New York Fashion Week - N:F:P Runway Show

I randomly met Pavan Bahl not too long ago at a coffeeshop in the Lower East Side. Pavan runs House of Wahlia, a startup luxury footwear label featuring high-end chappals (commonly worn in South/Southeast Asia). At that time, Pavan also had the idea of launching Open Source Fashion, a meetup group for up-and-coming fashion-based brands and designers to potentially network and collaborate. It was an engaging conversation at a nascent period of both our businesses, and we made it a point to keep in touch.

Months later, Open Source Fashion launched and Pavan reached out to me to cover their first few meetups. It was a great opportunity to meet emerging fashion brands, and a lot came out of it, including meeting the startup label that produced the made-to-measure navy suits for my own wedding this year! (BlackLapel) I also had the opportunity to cover a runway show co-produced by OSFashion, Lion'esque Media, and the Wix Lounge during New York Fashion Week, and I had a fun time capturing some moments.

The show featured designer Gail Travis and her label - N:F:P (New Form Perspective). More on her:

"After working in the high-end fashion design world in NYC for the past 10 years, for companies such as Calvin Klein, Shelly Steffee, and Vera Wang, she has fatefully been guided to design her own brand free from mainstream trends. Her collection is inspired by her surroundings, personal interactions, experience of movement, and architecture and sculpture....The knitted sweaters (NIT), hand felted dresses and tops (FELT) and foundation jersey pieces of tanks, bodysuits, and leggings (PHRAME) collectively present a unique line of architectural building blocks. N:F:P additionally offers a distinctive line of tunics, dresses and floor-length gowns using a signature felting technique, one of the oldest methods of fabric-making. NEW FORM PERSPECTIVE marries felting with diaphanous featherweight jerseys in subtle, muted colors creating stunning, sophisticated, modern foils for layering the knits...."

I definitely appreciated Gail's work, which is inspired by the approach of architects like Rem Koolhaas, and multifunctionally driven. A few of the pieces can be worn in more than one way, and the photography attempts to capture the transmutative properties of her work, as the models demonstrated in these following presentations. I found out that Gail is also a fellow Cornell graduate, and it is always exciting to feature a fellow alumnus and come alongside a fellow emerging artist/designer.

Thanks for reading! -A

Gail Travis of N:F:P giving direction to a model pre-show, with one of her convertible knitwear pieces.

The crew of OSFashion, Lion'esque Media, and N:F:P (New Form Perspective)!

Lower East Siders Beware! Self Edge New York & 3sixteen have landed!

As some of you may know, I am as much of a passionate practicing architect as I am a photographer, and I manage to do both simultaneously in the crazy city that is New York. One of the latest design projects I am very proud of is the new Lower East side retail showroom for Self Edge New York, a three year-old denim mecca based in San Francisco masterminded by Kiya Babzani, who has succeeded in assembling a collection of Japanese artisan-crafted denim brands that have been previously inaccessible here in the US. Concurrently, the showroom is also shared by Self Edge's partner, 3sixteen - a six year old contemporary menswear line based in New York which will feature their entire collection every season, as well as product manufactured in small numbers exclusively for the store. 3sixteen's brainchild and fellow designer - Andrew Chen, is one of my oldest friends, and I've had an amazing privilege to be 3sixteen's project architect for the vision and design of the new store.

Andrew, his partner Johan Lam, and Kiya of Self Edge knew exactly what kind of atmosphere they wanted to create for the store. Andrew scoured sites and picked up many of the environmental pieces himself. Salvaged antique furniture, stained woods, oxidized patinas and rustic architectural details would reign supreme, as much of their collection harkens a return of the wasteland of modern day over-mechanized/over-produced apparel to a time when worn goods were valued by the degree of their hand-crafted integrity. This intent sparked a rigor of ensuring simplicity in presentation - to a point where the interior design would respect the product as the centerpiece of the space. The new retail partnership will also house 3sixteen's design studio and creative team.

I hold wearable goods to a high standard of workmanship, and 3sixteen has put out some uniquely crafted pieces lately. My favorite? Their Quoddy Deck Chukkas. I wear the black ones to every wedding photoshoot.

Self Edge NY with 3sixteen will have their grand opening this Friday, July 24th. I am excited.

Photos/Images courtesy of 3sixteen