Designer Daily: 10A Suspender Trousers Company

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

The name 10A Suspender Trousers Company is quite literal, like antiquated tailoring shops of eras past. What started as a small tailor workshop called AAAAAAAAAA™ between Daria Dazzan and Matteo Cibic, making 10 one-of-a-kind suspender trousers per month, two years later has become a full collection in a range of fabrics and sizes under the full name. With Daria’s experience under Veronique Branquinho and Hussein Chalayan, and Matteo’s expertise in product and art design, the men’s brand is concisely crisp and extremely well made.

Indie Designers: This Sourcing Book Will Save Your Life

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

I’ve discovered The Sourcer’s Stone; a rock to cling to when every textile mill I call tells me “3,000 yard minimun! 1,000 yard per color!” A guiding light when I’m googling and cold calling mills about a specific fabric. My support system when it feels like there’s hardly anybody left in NYC that will sew a garment for a reasonable price! Enter The Designer’s Guide, which lists only low-minimum fabric resources, and The Sourcer’s Guide, which additionally gives precious information about contractors, pattern makers, cutters, and trim resources. And you can search by fabric in great detail. Let me explain.

Designer Daily: AND/OR

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

If you’re looking for a slouchy silk jumpsuit and/or a lace crop top and/or a cheeky polka dot dress and/or a sparkling badass LBD, you should start looking into and/or. A collective of friends in London decided to make clothing for cool and/or fashionable girls (and/or boys) like themselves. We found them on Lookk, and you can look at their lookbook here. 

LOOKK for the Next Big Designer with Manish Arora, Susie Bubble & Sam Lim

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

We at FashionIndie are ever searching for the fountain of youthful designers, and we’ve just tapped a deep resource. Where is it you ask? Lookk. No really, Lookk. It’s a site where emerging designers can show their lookbook and connect with their customer fan base as they go through the production and retail process. Right now there’s a competition going on called 1Hundred Designers, where the pool gets narrowed down to 100, then are judged by a panel helmed byManish Arora and Susie Bubble. Our very own EIC Samantha Lim is on the digital panel, so you know we’ll be judging all up in here. 

Boutique Critique:: Début: Look 3

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

Début is the kind of shop where some jewelry hangs on hangers. Designers are making such radically new creations that owner Lisa Weiss must often come up with creative ways to display them. Those displays are ever changing because the average length of time she carries one designer is about three seasons. In order to maintain her store’s philosophy, she cannot get too loyal to one designer. She must live by the essence of if you love it, let it go… What comes back is the success the designers see upon graduating from Début, knowing where they kicked it all off.

Own a before-they-were-famous designer piece for 10% off! When you shop at Début, just mention FashionIndie.

Boutique Critique:: Début: Look 2

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

Yesterday we launched the debut of Boutique Critique; a column in which I’ll be discovering a new gem of a shop each week, and introducing it to you one outfit at a time over the course of five days. We began most literally with a shop called Début. Founded by Lisa Weiss in 2007, it features brand new designers in the very first runs of their collections. One of the first collections the boutique ever acquired was a jewelry collection called Experiment 101 by Esha Soni. The line caught Weiss and her team’s eye and was a perfect fit to introduce the store’s concept. Now on Experiment 109, and no longer featured in Début, Soni seemed to have gotten the start she needed to continue a beautifully successful brand. With that, here is the second look of the week from Début.

Want it? Mention FashionIndie when you shop at Début and get 10% off anything in the store!

Boutique Critique:: Début: Look 1

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

Tucked away on the north end of Mulberry Street, just above Houston, lives a petite boutique lined with the freshest names in design. Début is sparsely arranged to feel like a gallery, built to give each designer a proper artist’s display. Storeowner Lisa Weiss frequently hears from new customers, I’ve passed by it so many times and just never came in! I wasn’t entirely sure it was a store. Let her hear that no more. This incredible little-known and selectively merchandised store sparked my desire to explore the best boutiques in New York, and take you shopping with me. Piece by piece. Designer by designer. Through five original looks. One look each day. Every week. From now on. This is the Début of Boutique Critique.

Like what you see? Shop at Début and mention FashionIndie to get 10% off!

INTERVIEW: Bijules Designer Jules Kim Shows Her Indie Love

Edited by Annabelle Cheesecake, Parisian Princess

We have always loved Jule’s designs. She’s the kind of designer with a personality you can’t ignore , a look that’s all her own, and an eye for design that few can compete with. Here she talks about collaborations, inspirations and what’s next for her celebrity loved line.