bags and jewelry are created by hand at her Crosby Street studio in New York City. The bags are made from local materials, and are hand cut, hand sewn, and hand painted with organic paints made in Red Hook, Brooklyn. You can buy Wendy's jewelry and bags at No. 6 Store, Bergdorf Goodman, Oak, Steven Alan, Bird and coming soon to Barney's Coop.