Style Scoop Q&A: Meet the Designers of OdileOdette

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Fashion Design Professional Designation program graduates Nichole Kreglow and Stephanie Bodnar met while attending classes, including History of Costume and Intermediate and Advanced Draping and Pattern Drafting, at FIDM San Francisco. However, it was when they became partners in their fourth quarter Collection Development class that the creative sparks really began to fly! Since then, their designs have been on display at both the de Young and Legion of Honor museums.

Nichole and Stephanie will celebrate the launch of their new line OdileOdette, inspired by the two swans in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," on April 5 at Otis Lounge. Read on to find out where these two designers score inspiration--and shop for great vintage finds! --Kim

Major, Grad Year: Nichole graduated December 2006, Stephanie graduated May 2007, both Professional Designation Fashion Design at FIDM San Francisco

URL: OdileOdette

Favorite Sites: www.wwd.com our fashion bible, www.fashion-incubator.com for fashion industry advice, www.splendora.com and www.dailycandy.com (for style buzz), www.core77.com (for design inspiration and just cool stuff to look at), www.costumes.org (Costumer's Manifesto), www.thefrock.com (for gorgeous vintage gowns), sfindiefashion.com and www.7x7sf.com (for local fashion news), MySpace and Facebook (it's a love-hate relationship), www.cuteoverload.com (how can you resist?)

Your top sources of inspiration: History, historical garments and garment making techniques, movies, music, popular culture, nature, technology, architecture, product design, fabrics, other designers

Briefly describe a typical day: Order supplies, pay vendors, make phone calls, check emails, pattern making or make adjustments to existing patterns, work on sample garments. Right now we've also been doing model fittings, planning a photo shoot, and planning our launch party. Phew!

What are some of your greatest accomplishments?
Getting to show some gowns we made individually at the de Young and Legion of Honor museums! Showing gowns in front of Tim Gunn at a Princess Project charity fashion show event! Even just getting our business license and actually making this thing work! :)

Biggest challenge of launching/owning your own business: Finding the time to get it all done! It's very difficult to juggle both the business/administrative end of things and the creative end of things. And we're doing all our own pattern making and sample making. It's a lot of work, but really rewarding!

Do you have a style icon?

Nichole: Um, Dolores Umbridge in that Harry Potter movie! (Love all that tweed and that sweet and sour attitude!) Kidding. Kind of. Really, though -- Dita Von Teese is flawless - tiny perfection. Cliche to say, but Audrey Hepburn, Katherine Hepburn, and Grace Kelly --timeless beauty and style. My mom - When I was a teenager my family went white water rafting once
and my mom wore a silk blouse and pencil skirt! Though she and I don't always see eye to eye on fashion, we can agree she's always dressed impeccably.

Stephanie:  Like Nichole, I also love Dita von Teese.  She is definitely OdileOdette's muse! Although he may not be a fashionista himself, Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite style icons -- he was largely responsible for how his leading ladies dressed in his movies, and he really established this classic femininity that is instantly recognizable. I also love vintage Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe!

What do you love most about your career?
We get to be creative on a daily basis AND call the shots!

Describe or profile the fantasy customer for your line: Ideally, our customer would shop at places like the Savvy Department at Nordstrom, Fred Segal, Barney's Co-op, or some smaller high-end contemporary boutiques. Our customer appreciates art or is an artist herself and looks for stand-out, well-crafted, inimitable pieces of clothing. She is sophisticated, sassy, and a little mischievous.

The one skill you couldn't do your job without: FIDM definitely prepared us for this job in many ways by giving us the tools to communicate. The most important thing is to be able to translate our vision from thoughts into physical form - whether it be in a fashion sketch, mood boards, muslin sample, pattern making, etc. When trying to communicate that vision to your business partner, sewing contractors, photographers, press, boutiques, it's really important to be clear about what you are trying to accomplish.

Anything else you'd like to add in the way of encouragement, inspiration to future grads hoping to follow in your footsteps? We're really just getting started but we think so far: This industry can be brutal and competitive. It's just the nature of the beast. But we try to do in business what we do in life: Be true to yourself, be tenacious, be patient, listen to advice but trust your instincts, be sincere, be committed to your craft, be willing to learn, be open to new ideas, and have fun with whatever you do!

Comments

[Alaythia Calhoun]

Could I love Dita any more? I think not!

[kim]

She is incredibly chic!