The Fashion Informer

Random Questions For...Anna Sheffield

Anna Sheffield came to jewelry making through the back door. That is to say, after studying blacksmithing, welding and fabrication at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, where she received a degree in Fine Arts.

These sculptural techniques are the hallmark of Bing Bang, the line of jewelry she launched in 2002 with her brother, Kevin Kearny, which turns Victorian-meets-heavy metal iconography into something a tad more feminine. (The name Bing Bang actually refers to the sound an anvil makes when it strikes metal.)

The New Mexico native added a fine jewelry line, called Anna Sheffield Fine Jewelry, in 2007 – the same year she was nominated for a CFDA Swarovski Award – and she’s collaborated on jewelry collections with Phillip Lim, Lutz & Patmos and Marc Jacobs (with whom she shares an affinity for statement-making tattoos).

Today, Bing Bang has expanded to include handbags, belts and men’s accessories (think: skull cufflinks and brass money clips). And the 34-year-old Sheffield shows no sign of slowing down, as witnessed by her recent stint as a guest blogger on the New York Times style site, The Moment, and her collaboration with Cole Haan, for whom she designed a collection of decorative clasps, closures and jewelry elements for shoes and handbags, which will launch this Fall.

The Fashion Informer grabbed a few minutes with the New York-based designer to gab about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (hint: it can be found on a mesa in New Mexico).

So, Anna…

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found inspiration?
Probably in sadness. But truly I find inspiration in just about everything I happen upon. I’m lucky that way!

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would never worry about things I cannot change.

What did you do last weekend, and what are your plans for this weekend?
I was on an amazingly pristine island in Thailand called Koh Lanta with my brother, his gal and my sweetheart! This weekend I’ll be in my studio working to make up for it.

Who do you consider the most underrated designer, living or dead?
I think there have been a lot of artists whose work went uncelebrated in their lifetimes, far too many to mention really. But no designers come to mind. I see so many talented people in New York and abroad these days, all deserving of success and getting it. I think this is a bountiful time in art and culture. I liken it to the Dada movement.

What is your favorite art form: music, books, film or theater?
I couldn’t begin to choose a favorite. I am equally enraptured by the ephemeral nature of music and the tangible arts like sculpture and painting. The directness and strength of film and photography never cease to amaze me - and I love to read.

Favorite work of art from your aforementioned fave art form?
Lately I am in love with Walton Ford’s stunningly beautiful paintings, M. Ward’s cover of “Let’s Dance,” and I just read “The Invention of Everything Else” [by Samantha Hunt], which was a lovely little story.

What is your favorite memory of summertime from childhood?
We used to spend part of the year in San Carlos, Mexico on the Sea of Cortez. Those were the best summers as we (my brothers and I) could play in the ocean to our hearts content - sailing, swimming, and harassing the various flora and fauna.

What initially drew you to jewelry (and now handbag) design?
It was a simple side step from making sculpture. I was working in both large scale steel and bronze metal fabrication, as well as making pieces in miniature from silver, copper and mixed materials. Making jewelry was a way to implement my metal-smithing skills and creative energies without the depth and time involved in producing fine art. I am happy making things in general. I have been since as far back as I can remember.

What would be your dream creative collaboration?
I have had so many dream collaborations already! I have had the pleasure of working with Douglas Little, Marc Jacobs, Lutz & Patmos, Phillip Lim and most recently with the wonderful team at Cole Haan. The next great adventure for me would definitely be to work on larger scale collaboration such as sculpture or furniture design. I don’t have my sights on any specific person or group, but who knows what the future holds!

Tell me about your favorite pair of shoes.
It would be my tried and true favorites: off-white great Gatsby-ish pumps from Chie Mihara. I have had them forever. And even though they look a little less than perfect these days, I still feel most myself when I wear them.

What's the one beauty/grooming item you can't live without?
I’m not too prissy of a girl but I can’t live without a good face lotion. Stella McCartney’s skin care line is my current obsession.

Who do you admire?
My mom, my brother, my friends (of whom I gratefully have many), my peers in this crazy and amazing industry. So many artists, past and present. Anyone who ventures to build something of their own volition. Bees.

When was the last time you rode public transportation?
I ride the subway everyday. I take the N/R, F/V and L mostly as they take me to and from work in Brooklyn, the jewelry district and my apartment near the Bowery.

What would you like to be doing if you weren't an accessory designer?
I want to learn to play the harmonica.

When are you happiest?
When I’m so absorbed in making something that I scarcely notice anything else. Being on a mesa looking out over the desert in New Mexico. And when in the presence of the people I love.

Stay tuned next week for Random Questions For…Rogan Gregory.

Met Museum's "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" Preview

Tonight, of course, is the annual Costume Institute benefit gala starring super Hollywood heroes like George, Julia, Mary-Kate and Ashley.

This morning's press preview was an affair for mere mortals, who rubbed elbows with fashion superstars Giorgio, Anna and the like. Here, a few shots to tide you over til the exhibit officially opens on Wednesday, with additional coverage posting on Vogue.com tomorrow morning.

Photos © The Fashion Informer/Lauren David Peden

Simon Doonan, Beautiful and Eccentrically Glamorous

Simon Doonan just saw the release of his latest book, "Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You" here in the States. And this week, he jumps the pond to celebrate the release of his memoir "Beautiful People" (published in the US in 2005 under the title "Nasty"), which is also being made into a BBC Two comedy series from Ab Fab/Little Britain producer, Jon Plowman. Read all about Doonan's fabulous adventures at VOGUE.COM.

Random Questions For...Joy Gryson

Since launching her eponymous handbag and footwear line in 2006, Joy Gryson’s accessories have become a fast favorite among fashion cognoscenti and celebs such as Michelle Williams and Jessica Biel.

The Korean-born, New York-based designer - who honed her chops at Coach, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs before going solo - recently debuted a limited-edition line of Gryson for Target handbags, which will be in-store through June 21st.

The Fashion Informer caught up with the FIT-educated Gryson earlier this month to get the scoop on her favorite Web sites, her vacation spot of choice and the contents of her own purse.

So, Joy...
 

What is your favorite springtime activity?
Going down to Avalon, New Jersey on the weekends - we have a beach house there - and we love going down there with our daughter and friends! It's completely relaxing - and the total opposite of being in the city.

Any summer vacation plans yet?
Our beach house, and possibly going to Nantucket. Peter (my husband) and I got engaged there.


What did you have for lunch today?
Eggplant Parmigiana with spaghetti. I love food, specifically anything Italian or Asian!  


What are the Web sites you read most often, and why?
Honestly, I am on the computer more than I like to be, so I try to give my eyes a break and stay off it when humanly possible.  But I do read WWD.com and Style.com.
 
Please look up from your computer and describe what you see when you look around.
Lots of magazine tearsheets, sketches and flowers - and the most perfect drawings done by my 5-year-old daughter, Olivia.

What is it about handbag design that you love?
I love the utilitarian aspect of handbags - that they must serve a function yet also need to look beautiful.  I love playing with the combination of leathers, materials and hardware. I love finding and using the most sumptuous leathers; it's definitely a tactile thing.  


If you could have one talent that you don't possess, what would you choose?
Playing a musical instrument - possibly the guitar.


Who is your favorite actor/actress of all time, and why?
I don't have just one; there are too many to name.
 
What is your favorite mode of communication?
Text messaging - it's instant - and it comes from only friends and family.

When was the last time you got a pedicure, and what color did you choose?
Last weekend - Chanel Blanc Ceramic. It’s a little early for white, but I am really anxious for Spring weather! 


Since you're a handbag designer, please tell me what items can typically be found in your own bag.
Iphone, sketch book, pouch wallet, sunglasses, mirror, tooth floss, Smythson agenda, Rosebud Salve lip balm, Handi Wipes.

Brunch:  pro or con?
ALWAYS a pro - I love brunch.

Do you have any superstitions?
Definitely. Don't walk under ladders, and I have never broken a mirror (keeping my fingers crossed)!
 
What makes you nervous?
Speaking in public.


When are  you happiest?
When I am with my husband and daughter - just laughing and being completely ridiculous and silly.


 
Stay tuned next week for Random Questions For Anna Sheffield.

Alexis Bittar: Go West, Young Man!

“The West Village has gone through a real evolution over the past few years,” says Alexis Bittar. “There’s been this injection of energy, and it makes you want to just reach out and grab it. It’s one of those rare neighborhoods that is unbelievably commercial, yet still manages to remain truly special and quaint. It's a great location to further the branding aspect of the business.”

And further the branding aspect of the business is exactly what the Brooklyn-based jeweler – whose Lucite, Elements and Miss Havisham collections are carried in hundreds of stores and museums around the globe - is doing with the new outpost he’s opening on Bleecker Street in May (his original NYC flagship, which opened in 2004, will remain on Broome Street in Soho).

“It will be a bit more intimate than the current store, which I think is appropriate given the quaint, village-like feel of the neighborhood,” he adds of the 350 sq. ft. Bleecker Street space, which is designed to feel like someone’s home – if that someone was Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, and home was Chicago’s Drake Hotel, as seen in the Alfred Hitchcock film, North by Northwest (Bittar’s stated inspiration for the new venue's look, which includes dark grey carpeting, oak veneer cases and Cherry blossoms on one wall - the latter a direct nod to a scene from Hitchcock's classic).

“I want to make this retail experience different from anything else out there,” explains the charmingly down-to-earth designer. “Much like the showcasing of modern art, the world of retail has become so stagnant and formulaic, with its white sheet rock walls and concrete floors. I really feel like there needs to be a change. People are bored with that aesthetic, as am I. I want my customer to feel something special upon entering my stores - like they are stepping back in time, catching a glimpse into an old 1930’s bedroom. I'm very conscious of the customer experience and there's a disconnect there that I'm really interested in - looking through the glass like you’re not supposed to be there. But then there has to be some sort of trust established; you have to find a way to take the museum-like qualities, and add a touch of modernism to make it feel relatable.”

Hmmm. Museum-like quality? Modernist? Relatable? Sounds kind of like his jewelry design.

Another element that makes shopping – or just browsing - in an Alexis Bittar store so pleasant is the staff, such as Broome Street employees Eric Joppy and Nadia Dev, who rank among the friendliest, most knowledgeable and professional sales help we’ve ever encountered when shopping (and we shop a lot).

We asked Bittar what he looks for when hiring his stellar sales staff.

“I look for people who are eclectic, artistic, personable, genuine and honest, first and foremost,” replied Bittar. “There seems to be this odd formula these days for sales staff in so many retail stores: They barely engage with the customer at all, and if they do, it's usually them just standing back and saying ‘that's cute,’ even if it's not. That totally turns me off. I want my customers to feel welcomed and comfortable - to be confident that they will get honest opinions from a skilled and genuinely attentive staff."

Mission accomplished, Mr. B!

Next stop: Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and New York's Upper East Side, all of which are slated to get their own Alexis Bittar boutiques within the next five years.

Photos courtesy Alexis Bittar

Meet Your Maker: Yeohlee Teng

“I always feel that the collection evolves from the previous collection, so it was Schindler followed by Gaudi with Schindler influences, then [for Spring ’08] I did something informed by Gaudi and the Spanish influence from Mexico and the mission architecture of the American Southwest,” explained Yeohlee Teng of a few of the recent inspirations behind the namesake collection she’s been designing since 1981.

For Fall 2008, the boxy ponchos and geometric coats of the previous season segued into cube skirts, arc tunics and a series of quilted cover-ups, all of which paid homage to the design and spiritual values of the Shakers and SANAA, the architectural firm behind the recently opened New Museum of Contemporary Art on the Bowery, where the designer, not coincidentally, held her Fall show.

Although architecture is the main recurring theme in all of Yeohlee’s collections – a theme that has led to her work being exhibited in museums around the world - the designer insists she only recognized the connection when it was pointed out to her by others.

“It’s really strange because when I burst on the scene it was because of ‘Intimate Architecture: Contemporary Clothing Design,’ an exhibition at the Hayden Gallery at MIT,” Yeohlee told The Fashion Informer as we sat in Philippe Starck ERO/S/ chairs at a glass table in her light-filled studio in midtown Manhattan. “That was the first time that my work was linked to architecture and that exhibition was in 1982. I grew up amongst architects, but I didn’t really see that. I thought that I was happily designing and making clothes, but the curator sought me out because she saw something in my clothes that, to her, spoke about this idea of intimate architecture, which is the first shelter that you build around yourself.”

Since then, Yeohlee’s shelters...err, clothes, have been exhibited in “Energetics: Clothes and Enclosures,” alongside the work of architect Ken Yeang in 1988, and were featured in shows at the Galleria Museum in Paris and London’s Victoria & Albert in 2000, at New York’s Museum at FIT in 2001 and at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2005.

Her designs are currently showcased in “Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture,” which launched at MOCA-Los Angeles in 2006 and traveled to Tokyo’s National Art Center in 2007 before moving to London’s Somerset House Embankment Galleries this week, where the exhibit (also featuring the work of Alexander McQueen, Boudicca, Hussein Chalayan, Zaha Hadid and Future Systems), will be on view from April 24th through August 2008.

We asked what the typical jumping off point was for her when designing a new collection (e.g., which comes first, the fabric or the shape, such as the spiked shells from Fall ’08 that serve as sartorial armor for the designer’s “urban nomad” fans)?

“It changes all the time,” Yeohlee replied, brushing a piece of hair out of her face. “I’m not rigid about it. Like, it would be difficult for somebody to stalk me because I never pick the same path. You know how, if you’re a creature of habit, you might start your day at 8:15 and go to the same deli for coffee and read the New York Times? I don’t do that.” She laughed. “And with [my work], each season the approach is different. I’m sure there are similarities but my thinking is different. For Spring 2008, for instance, we were going along working on the characters and crafting shapes but then the collection took a quantum leap.”

Based on what you were doing?

“Based on how you cut, so the collection evolves in that way,” she explained. “At a certain point you get a breakthrough and then it changes. So on the one hand, it’s always different. But on the other hand if you look at my work, there’s a very strong signature - and that signature is a constant. However, with what I discover during the design process [each season], we do make breakthroughs.”

So tell us about how this piece evolved, we asked, pointing to a mannequin wearing a silvery-black knee-length sheath that was fitted in front and seriously voluminous in back.

“That’s called the bellows dress,” she said, leaping to her feet and motioning for us to follow.

“I decided to create a lot of volume in the back, but if you’ve seen Gaudi’s work and how he created his shapes, you know he lets gravity create the shape.” Yeohlee pulled the back of the dress further away from the mannequin’s body, where it stayed, as if held aloft by invisible hands. “Well, this is a standing shape, meaning I allowed the fabric to determine the shape and the cut. Now this is not structured, there’s nothing in it to make it stand out like this, though the fabric itself has got metal in it.”

She then showed us a perfectly simple strapless wedding dress with a train that could be looped over the shoulder for dancing, followed by a reversible black and white felted topper that was one part coat, one part cocoon.

“This piece was informed, really, by the width of the fabric; it’s called an ovoid. Here, I’ll demonstrate.” And with that, the petite designer held the coat up by its hem, so that all we saw were her hands and feet peeking out from a circle of ivory wool.

So does she have a particular woman in mind when designing her collection, famous for its modern shapes that appear somewhat simple at first glance, their intellectual rigor and incredible craftsmanship apparent only upon closer inspection?

“I actually think that design is universal, so I design for people,” she replied mischievously. “I know there are designers that have a certain muse or client in mind, but I don’t think that way. I think [my client] is you, it’s your sister, it’s your future daughter, it’s your mom, you know what I mean? I really feel that if your design is successful, then it works for a lot of people.”

Yeohlee then pulled from the rack a rain cape with a hood that, when tied around one’s neck, completely covers the head, making an umbrella unnecessary. “It’s also very efficient in its design because there’s very little fabric waste and it’s one size fits all.”

“I try to really use fabric efficiently so there’s no waste and then I try to design efficiently with very few pattern pieces, one size fits all, that you can kind of stack them up and tuck them together [when cutting],” she added. “So I incorporate some personal philosophy into the design process. I have a real respect for fabric and process.”

And, clearly, Yeohlee’s fellow designers (and, it would seem, curators and architects the world over) have a real respect for her work and her process.

We mention that she always looks so happy and contented whenever we see her.

“Well, I kind of like what I do,” she replied with a grin, “and I really feel that that is such a privilege.”

Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture” will be on view at the Embankment Galleries at Somerset House through August 2008.

Photos © The Fashion Informer/Lauren David Peden

Ralph Lauren To Open Fourth Store on Bleecker Street

Not one to be outdone by the likes of Marc Jacobs, who recently expanded to five outposts in the West Village, Ralph Lauren will be opening a fourth store on Bleecker Street later this year, in the space currently occupied by the men's store L'Uomo, which is relocating, after 27 years, to a comparatively quiet stretch of West Fourth Street.

Bleecker Street is already home to Ralph Lauren men's, women's and Double RL stores. But, apparently, as with Jello, there's always room for more. More of what, exactly (kids? Rugby?) we're not sure. We are sure, however, that Ralph Lauren will be paying $50,000 more per month (yes, you read that right: per month) in rent than does L'Uomo owner Michael Adjiashvili. That's a lot of Jello.

Gap Unveils Designer White Shirts

Some snaps from the Gap launch party celebrating their second annual Design Edition collaboration with CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists. This year's designers are Band of Outsiders, Michael Bastian, Philip Crangi jewelry, 3.1 Phillip Lim and ThreeAsFour, all of whom were on hand to toast the project, as were about a dozen other designers. You can read more about the party on VOGUE.COM.

Photos © The Fashion Informer/Lauren David Peden

Meet Your Maker: Meredith Kahn

“When I was a little girl, I’d be like, ‘Mom, when I grow up, I want to have an empire!’” said Meredith Kahn with a laugh. “That’s my thing; I want to have a whole platform of pieces that really communicate to people, head to toe.”

So far, Kahn’s got the upper body covered, thanks to Made Her Think, the quirky-yet-classical jewelry line she launched on a whim in 2004, which became an instant hit with fashionistas from California to Kuwait.

Known for its use of iconic imagery - skulls, talons, pyramids, roses - Made Her Think was originally fashioned from found trinkets and one-of-a-kind vintage elements that Kahn, a long-time flea market fanatic, had collected over the years. But the line has since evolved to include seasonal costume and semi-precious collections she designs from scratch, along with a just-launched fine jewelry range, dubbed Meredith Kahn, that puts a more luxe spin on her trademark girly-goth aesthetic.

“I think a lot of what Made Her Think gives people is that relationship where they can look at [a piece] and even if they don’t understand its origins, they feel something,” the pretty brunette told The Fashion Informer when we sat down with her at 5 in 1, the wood-paneled Williamsburg, Brooklyn concept studio/store where she works alongside her graphic artist husband, Norman Rabinovich, and the designers behind local indie labels Eventide and Uluru.

“I love when a person picks up one of my pieces, puts it on, and they’re like ‘Oh!’” she added, a quiet shock of recognition in her voice.

So how does Kahn, an FIT grad who designed clothing for Old Navy before launching her quasi-eponymous line (Made Her Think is an anagram of Meredith Kahn), go about creating her collection each season? Does it start with an idea? An inspiration? The skulls and daggers and materials themselves?

“Its a combination,” she replied thoughtfully, twirling the gold diamond pendulum that hung from a black waxed cord around her neck (part of MHT’s upcoming fall ’08 collection). “It’s not only about one thing. It’s like, you go through life and you receive all the things that come your way - it could be carving in a piece of wood, the shade of the sky at a certain time of day, a reflection, some architecture you see while walking down the street - and you grab them and place them in the little box in your brain. And then, when the moment is right - whenever that is, and you can never know - it just kind of all comes together, and then you have your color palette, you have your material, and you have your forms, soft or structured, whatever they’re going to be.”

For spring, Kahn drew inspiration from the idea of a tainted garden, with the elements of nature being, as she put it, “brought into a darker field.” And so the collection, as seen in a look book titled “Sweet Nothings in the Voodoo Garden,” is full of resin cast roses - fashioned into bejeweled-taloned cuffs, feathered earrings, rosary-like necklaces and skull-studded bracelets - along with black diamond Swarovski rings (the stones of which have the grey cast Kahn loves), an edgy-ethereal spiked rose cuff that’s part punk, part princess, and an Art Deco pendant that manages, much like the designer herself, to be both sweet and sinister (not to mention subversively sexy).

For the fall ‘08 collection, called “Faux Illumination,” her subconscious rummaged around the old brain box and found inspiration in a trip Kahn had taken to New Mexico some four or five years ago. “It was amazing,” she recalled, a dreamy smile lighting up her delicate features. “I just love the idea of things that look like they were touched by a hand, so I wanted it to have an earthy, desert influence and the feeling of crystals.”

The latter she accomplished in her usual left-of-center way by casting the shapes in resin so they’d feel “more surreal, like they’re little crystal spears just floating in the element. I didn’t want use real crystals, because that would have been too literal.” Heaven forfend.

She also fashioned silk chiffon into big, ruffled brooches and wove the aforementioned black waxed cord into subtle macrame-like patterns to further invest the pieces with a handcrafted touch. “I wanted the collection to have the feeling of a nomadic woman in the middle of the desert with her rocks and her gems and her fabric wrapped and flowing around her. So that presents the imagery for you.”

It certainly does.

Kahn’s creativity also takes flight via her beautifully produced look books (or Notebooks, as she calls them), which resemble 19th Century writing tablets and come complete with moodily evocative photos and thought-provoking annotations, some rendered in traditional typography, others scribbled by hand with lines crossed out, making it feel as though you’re peering into someone’s private diary.

“I don’t have a specific background in jewelry,” said Kahn. “I have a background in clothing. But I wanted these collections to be these worlds of expression, because I felt like if I gave a story to it, then it would help the person understand the pieces even more, and they would develop even more of a relationship with it. So my first look book was really intense - 24 or 36 pages with hand written notes where I told what the inspiration was and what my purpose was for making the jewelry, along with this huge story about the girl.” She even directed a short film for her fifth Made Her Think collection, called “Illusions of the Heart,” which was shot in a “totally creepy” old house on Staten Island.

For her spring ’09 collection, Kahn - who just gave birth to her first child, daughter Grayson, a mere three months ago - plans to incorporate her current obsessions: Dirty diamonds (“it’s almost like the crushed bits at the bottom of someone’s drawer”) and paste, the term used for lead-and-glass stones that were the Cubic Zirconia of the Victorian era.

Kahn would also “love, love, love” to do a fragrance (something musky, she hints, to be housed in a flask based on the beloved vintage perfume bottles she’s been collecting forever), and says she could easily see Made Her Think jewelry being translated into hardware on a handbag collection. “I want to develop something that fits back to the collection and extends the brand,” she said. “I’m starting to do leather and I just got in some exotic skins for next season, so it’s definitely traveling along that path.”

Her finale? Clothing and home goods.

“You know, you have all these products leading up to that, so it’s head-to-toe,” she explained. “You can be smelling right, you’ve got your jewelry, your bag, the clothing and then into home goods, so you have a whole brand.”

So you want to be the Ralph Lauren of Williamsburg?

“Donna Karan, actually,” Kahn replied with a laugh. “She really embraces it. When you see her, she is the brand, which is very inspiring for me.”

“Obviously, I did it kind of backwards, starting with jewelry, but this is how nature intended,” she added. “I was making something in 2004 and putting it out there and people were responding, and I just listened. I think that’s probably one of the most important things with being creative and trying to sell your product. Because you can be as creative as you want, and you can be locked up in your house creating things and expressing yourself, but if you don’t know how to communicate it to other people, it’s a little bit of a problem. There has to be that relationship.”

Judging from the relationship Kahn has already forged with her growing legion of devoted fans, who seem unable to stop themselves at buying just one (or two or ten) Made Her Think pieces, that empire will be hers soon enough.

Photos © The Fashion Informer/Lauren David Peden

Random Questions For...Zac Posen

Zac Posen is as well known in fashion circles for his nightlife loving, bon vivant ways - and mischievously dandified personal style - as he is for the glamorous day dresses, feminine suiting and elegant evening gowns that have made him one of the main go-to designers for A-list socialites and red carpet-walking celebrities such as Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Helen Mirren and Beyoncé Knowles.

But at the ripe young age of 27, this native New Yorker clearly works as hard as he plays, as witnessed by a six-year-old collection that already includes fur, leg wear, body wear, shoes and handbags, along with the requisite ready-to-wear. And really, what’s not to love about a guy who employs his nearest and dearest (sis Alexandra is the company’s Creative Director and mom Susan, a lawyer, is CEO).

Today, the Zac Posen brand, which he launched in his parent’s living room in 2001, boasts 49 full-time employees and is carried in luxury stores the world over, from Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus to Harvey Nichols, Holt Renfrew and Vakko. Posen’s work has also been exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and at the FIT Museum in New York, and the designer himself was awarded the CFDA’s Swarovski/Perry Ellis Award for emerging talent in 2004.

The Fashion Informer persuaded the on-the-go designer - who studied fashion design at Parsons and London’s Central Saint Martins - to slow down for five minutes (ok, three) earlier this month to dish on his favorite model, his weekend plans and his music du jour.

So, Zac...

What's your favorite time of day?
Dawn, because I rarely get to see it and I love the world waking up.

What did you have for breakfast today?
Tomato juice with a twist of lemon, a croissant, berries and a black iced coffee. I’m quite partial to breakfast.

What did you do last weekend, and what are your plans for this weekend?
Last weekend I put on a fashion show in Melbourne and this weekend I will be in Bali.

Where else would you like to live (other than NYC) if you could?
There are so many places I haven’t explored yet. I’d love to live in Montana, Paris, Maine or Sussex.

Who is your favorite model of the moment?
Sasha. She balances a cool vacancy with effervescent luster. She has real star quality without flaunting it. And she’s an artist!

What's in current rotation on your iPod?
The Arcade Fire, The Veronicas, Stylofone, Patti Smith and Anna Netrebko.

What's your beverage of choice?
Mr. & Mrs. T, V8, ginger beer, hibiscus tea.

Who do you admire, and why?
A lot of my existence is about admiration. I like people who take risks and have a unique hand that they are born with. I admire people who hone and own their craft. Jane Goodall, Werner Herzog, Azzedine Alaia, Herzog & de Meuron, and Hillary Clinton for going all the way.

What is your all-time favorite store?
Treasure and Trifles, the food court at Bon Marché, Chantal Thomass.

What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween.

What would you like to be doing if you weren't a fashion designer?
Politician.

Favorite sport to watch/participate in?
Horse-riding (cutting and dressage), back-country powder skiing and rugby.

Tell me about your pet(s).
I have two beautiful dogs. I have a little Poodle – licorice colored – named Tina Turner. She is one of the world’s greatest snugglers. Her sister is named Grey (Bingo). She is a fox-red Pomeranian. I also have four birds: three little finches and a white dove.

What never fails to make you cry?
Waste, bad food, and the movie The Color Purple.

When are you happiest?
When I am draping, singing, dancing and cooking for people.

Stay tuned next week for Random Questions For...Joy Gryson.