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No Experience Necessary: Emerging Talent Nurtured at New Designer Showroom
By Carol Lee Kim
Fashion Wire Daily - Brooklyn, New York - Joining the craze of discovering fashion's latest talent is The Salon by H. Nordgren Atelier, a Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based showroom dedicated to helping emerging designers in apparel and accessories get the assistance they need in order to bring their concepts to life. Unlike other boutiques such as the always-posh Henri Bendel in New York or Kitson in L.A., the Salon is a refreshing safe-haven for designers with limited budgets or minimal amount of knowledge about getting started in the industry beyond what they can sketch on paper. This means providing its designers with step-by-step guidance in virtually every aspect of fashion production including concept development, manufacturing, sales support and public relations. What's more, the Salon strives to offer their clients these extensive services at below-average rates all the while offering its contractors with what founder Hannah Nordgren calls "living-wage" pay rates that accord to fair labor standards.To celebrate its grand opening, The Salon hosted a kick-off event last Friday where the Salon's protégés Brian Schetzsle of "Brian" and Lauren Billings of "Adam's Fortune" presented a few pieces from their new womenswear lines. Stylistically, both collections were incredibly different (think rebellious raver of the mid-90's versus suburban soccer mom in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands). The opposition was not a bad thing, as it can always be a tremendous selling point to clients who love to one-stop-shop."The reinvention of Williamsburg and urban renewal come to mind," said the soft-spoken Schetzsle when asked to describe the inspiration behind his line. "That's why I chose such bright greens and oranges - it reminds you of the city's grassy parks and traffic cones." Most notable was a neutral toned cotton blend skirt cinched with trimmings in bright green and orange mesh that ran across its base. Schetzsle quietly pointed out areas where the skirt fell short of his expectations and confessed, "I really need to learn how to sew…"Unlike Schetzsle, Billings was jumping and giddy, declaring her love of lingerie and noting how happy she would be "wearing around my unmentionables all day." We were less enthusiastic about Billings' poorly tailored dresses - where spaghetti strap or halter neck dresses are usually an outlet for designers looking to create something classic and sexy, Billings' designs look more like something one would find in Wet Seal's prom section. Billings' charismatic persona and background as a freelance designer nonetheless make her someone with potential for the future.With two inexperienced designers, a new showroom space and Nordgren's dedication to her clients, The Salon may be just what this quiet block of Keap Street needs to reinvent Brooklyn as the only place to shop for new and original designer duds.Check it out for yourself at www.thesalonnyc.com.
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• Ten with Tom Julian and Michael Bush, president of Anchor Blue
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