A Word on Isabel Marant

One of the sources of my daily outfit inspiration, whose style I attempt to channel on the regular, is her holiness Isabel Marant. I'm a fan not just of the navajo-paisley-hip-urban-bohemian COOL clothes, but the designer's own personal style, which sounds like a silly thing to say given the blatantly obvious fact that the designer is usually outfitted in clothes of her own design. It's more than the clothes with which she chooses to put on each day, it's her overall lewk and the attitude she conveys. That which is Isabel Marant is French and that which is French is Isabel Marant, so sign me up, I say! The minimal makeup and flawless though slightly ashy complexion, messy untouched hair, uniform of skinny jeans with a sweatshirt and sneakers/flats/heels. She makes it okay to wear graphic tops with words and sayings you don't really understand, the same printed jeans more than once a week, mismatching prints, geisha buns outside of your home, knee-high white fringe boots to a locale other than a 70s-themed party, short flouncy skirts past puberty, leather pants with bulky sweaters.

THIS is what I'm talking about:

Inside the Designer's Studio: Erica Weiner

My never-ending search for the next best sample sale led me to Erica Weiner’s Greenpoint studio in March. It was 5 PM on a Sunday and I had spent the better half of the day seeing Craigslist apartments in the flesh around Manhattan. The fruitless housing hunt left me needing to destress in the only way I know how: by surrounding myself in a room with wearable objects available for purchase. I stood on a corner by Union Square and scrolled through my inbox until I found a sample sale that the investigative shopping journalists behind Racked.com had deemed worthy, and so I headed to Erica’s studio. I didn’t realize until I got there that the sale was cash only, so I bought a five dollar bangle from the seven dollars cash I had in my wallet.

Fast forward/flash back to a few weeks ago when I went back to Erica’s studio to ask her about her #creativeprocess and find out how she wound up a Brookyln-based jewelry designer. Context alert: she’s from the New Jersey town that neighbors the one in which I grew up.

In true autodidactic fashion, Erica taught herself how to sew when she was in high school. She went off to explore the liberal arts for college and majored in art history at Vassar. Her foray into the world of wearable art began when she was studying abroad in a textile program at the Glasgow School of Art. After graduating college, she got a job working as a costume manager of a Broadway touring company, where she learned how to make things on both a budget and a tight schedule. She ditched the theater after two years and entered the high fash-un industry as a patternmaker.

Jewelry making began as her side project, but once she walked away with wads of cash from selling her charms and chains at a Philadelphia craft fair, she knew she was onto something. In a case of being in the right place at the right time, she snagged one of the first five vendor spots at the Brooklyn Artists & Flea circa 2006.

The trademark pieces that catapulted her from flea market artisan to established jewelry designer still make up much of her business, though she’s since expanded into the antiques sphere. She and her business partner go antique hunting in treasure troves in London and Maine and either sell their finds in vintage form or modify them as part of her 1909 line. Anywhooze, she’s got something for everyone--from brides looking for an antique ring to lil’ old you and me in the market for an airplane charm necklace--all of which you can check out here.