Often, accessories are added afterward, to accentuate outfits, adding glimmering touches here and there. In the case of LA-based CC Skye, however, the accessories she designs do not merely accent outfits, but rather, create them.
Unlike most fashion lines that are influenced by big cities like New York or Paris, CC Skye was born out of a six-month study abroad program that the designer did in Nepal. Traveling only with a backpack containing the bare essentials, CC, a true LA Girl at heart, missed the fashions she would find in the pages of Vogue while living in Kathmandu.
After some time, she decided to trade in her hiking boots and ended up in the silk stalls of Kathmandu, buying silk used for Tibetan Temples to make dresses with the help of local seamstresses, and started to work with gems and metals . . .
According to the designer, “…living in Nepal made me stop and learn how to to create my vision with my hands and use my resources rather than just go out and buy something, which is what we are all so used to doing in a consumer-based culture. It [Nepal] was a self-sustained culture in which you grew your own food, made your own utensils out of bamboo or wood, and ultimately, you made your own spring wardrobe”.
CC Skye, who has been called “consistently ahead of the trends” by Women’s Wear Daily, merges uptown sophistication with downtown glamour in her jewelry and handbag collection. A favourite of the most fashionable celebrities, including Eva Mendes and Nicole Richie, CC Skye’s line was nominated for Best New Accessory Designer by GEN ART.
This week, we ask the designer:
{What are the top five ways you stay ahead of trends?}
1. Knowing trends is instinctual. I like to think some people are great at picking stocks, others are great at predicting trends. I’ve had an innate instinct since I was very young. Perhaps that was because I had a very fashion-forward mother who always had the latest trends in the 70’s and 80’s. I grew up in a big city and although I longed to live in the suburbs and climb trees, Barneys was my backyard.
2. Timing is everything. I found out early that you cannot be too ahead of the trends as you must connect to your customers.
3. Timing in fashion is everything. The magazines are not always correct about what the public wants and you have to be rather intuitive about what is good for the street versus the runway and be able to balance the two.
4. There is a constant play on opposites in the forming of trends and being aware of that is important. Years ago it was bohemian-based and then suddenly all skulls and rock n’ roll! One season handbags are structured and almost immediately the next season they’re slouchy. There has even been correlations with the stock market in trend research. They say that when mini skirts are in, the stock market rises, and when long skirts are in, the market drops. I recall when the recession hit, we were unintentionally designing jewelry inspired by Art Deco in the 1930’s.
5. In the end, I think it comes down to finding styles or colors you love, exploring them, and reinventing ways to make it a part of your brand’s personality.
