L.A. hipsters know Tulle for its inexpensive vintage-style women's wear - its attention to vivid colors, details and gorgeous linings.Its new boyfriend brand, Cloth Logic, is just as affordable and inspired. But well- known? Not so much.
That's about to change.
The young, trendsetting trio behind Tulle and Cloth Logic are introducing the menswear brand with a runway debut Oct. 16 during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City.
"It's the first exhibit of Cloth Logic and Tulle together, so it's very fitting for us to have this love affair," says designer Leon Shpayer, a 30-year-old native of Russia, who is all charm on this recent October morning.
Shpayer is inside the Compton warehouse he shares with Tulle designers Jennifer Smith and Anoushka Alden. The three young designers work for parent company Morning Glow Inc., which was founded in 1999 to create women's and men's outerwear.
But as Shpayer puts it, the company has "bloomed" to include flirty wool coats, dresses and sweater shirts.
These garments that hang from the rolling racks at the warehouse are part of the spring runway collection bound for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and they're ready to go.
"A lot of designers wait until the last minute and then decide, `Oh, we want to do a show,' and then they're scrambling to get all their samples ready and cut and fitted," says Smith, 27. "We don't like to be rushed."
For up-and-comers, nothing is bigger than this five-day event, which gets started Sunday and draws thousands - from industry professionals to fashionistas from the worlds of retail, media and Hollywood.
So, how is it that the creative team behind Tulle and Cloth Logic appear calm?
"We're just mellow people," says Shpayer, who was in the middle of drawing up fall '09 looks when he paused to talk about Fashion Week.
It's an event that promises to do more than introduce Cloth Logic to the world. It also promises to take Tulle to the next level.
"The international community will see us, so we're all excited," he says.
The pieces are a reflection of trendy L.A., but also appeal to Tulle and Cloth Logic's demographic of young, creative professionals with a longing for the timeless style of the '40s and '50s.
"A lot of the big misconceptions about fashion in L.A. is that it's sloppy, or lazy, or garish," says Smith, sporting a hot-pink measuring tape over her shoulders. "But people here are very considerate in the way they dress. If they look slightly under-dressed you can bet they really thought about it."
Certainly, the same can be said of Tulle and Cloth Logic's creations, some of which borrow inspiration from the way people dress in neighborhoods such as Silver Lake, as well as the pages of old Sears catalogs.
"We take modern bodies and we apply our vintage aesthetic to it," says Alden, 26. "Maybe it's a vintage button or a collar that we were really inspired by.
"We just take an element and then expand it or reduce it if it's too much," she says. "You have to filter it with a modern eye, otherwise you'll look like you're wearing a costume."
from DailyNews.com
