Gryphon New York

The Glamorous Life

2011-11-09T16:25:00.001-08:00

Monday night, I attended the Glamour Magazine Women of the Year Awards at Carnegie Hall. It was a really fun night - at times funny, heart-breaking, inspiring and very glamorous. You can read all about the amazing honorees in the December issue of Glamour (yes, that means go buy it), so I won't go into too much detail here. But the highlights for me were Gloria Steinem, Cindy Sherman and Esraa Abdel Fattah.

The night made me think back on my college days (so, so long ago) and the seeming contradiction between what I studied (Religion and Women) and what I wore (before the siren song of gravity and french fries had their way with my abs, I never met a sheer top I didn't like). Are you less serious if you are glamorous or want to feel pretty/attractive? I think sometimes women are made to feel there is a choice between the pursuit of intellect/good works and the pursuit of beauty. Was worrying about my freshman 15 unworthy of me? I thought so at the time.

One of the honorees Monday evening made light of some of the lighter topics covered by Glamour and, in my opinion, implied that despite the good works of highlighting 13 accomplished and inspiring women, Glamour panders to a lower common denominator. The joke seemed a little forced and heavy-handed.

Some of the smartest (scary smart) women I know, are the most beautiful and glamorous (and I'm not necessarily talking about inner beauty). There's nothing wrong with that.

On a lighter note, those of you who read my blog regularly (hi mom! hi Chud!) may recall that I had a fashion dilemma about how to dress for a glamorous evening when 36 weeks pregnant. This is what I wore on Monday:

Spring '11 Knot Trench - with Helmut Lang stretch cupro dress, Chanel open toe boots and Chanel evening bag.

Star Snaps

2011-11-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

What I wore to Star Snaps:

Spring '11 Knot Trench with Topshop striped dress and my trusty maternity Uggs.

My husband tells me that he prefers my blog posts that say something beyond just a listing of what items of clothing I am wearing. He enjoys my musings and ramblings, it seems. Sometimes life has its disappointments. He'll have to check back another time for a more thoughtful post.

...waiting for the elevator with Stephanie Tran. She's paired a coat she designed for Duskin with ISABEL MARANT. I've paired a coat I designed for gryphon with TOPSHOP.

....waiting for some stud samples to play with

....waiting for me to finish mapping out stud placement - Frank's about to tell me he's tired of waiting and he could have been getting so much done back at the office. I was stifling his productivity. I needed him to be my gryphon to Star Snaps ambassador. For some reason Star Snaps likes Frank much more than they like me. I know, I too am confused by that. I think we're at least equally likable.

All photo credits: Stephanie Tran

Claudia

2011-10-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

At 34 weeks pregnant, my daily routine of deciding what to wear has narrowed down to very few options and even fewer that are gryphon. In my pre-pregnancy life, I wore at least 1 piece of gryphon a day (not out of any obligation to myself) but more just because I liked to and it makes sense to me to take advantage of the hundreds of samples I have in the archives. Lately, I've been down to zero items of gryphon unless you count my coat that I take off indoors.

But today, it seemed slightly warmer to me (but really that was just the heat in my apartment kicking into high gear), so decided to wear the Claudia Skirt from our Spring '12 collection.

Claudia Skirt worn with a GAP maternity tank and my new UGGS! I know Uggs can be polarizing, but with 20 extra pounds weighing down on my feet, they are a dream....

Incubator

2011-09-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Warning: this post is not gryphon related, though it is a little bit about clothes and style.

I'm currently 7 months pregnant and while I am trying (though I'm not really trying THAT hard. I'm a little tired) to not be shallow and vain and obsessed with my looks, getting dressed is becoming increasingly difficult. We are currently in market for sales and press for the new Spring 2012 collection, meeting with store buyers and fashion editors and I feel pressure in this image based industry to represent my brand well. Every proportion and fabric that I used to take for granted as working for my body no longer does and I'm not completely convinced that those proportions and fabrics will magically look good on me again post-pregnancy.

So as I get dressed everyday and purge my closet to make room for my son (he may or may not be living in my closet, also known as our second bedroom), I stress over not just what to wear that day, but what I will wear in the future as a young mom (whoops. that was a wishful thinking slip. I meant NEW mom). My legs might appreciate a few more inches of length than the coverage my vast array of mini minis and short shorts provide. My son might not like being cuddled against some crunchy sequins.

And then today, I was faced with my hardest maternity fashion challenge to date: what to wear to a black tie event when 8 months pregnant? Oh the pressure! The horror! Can you imagine? A giant baby bump swathed in tight sequins, reflecting light at every angle? I have tried to purchase as few maternity pieces as possible since their useful life span is so short, but I think I may need to actually buy an appropriate dress for these upcoming occasions. But what do I buy? What do I even look for?

I'll try to think about this subject of my pregnant looks a little less and focus on other things, like eating well for my baby and being nice to my husband. But, I can't make any promises.

This is the gym at the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi, where I realized that my sudden weight gain and crushing fatigue might actually be a fetus, and not old age and jetlag

4 months - not so hard to get dressed yet.

5 months - don't look at me. I'm hideous.

6+ months - adding more and more stretch fabrics to my wardrobe

This picture's just funny.

Scenes from a Look Book Shoot

2011-06-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

Gryphon doesn't have a big marketing budget (really, it's pretty non-existent) — we don't do a runway show, we don't have a fashion week presentation and we don't work with a PR agency. We do, however, shoot look books each season to have a representation for our buyers and press of how we envision the collection. It's really our only form of branding and we have a lovely team of amazing talent that works with us each season. We'll be shipping Fall 2011 (yes, already!) to stores in July and (hopefully) posting our Fall 2011 look book pictures to the website soon. In the meantime, here's a few behind the scenes pictures from the Fall shoot.

The night before the shoot, testing paint colors for our backdrop

Finished backdrop - Svieta on set

Svieta being prepped by April Greaves and Susan Joy

Laurence and April

We took a brief break to take a group portrait. From left: Kevin Sturman, Tom Dunn, Stephanie Tran, Aimee Cho, Laurence, Stephanie Feller, Elif Ucan, Frank Park, April Greaves, Susan Joy.

We always have friends and family and children and animals dropping by during the weekend of the shoot - it helps us all take ourselves a little less seriously and adds a festive, reunion-like feel to the weekend. Below are some images of our small, smaller and tiny special visitors:

Eloise - our budding animal rights activist, much more interested in cat videos on youtube than in the models on set

August, eyeing Boo and Billy off screen. He was alternately fascinated and terrified of the dogs

Our tiniest visitor of the weekend - Oliver Sturman!

Family Portrait! Boo and Billy with Tim and Tom

Almost done with the shoot - me celebrating and Susan getting me ready for my close-up

Trial and Error

2011-06-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

When we're prepping for our look book shoots, the lovely and talented Susan Joy usually puts together looks and we talk them over and see what's working (and not) and what areas we might need to fill in and what types of accessories we want to pull for the shoot. It's easiest to tell whether something's working by seeing it on the body. That's not always possible due to budget and/or schedule. In those cases, we might make outfits and lay them out on the floor (which is something my friend Meredith and I used to do when she edited Vogue Index and I worked for her - yes, seeing clothes on the floor makes me nostalgic for Vogue).

Successful Fall 2010 look book prep on the floor:

Sometimes, we're lucky enough to have a professional model come and do a fitting (which really is the best way to figure out if proportions are working), like the super cool Linda Beecroft, who makes everything look chic and relaxed.

Successful Fall 2011 look book prep on Linda:

And once in a blue moon, if we're struggling with a look that's really not coming together and the floor's not cutting it, I might try a few things on. Those are usually desperate times and somehow, my trying it on doesn't result in a magic fix.

UNSUCCESSFUL Spring 2010 looks:

Say Cheese

2011-05-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

Today was the SKII photo shoot! The gryphon top I wore to the shoot made me look a little washed out on screen, so sadly no gryphon will appear in the advertorial (except me). But they did let me wear a lovely pink Marni top.....and really, who can complain about that? I forgot to take a few behind the scenes pictures on set, but here's a picture of me still in full hair and makeup from the shoot.

Go buy this product. It really works. I'm not just saying it because they took my picture.

For Goodness Saké

2011-05-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

I have mixed feelings about sake. I've had some delicious sake (both hot and cold), and a sake bomb (or 5 or 6) may have fueled a fun night or 2 in my distant and not so distant past. But given a choice, I'll always choose a sancerre over sake. Always. Or so I thought.

About a week and a half ago, I was approached by SKII skincare to participate in an advertorial shoot they're doing with Harper's Bazaar. I have to admit I was a little skeptical. I'm pretty bare bones (read lazy) in my skin-care routine. But as I just turned 35 last week and have started to detect some unflattering signs of aging on my face (increased discoloration, dry skin and 'gasp' wrinkles!), I thought I would give it a try.

I filled out an online questionnaire and 3 products magically appeared on my desk a few days later. SKII's signature ingredient, Pitera, was discovered in the fermentation process in sake brewing (were you wondering how I was going to tie back the sake intro?). Of the products I've been trying, the Facial Treatment Essence is the one I think everyone should go out and buy. The skin on my face and hands are noticeably smoother after just 1 week's use. It's really pretty genius.

What my skin will look like after a few more weeks

Sake Bombed

Gryphon on the Road

2011-04-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

It's gryphon's annual trip to India - visiting with current and potential new factories. This one was a whirlwind - 3 days in Delhi and 3 days in Bombay. I've barely adjusted to the jetlag and it's time to head home soon....

Poolside at the Taj Hotel, Bombay

Alexa Rodulfo candles at chic Bombay store, Le Mill

Karishma and Anita from Eske Commodities and gryphon's Alex

The interior of our taxi

The Theme showroom in Delhi

Beaders hard at work at R&B in Delhi

5, 7, 8!

2011-04-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

We've moved (again)! First was the 5th floor, then the 7th floor....and now we've landed on the 8th floor. More (and hopefully higher quality) pictures to come at a later date, but here's a sneak peek at our new entryway....

Getting Dressed

2011-02-15T17:29:00.000-08:00

New York Fashion Week means something very different in my life as a designer than it did in my life as a magazine editor.

Then, it meant running from 8am to 10pm everyday from back to back presentations and shows and the occasional party dressed as a better version of myself (or more fashionable version of myself). On the best of days when the clothes on the runway looked great and the clothes on me felt good, it was uplifting and transcendent (truly) to see beauty, creativity and commerce coalesce. On a bad day, when the clothes on the runway looked obvious or tired and so did I, it was exhausting. But there was always a certain joy to dressing up as the best possible version of me. It's about loving clothes and loving style - and that's why I do what I do.

Now, New York Fashion Week means a moment in time (well, really the start of a month-long moment in time) when several months of creative, physical and emotional upheaval is judged worthy or unworthy of generating approximately half of my annual revenue to sustain (or not) my little gryphon world. So far, it seems to have worked out okay....but it's still incredibly nerve-wracking. I like to escape by still obsessively looking at what's happening on the runway to see if I would have been having a fun day or a tiring one had my career stayed on its editorial path.

This morning, I saw the one show (so far) from NYFW that made me want to get dressed in something other than my pj's and face the day. I'm not wearing any gryphon (I did wear a gryphon coat over it all though), so it won't go on What Aimee Wore. It's not quite as chic or luxe as the original inspiration, but it still made me happy today. The Row made my week.

photo via style.com

photo via my iphone

Lazy Blogger

2009-07-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

It has recently been pointed out to me by the blog police (I won't name names, but you know who you are) that I haven't posted since May. So today, on the second to last day of July, I am sneaking in a post so that I've only missed the entire month of June (and most of July).

Today, I went to Bergen Shippers, where all of Gryphon's clothes are shipped from our various factories and then received, counted, logged, picked, packed and shipped out to our stores. We always receive in our offices, prior to bulk production shipments, a TOP sample (Top Of Production) to approve (or reject), but sometimes (and sometimes more than sometimes), shit happens and things go wrong and clothes appear at the warehouse that don't look like the TOP samples we approved. So, just in case, we like to go to Bergen Shippers and look at the actual production before it ships to stores and consumers to make sure it all looks and fits like it should. There's nothing more humiliating and heartbreaking for a fashion company than to have a store call and catch you completely ignorant of the fact that your clothes are missing important parts (like, say, belt loops or sometimes sleeves).

this is Gryphon's Boyfriend Timeless Trench (just featured in InStyle's Makeover issue!), waiting to be shipped to its new home.

On this trip, I was accompanied by Stephanie (Gryphon's Sales Director) and Laura (Gryphon's summer intern). Laura tried on a few things so we could see for certain that the fit/cut/make was as per our approval of the TOP. Isn't she cute (see below)? Everything we made her try looked so cute on her, I'm not sure the clothes were actually made as they should be or if Laura just makes it look good (our factories should thank Laura for making everything look cute and preventing rejects).

habitually chic

2009-05-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Heather Clawson at Habitually Chic for her lovely, lovely post today. I am so flattered that she wears gryphon.... and I'll add an especially heartfelt thank you for mentioning my cute parents!

here's Heather in gryphon!!

Where I Come From

2009-05-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

In (belated) recognition of Mothers' Day, a tribute to one of my muses, my mom.

My mom: Yi Sook Cho (or Sue to you Yankees)

...well, it's really a tribute to both of my parents, whose blindly biased belief in my potential for greatness has instilled in me a completely over-inflated sense of self that has prompted me to try and accomplish things that should in actuality be well out of my grasp - things like trying to get into Yale (attempt failed), trying to get a job at Vogue Magazine (attempt successful!), and trying to start a successful fashion business (jury's still out). My husband, who just called me a kiss ass, would like me to add "trying to deserve my husband" which, of course, is a very worthy goal (jury's still out).

These people really love me, and for that I am very, very blessed and lucky: Yi Sook and Young Kap Cho (Sue and Young)

Got Me Covered

2009-04-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

Our first WWD cover! I'm speechless....

image from WWD.com

Crafty

2009-03-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Right before we open the line for a new season, there's always a frenzy of activity. There's a flurry of fittings and last minute changes to samples and last minute additions to the line that keep everyone in the garment industry working all hours until fashion week and market begin (because we're not the only ones who work this way, it's an industry-wide epidemic). This frenzy sometimes makes me want to change each and every sample before we shoot it and put it on the line. This season, that led to a lot of late-night arts and crafts. In the wee hours after the office was closed, Frank (gryphon's development and production coordinator) and Tom (consultant and special friend of gryphon) and I tea-dyed and bleached things until they resembled something more like good clothes. The real credit for the final results go to Frank. Tom and I deserted him after the fun, experimentation phase and Frank stayed in the disco bathroom tea-dyeing and bleaching the samples that actually ended up on the line.

gryphon sweatpants, a cup o' bleach and a paintbrush.

The end result of sweatpant bleaching:

Post tea-dyeing: Frank's ingenious makeshift

drying rack in the disco bathroom

This is the end result of our tea-dyeing:

Tom (left) and Frank (right), on set at the

look book shoot. I think the late nights

and bleach fumes leading up to the shoot

caused them to seek comfort in my fur accessories.

What is It?

2009-03-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Cousin Itt

A special thank you to my lovely friend Sylvana, who wrote this very sweet post on her blog for vogue.com. She made me an "It" Girl....which is a phrase that always makes me think of Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. I am truly flattered and grateful for the write-up, though it does make me laugh a little. One of my friends summed it up perfectly. After reading the post, she said, "if I didn't know you, I would think you were so cool." Thank you, Sylvana, for making me sound cool! And thank you, Hannah Thomson, for making me look skinny.

Something Out of Nothing

2009-02-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

Ah Coterie. So.....for those of you who might not know what it is, the Coterie is a huge trade show where (it seems) every contemporary label in the world hawks their wares to buyers who fly in from everywhere from Kansas to Korea. There are hundreds of companies that participate, so booth location and branding can be crucial for getting buyers to take a look at your clothes. Once they're in the booth, the clothes better be good enough to hold their attention, but getting them into the booth is half the battle. So imagine my devastation when Stephanie (Gryphon's sales director) and I arrived at the show location to help set up the booth and found that we were in Siberia.

On the floorplan, the spot looked great - right next to bigger companies (who generate tons of traffic) like DVF, Theory and Iisli. But in actuality, we were facing the back end of their enormous, custom-made booths, giving us zero visibility. The show was due to start in less than 16 hours and there seemed to be no solution available! Retail is hurting everywhere, stores are buying less, I agonized over this collection to make it something I could be proud of and no one was going to see it, much less buy it.

But as I said in my first post, the devastating lows of being a garmento often come side by side with the insane highs. After getting home and pouring myself a very generous glass of wine (don't worry, I don't drink alone. My husband and our friend Glen also poured themselves generous glasses of wine), I was feeling better and had a wine-soaked positive attitude about what the next day at Coterie would bring. But, there's a twist. A very, very good twist. I get a call from the incredibly generous, miracle-working Andrew Rosen (founder and CEO of Theory, and one of my business partners). Andrew tells me to get back to the show site because he'd put into motion, a plan to cure our booth woes.

Enter David Flatt. The brilliant and resourceful Mr. Flatt builds furniture....and amazing custom booths for companies exhibiting at shows like Coterie. He always builds the Gryphon booth, but this time, HE CREATED A BOOTH OUT OF NOTHING AT ALL. Out of thin air (with Andrew's blessing), he carved us a space out of the front of the Theory booth. He punched a hole out of the front wall of the Theory booth and built us a little space that looked like it was always meant to be there.

Gryphon owes Andrew and David a HUGE thank you because this was our best Coterie show ever. We had incredible traffic throughout the show and booked our most sales at a show in the history of the company! When I came home after the first day at the show, exhausted and elated, my husband asked me how it went and I burst into tears because I was so emotional/tired/relieved. It totally freaked my husband out, until he realized I was happy, not sad. And a special thanks must also go to Graziella, who works for David and held my hand through the whole process.

Gryphon's guardian angels: David and Graziella.

We heart them. Aren't they the cutest?

me, at 1am half asleep while David's industrious team finishes building the booth.

The finished booth (that's Stephanie in the printed dress)

Moustache Hanger

2009-02-19T18:47:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed from the pictures I posted earlier of the showroom, that we hang a lot of odds and ends on our walls. In our tiny office downstairs, I asked my husband to do it because I figured he was the only person who would be willing to bear with me as I adjusted, ruminated and configured the order and height of everything. He graciously offered to re-live that gratifying experience and hang the stuff in the new space, but I felt too guilty. There's a lot more to hang and he'd have had to have spent all night on a week night in the office with me because he does have a day job and I was shooting the look book over the weekend. What to do?? Louie to the rescue! Louie came and spent 2 entire days with us and waited between each and every frame, mirror, seafan, and antique hanger for me to decide where each item was going to live. He has the patience of a saint and a sense of humor too! We love Louie and are forever grateful for his patience and his skill with a hammer and picture wire.

Louie with one of my antique clothing hangers. How cute is he?

Sold!

2009-02-18T10:20:00.001-08:00

We've just started market, but received our first confirmed order of the season! Cara and her mum from C. See Boutique came by for an appointment. Usually stores will take notes on what they like in an appointment but won't send in their purchase order until after they've had a chance to see their other lines and assess their budgets. Especially now, in this economy, stores are being more cautious than ever and taking their time writing orders, but the lovely ladies from

C. See just left us our first sale for F09!

Completely unrelated to how we feel about their great order, they are 2 of the coolest, cutest buyers we know. Cara, who I met for the first time last season always has on something covetable. Last time she saw the line, I was obsessing over her Chloe boots. I had borrowed the same style from a friend for my look book shoot 2 weeks prior to meeting Cara and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't work them into the shoot. They just never quite worked. But they totally worked with Cara's upscale rock chick look. This time, she was wearing a knitted Temperely dress covered in sew-on snaps - so simple but so cool....a little fetishy, but less obvious than studding. See below, some pictures from our appointment.

the c. see girls

Cara trying on Gryphon's velvet smoking jacket

perusing the racks

Settling In

2009-02-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

Enter....

We finally have signage - though I do still bury the lead a little.

Disco Bathroom

We're completely moved in now! It's been a hectic week here at Gryphon - we moved into the new space and only partially set up shop. We kept things partly packed up so we could shoot the look book here (more on that later). Then, we set the showroom up because my business partner was coming to see the new collection. After our meeting, we packed up again to throw a party for the fabulous hair and makeup artist Alexa Rodulfo (more on that later too). Then, we set up for real in order to open the line for sales. We've just started market for sales, so the showroom and office is finally up and running. Although I still have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do....but I'll save that for another day.

Office Max

2009-02-15T23:25:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of new things happening here at Gryphon - this blog included. We've just moved from our teeny tiny (but lovably cozy) 1 room studio to a beautiful, new office/showroom. It's sun-drenched, with soaring ceilings, over-looking Bryant Park, with a lovely, little balcony. To be fair, our old space was also sun-drenched with soaring ceilings, over-looking Bryant Park.....just much, much more intimate (and messy). See pics below of the old mess and the new empty space. More images of the new space up and running, to come later.

gryphon's old , cozy office

the new space, newly renovated and without all my crap

Meet Gryphon

2009-02-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Gryphon's new blog. Ever wondered about the day to day workings of a small fashion company? I did, before I started one. I still wonder what other small fashion companies are like. Are they like ours? Do they have the insane highs we do (350 unit sequin tank re-order in a recession!!!) and the devastating lows (974 belts stuck in customs, came this close to ruining our first Spring delivery)? Are they more organized than we are? Are they less emotional? I can't answer those questions for other companies, but this blog will be my forum for answering your questions about how we do things here at Gryphon......always a little frenzied, sometimes a little grumpily and hopefully, with a sense of humor. And if no one out there is interested, at least my mom will know where to find out what I've been up to.

2009-01-23T08:37:00.000-08:00