Getting Dressed

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 style.com

photo via my iphone

Lazy Blogger

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

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

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

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

image from WWD.com

Crafty

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?

Cousin Itt

Me

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.