Spring/Summer 2011

After much blood, sweat, toil, and tears, I successfully showed my collection last Thursday, on the first day of New York Fashion Week. Well, maybe minus the blood and the tears. A few of the pieces were sewn by the factory I work with, but I sewed most of the pieces myself (with a little assistance from my parents and my awesome intern Cally). Needless to say, it was rough.

I'm going to preface this post by insisting that you check out the photos on my website first: http://www.graeyny.com/ss11.html -- because some of them are missing here and you can stream the show soundtrack by Alan Wilkis which I am excited about. At some point my new French friend will have the video up as well.

We got some early press in TimeOut New York which I'm pleased about -- you can check that out here:http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/shopping/88891/breakout-designer-janet-kim

As I mentioned in an earlier post, over the past several months I've been trying to learn to surf and I decided my Spring/Summer 2011 collection would be surf-inspired. I initially was thinking of working with neoprene but ended up finding a similar fabric called "spacer" at the spandex store, which I used to make padded bras reminiscent of wetsuits. I also used swimsuit fabrics and stretch lace to design leggings and tops that were surf-y and beachy. There were some t-shirty pieces embellished with silk chiffon, which were inspired by the t-shirty type clothes you throw on when you go to the beach -- soft and loose. I was super happy with the hair and makeup done by the Paul Labrecque team -- Hair: Tom Moschetto, Kalizya Hutchison, Amerah Abdelaziz Makeup: Daisy Schwartzberg

The moccasins were by Manimal and looked super cute with the clothes.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the images (all images by my friend Ferris Vanderveer):

Look 1

LAUREN - sand marshmallow french terry sweatshirt with lace sleeves, navy mesh leggings

Look 2

ALISA - navy marshmallow french terry dress with mesh sleeves

Look 3

RACHEL - white cotton jersey tank with sea foam silk chiffon panels and rosettes, sea foam silk jersey shorts with rosettes

Look 4

KELSEY - magenta lace rashguard dress

Look 5

MARCIA - cream lace rashguard dress

Look 6

KELLY - coral lace rashguard dress, yellow/white spacer bra

Look 7

TSUBASA - black cotton jersey tank with grey silk chiffon panels and rosettes, coral lace leggings

Look 8

ALEXA - cream lace rashguard, grey/silver spacer corset, grey/silver/sea foam colorblocked leggings

Look 9

GRETA - coral rashguard, green/silver spacer bra, silver/grey/coral color blocked leggings

Look 10

NADIA - black/grey/silver/coral color blocked one piece

Look 11

MARCIA - coral lace bikini

Look 12

RACHEL - navy mesh bikini

Look 13

ALISA - coral/grey spacer corset, black cotton jersey harem pants

Look 14

KELSEY - sea foam/silver/grey/yellow color blocked one piece

Look 15

LAUREN - cream/yellow/sea foam silk chiffon tank dress

Look 16

ALEXA - sand french terry wrap top, silver silk charmeuse harem pant

Look 17

GRETA - navy/purple/magenta colorblocked silk chiffon tank dress

Look 18

NADIA - grey french terry wrap top, navy silk charmeuse harem pant

Look 19

TSUBASA - black cotton jersey strapless gown with rosettes

KELLY - white cotton jersey tshirt gown with rosettes






After two grueling castings, we handpicked these lovely models. We saw lots of beautiful girls but these were right for the collection. The following agencies were involved:

MC2 - Rachel, Greta
FentonMoon - Marcia
Major - Alexa, Kelly, Kelsey, Nadia, Tsubasa
VNY - Alisa
Direct - Lauren

Thanks also to our other sponsors -- Hpnotiq who generously provided cocktails and cupcakes, as well as Ouidad and Arrojo and SummerSoles -- who provided swag for the gift bags!

Thanks so much to everyone who helped out and was part of this production! Here is a pic with of the friends who helped out --

Spring Sale this Saturday in the East Village -- up to 60% off our dresses!

CRAFTernoon recap!

I realized I never did a recap on the CRAFTernoon event I did back in March. It was great. We had a modest turnout which actually worked out for the best because Di and I were able to give more individual attention. Everyone did a great job, and here are some images of final products:

Jess showing off yet another piece of Gator paraphernalia.

Diana's cute headband.

Hopefully we will do another one in the near future. If you have any skills you want to learn, let me know!

Graey Spring Sale

CRAFTernoon tomorrow!

We got a mention in TimeOut Magazine's "Things to do in NYC this weekend" -- check out the third paragraph: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/own-this-city/80781/things-to-do-in-nyc-this-weekend/2.html

Should be a good time -- hope to see you there!

Spend a CRAFTernoon with Graey!

On Saturday, March 27, 2010, Graey will be doing its first CRAFTernoon to benefit The Father's Heart Ministries. We will be teaching you how to reverse appliqué, to transform old t-shirts into handcrafted headbands and wristbands.

I got together a few days ago with my friend Diana, who has been helping me with business strategy over the past several months, and we made a couple of samples to show you:

I made this headband with a swirl and star shapes. The swirl is a cream color and the star is a pale blue, contrasting with the grey jersey of the band. All the fabric was cut from my brother's old t-shirts.

Di made this blue wristband with a cream colored star, also from my brother's old t-shirts.

The paper we used to sketch our ideas.

So bring yourself, friends, old t-shirts (you can share with your friends and trade different colors) or fabric scraps, a sharp pair of scissors, and needle and thread and we'll teach you how to do the rest.

My friend Dawn, who owns Whoopsi Daisy Bakery (see link below) will be baking yummy cupcakes for the event.

There is a suggested donation of $20, the proceeds of which will benefit The Father's Heart Ministries, "a faith-based 501(c)3 not-for-profit ministry created to demonstrate God's love through practical expressions of compassion. Through a unique blend of programs, practical training and classroom instruction we are addressing the special needs of the elderly, the working poor, the unemployed, at-risk youth, immigrants and those without social or family support. Our programs include hunger prevention, food stamps access, gang-prevention/youth development, parenting and anger management classes, ESL classes and Alphabet Scoop, our job training/mentoring program for teens. Our goal is to empower individuals to become self-sufficient, to see families healed and restored and to see them move from dependency to dignity; from poverty to prosperity."

http://www.fathersheartnyc.org/

Whoopsi Daisy Bakery: http://whoopsidaisybakery.com/

Click here to register for the event.

Rachel Bilson in Graey (Signature Magazine)

Rachel looks awesome wearing our mint corset dress.