fashion Archives - HUMANITY Magazine

A STYLISH LIFE: ALEX EAGLE

Posted on September 30, 2016February 27, 2018 by swasserman

For British retailer, designer and creative director, Alex Eagle, her life and work is all about curating. Whether scouring the globe for the absolute finest luggage, or a choosing a pair of shoes that fits the season’s trends without being too trendy, Eagle has become a trusted guide to a well-edited life. Just one step into her eponymous concept store in London’s Soho neighborhood, and you can sense her touch on every corner: mid-century furniture, contemporary art, and limited edition vinyls mix seamlessly with beauty products from the Alps, charcoal water filters, and of course wardrobe pieces from exciting new designers including herself.

When Humanity sat down with Eagle in her London apartment, she let us in on everything she’s coveting at the moment, and a look into her curated life. Read on for her favorite things, and get a deeper look into her career from Issue09.

Neighborhood in London: Soho (1.)
Place to relax: Tuscany (16.)
Local restaurant: Barrafina  (6.)
Indulgence: Booja-Booja chocolates
New discovery: Yorica! began serving ice cream in Soho (12.)
Everyday scent: Portrait of a Lady by Frédéric Malle (14.)
Essential footwear: New & Lingwood x Alex Eagle Velvet Slippers (13.)
Luggage brand: Swaine Adeney Brigg x Alex Eagle  (3.)
Day bag: The Row Book Bag
Travel-size beauty product: Susanne Kaufmann Pillow Spray (9.)
Piece of art: Own and love…Yves Klein coffee table (17.) and Picasso plates  (7.)
Bedding: Olatz
Piece of furniture: Pierre Jeanneret Easy chair  (2.)
Gadget: iPhone
Flowers or florist: Fjura (15.)
Coffee table book: Irving Penn Flowers  (4.)
Piece of jewelry: Aldo Cipullo for Cartier 1970s Gold Nail bracelet  (5.)
Beauty product you will never give up: Susanne Kaufmann face cream (10.)
Beauty product or routine you recently fell in love with: Facial Acupuncture
Beauty destination: Austria. For fresh fresh mountain air (11.)
Place for inspiration: Les Puces (flea market) in Paris.
Kitchen tool: NutriBullet
Music record: Toots and the Metals  (8.)
Social media account to follow: @archdigest and @1stdibs

Wardrobe Essentials from Alex Eagle Studio:
Alex Eagle silk shirt and black trousers (1.)
Blazé Milano x Alex Eagle Resolute Navy Blazer (2.)
Fernando Jorge jewelry (3.)
Le Monde Beryl suede slippers (4.)
Hillier Bartley Double Shoulder Bag (5.)

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HUMANITY DINNER WITH ISAMAYA FFRENCH

Posted on December 10, 2015September 28, 2017 by Jessica Bowler

i-D Magazine Beauty Editor Isamaya Ffrench and Citizens of Humanity kick started London Fashion Week with an intimate dinner at Bistrotheque to celebrate Issue N06 of HUMANITY Magazine. Isamaya, who is featured in the latest issue, hosted the exclusive evening with a mix of young designers, musicians, artists, top stylists and editors from fellow inspirational publications.

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ISMAEL OLIVERA

Posted on December 10, 2015February 27, 2018 by Sacha Cosentino

If you’re a denim devotee, there’s a good chance that, at one point in time, Ismael Olivera had his hands on your favorite jeans before you. That’s because Olivera, who now works as one of the head sewers at Citizens of Humanity headquarters, cut his teeth working for every major denim label that has manufactured in Los Angeles in the last two decades.

But the roots of his stitching wizardry can be traced back to Pueblo, Mexico, where Olivera was born. The son of a tailor and a farm owner, Olivera was one of seven brothers and five sisters. “The only thing I remember was that we were really happy,” says Olivera, reflecting on his impoverished childhood. “We were poor, but we didn’t know any better.”

At age ten, alongside his two older brothers, Olivera picked up a needle and thread with his father, and began to learn the family trade. Known far and wide for making long-lasting garments, especially trousers, his father’s storefront was frequented by customers of all backgrounds, from truck drivers to prominent business owners. The secret to the shop’s signature pants? Each backrise, inseam and side-seam was reinforced with a special elastic thread.

At age 15, Olivera’s father migrated to the United States to make more money to educate his younger daughters, leaving Olivera and his brothers in charge of the shop. It was an important time for learning, he says, recalling the customers who would come to the family shop and dish out advice as they waited for their garments to be finished. “Work hard and take care of your money,” they told Olivera—lessons which continue to resonate with him today.

Fresh out of high school, Olivera followed his father to Los Angeles, where he quickly found work making Guess jeans for a Mexican contractor in downtown. Quickly, he set his sights on the most coveted job in the factory: working on the caballo machine, making backrises. The position required experience and skills—both which Olivera lacked—and also paid more than double what he was making at the time. On lunch breaks, Olivera would study his friends’ techniques, and, when the manager was out, would try his hand at the machine.

His proficiency was put to the test when he landed a job at another factory working the backrise machine, and was fired within a week. Olivera continued to hone his skills working for a handful of other brands, including Bongo, before landing at the Pepe Jeans in 1994, before going back to Guess for two years, followed by stints at Cherokee and Calvin Klein. Here, Olivera flourished, and when the factory was moved to Mexico, Olivera was asked to come. Instead, the tailor opted to stay, and was promptly recommended for a position working thecaballo at the newly launched AG Jeans.

In 2003, the denim world was abuzz with the debut of Citizens of Humanity, so at the urging of friends in the industry, Olivera left AG Jeans to work there. “I came from a big company to a small company, and took the risk,” he says, admitting he was quickly won over by the value the brand placed on all of it’s team members. “I never thought it was going to be this big.”

No day is alike for Olivera, who, eleven years later, is one of the company’s head sewers. From crafting samples to pressing jeans for fittings, Olivera and his team leave their mark on every piece of denim that passes through the brand’s facility outside downtown Los Angeles. “I think denim will stay for ever, but people get tired of the same thing, so it has to change all the time,” he muses.

And Olivera’s proudest moment? Keeping his word to his now-departed father, and paying for his sibling’s educations with his talent and hard work. “If you put a machine in front of me, I can do so many things,” he says. “Wherever I go, nobody can take this skill away from me.”

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HITOSHI UCHIDA

Posted on December 10, 2015February 27, 2018 by Sacha Cosentino

It’s been called “the best vintage store in the world,” but owner Hitoshi Uchida opened his Tokyo-based shop J’Antiques in 2005 without thinking much about its future. “I happened to find a property for sale in my neighborhood,” he says. “So I started my store without preparing much.” located near the Nakameguro neighborhood, J’Antiques’ shelves and aisles are packed with classic men’s and women’s wear (focusing on authentic American work wear from the 1920s and beyond) as well as bric-a-brac like vintage buttons, antique keys, and WWII-era military gear. His pieces are humble yet beautifully crafted; relics from the days when the U.S. was really celebrated for creating carefully crafted clothing that was built to last.

Becoming a master at sourcing and selling artifacts like these was a natural extension of Uchida’s personal passion for unique style. “I was looking for clothing that was different from other people’s,” he explains, “That’s what first led me to vintage.” Growing up in Gunma, a mountainous area north of Tokyo, Uchida considered becoming an architect. But his love for fashion and its history drew him to career clothing. Once he’d secured the location for his shop, the name for J’Antiques was a natural fit. “It’s a combination of ‘junk’ and ‘antique,’” Uchida explains. “I think somebody’s ‘junk’ can be another’s ‘antique’ and vice versa, depending on people’s choices and taste.” He makes regular buying trips to the U.S. to seek out choice pieces from flee markets and vintage shops across the country — and still gets excited about working with one-of-a-kind garments. “I love that I can be involved with the whole process: getting a vintage item, cleaning it, displaying it at the store, and selling it to a customer, who truly loves it”.

Uchida’s got a particular passion for vintage denim, and still fondly remembers his first pair of Lee 101z’s. “I especially like pieces that look like they were used as work clothes,” he says. He’s not a snob about the historical provenance of every item in the shop, though—J’Antiques offers some new pieces, but only those that have certain timelessness. “I always try to find new items which have a potential to become vintage,” he explains. Still, the pleasure of working with vintage clothing, says Uchida, is the eternal element of surprise. “I get to see something that I have never seen. Each item is unique, even the ones that look similar.”

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GÉRALDINE SAGLIO

Posted on December 10, 2015February 21, 2018 by Taylor Norman

It’s been 10 years since Saglio landed a plum internship at Vogue Paris and worked her way up the editorial ladder to the distinguished rank of the title’s fashion editor, where she remains today, curating a vision of style under the industry’s watchful eye.

Despite her sixth sense for fashion (she’s regularly snapped by street-style bloggers for her cool Parisian-girl vibe), Saglio didn’t always envision herself immersed in a world of runway shows and photo shoots. “I first started studying economics,” explains the native Parisian—who continues to live today in the same arrondissement in which she grew up. But Saglio quickly got bored and within two years made the leap to fashion school, enrolling in ESMOD, alma mater to the likes of designers Thierry Mugler and Olivier Rousteing and Marie Claire creative director Nina Garcia. “It was interesting because they offered many internships in the industry, and it allowed me to have various short experiences in press departments, commercial departments and marketing,” notes Saglio, whose final internship was a six month stint at Vogue Paris. “I loved everything there,” she says. And the rest is magazine history.

Like most budding fashion editors, Saglio paid her dues performing tasks such as clothing returns, eventually earning herself a coveted spot as the second assistant to then editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld (who departed for new editorial pastures in 2011). But a chance to help on a photo shoot in Los Angeles afforded Saglio the opportunity to work for 10 days with then fashion director (and current editor-in-chief) Emmanuelle Alt. From then on, Saglio cut her teeth as Alt’s main assistant, working for five years before earning her stripes and current title of fashion editor. And lest anyone think a fashion assistant’s job doesn’t have some humorous moments, think again: “I had just started working as Emmanuelle’s assistant; I barely knew her and we were not yet on familiar terms,” explains Saglio. “We were shooting in the Seychelles and the first night, while I was fast asleep, she came knocking on my door at 3 a.m. I mean, she was my boss, not my friend, but she asked to sleep with me because there was this terrifying insect in her room!”

It’s no surprise that this editor, whose expertly trained eye is responsible for landing of-the-moment designers on the pages of one of the world’s most respected fashion magazines, has her own, seemingly effortless style down pat. Saglio likes to rock a self described “classic, masculine” style and identifies an old Isabel Marant sweatshirt, a vintage Saint Laurent smocking and a pair of black jeans as favorite pieces in her own well-edited closet. “I have always been obsessed with Saint Laurent and his smocking,” says Saglio, who counts Jane Birkin and Betty Catroux among her personal style icons and currently has her eye on designers Anthony Vaccarello, Fausto Puglisi and Christophe Lemaire.

So next time you’re lusting over looks in Vogue Paris, you know who to thank.
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JOHN WARD

Posted on December 10, 2015September 28, 2017 by Taylor Norman

Tucked back on an old road in the Pacific Palisades, fashion designer, husband and father John Ward lives amongst the eucalyptus trees and brush of the Southern California canyon. The success of his first line, Three Dots, a quality T-shirt company that offered a variety of men’s sizes when everything was only one size fits all, launched his career. His learning curve widened, though, with his next brand, Maggie Ward, an ambitious project that eventually put him out of business due to the new challenges of creating a whole line and the backlash of the recession. But with any experience comes gems of wisdom. “One element of that line,” Ward recalls, “that always met with a lot of success is these leggings that I did with really beautiful Italian Ponte. It always sold well in the stores. Year after year, people would ask me for those leggings. So I talked to somebody who was interested in partnering up and starting a new line based on the leggings. That fell through. Gary Freedman, my lawyer for a long time, drew up some plans for me. When I told him it fell through, he said, ‘Well, it’s a good concept—why don’t you talk to Citizens about it?’ I threw together some sweatshirts to go with the leggings, made out of this artisanal Japanese fleece. It’s really very simple shapes, but beautiful fabrics. I showed it to everybody at Citizens and they loved it.”

Born from this huge setback in his life, Ward launched the new line, Getting Back to Square One, in 2013 with Citizens of Humanity, and the response was encouraging. They sold to approximately 60 stores and received several reorders. Ward’s penchant for details and quality fabric are key to the brand. The factories he works with in Italy use innovative treatments to create amazing Ponte, essentially a type of double-knit fabric. Ward explains: “The quality of the Pontes are incredible. People get them and wear them and just are amazed how much they hold up. They don’t stretch out. They’re indestructible. It’s almost like an investment that’s going to last, which is, in today’s world, almost a novel idea, that you’re going to buy a piece of clothing that’s going to hold up.”

Though leggings make sense in climates other than Los Angeles, they are practical and there’s been quite a revolution of how women dress on a daily basis. It’s common to see women wearing yoga pants to run errands, so leggings are a smart bet for the market. “It’s practical to get in and out of the cab with leggings. It’s a practical thing to throw a sweater over. It’s practical indoors and out. It’s great to travel with. It’s easy to just throw in a suitcase without worrying about getting wrinkled. It’s an easy, versatile piece of clothing. It’s something, if you put the right things together, you look put together, rather than sloppy. Especially when you want to do something quickly … I think women are feeling more secure about wearing tight things on the bottom, period. It’s sort of an easy jump for this. Also, I think there are a lot of cheap leggings out there on the market. People don’t want to look trashy, so the idea of a premium legging is appealing. It doesn’t have to be so fashion-based. It’s a fundamental part of what you need from day to day,” Ward shares.

Not one to underestimate chance, the opportunity to create a line with Citizens has helped relaunch Ward with a line that can’t be taken for granted. Ultimately, the idea of his product is embracing a real great quality of fabric, something he has always championed.

In his words, “Getting back to square one simply means getting back to something that you really know how to do well and taking that approach.”

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STEVE VAN DOREN

Posted on December 10, 2015February 27, 2018 by Taylor Norman

It never rains in Southern California, and there are always a pair of Vans on someone’s feet. It sounds like a long-winded folk song by a sun-kissed guitar strummer on the Venice Boardwalk, but it’s really an ethos that embodies the spirit of those who call the Left Coast home. Much like the temperature here that rarely fluctuates, so too stands the resiliency of the steadfast and legendary shoe company that was founded by Paul Van Doren back in 1966. Having transcended the realm of footwear to become a cultural icon, the company has inevitably had to change to accommodate the modern world. But there are certain aspects of Vans that remain as recognizable as the Hollywood sign. The main thing? The Sidestripe.

To understand the staying power of one of the most distinctive contrasting elements in all of footwear is to know the history of the brand. The original intentions of Paul Van Doren, his brother Jim Van Doren and longtime friend Gordon Lee were to right the sinking ship of a factory in Gardenvale, California, that was owned at the time by Randy’s—a Boston-based shoe manufacturer best known for outfitting Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy. In just eight short months, the fledgling factory was doing better than its eastern cousin. Thus, on March 16, 1966, at 704 E. Broadway in Anaheim, the partners opened up the first store of their own. At that point, there were only three companies manufacturing vulcanized footwear in the U.S.—Randy’s, Keds and Converse.

Steve Van Doren, son of Paul, remains an integral part of the operation despite the company’s sale to the banking firm McCown De Leeuw & Co. back in 1988. His passion for Vans is hard to ignore, and his knowledge of the inner workings of the brand makes him a footwear encyclopedia of sorts. And for him, it all starts with the Sidestripe—which debuted in 1977 on a new sneaker identified then simply as “Style 36.” (It’s now known as the Old Skool.) “The Sidestripe is a wavy line beginning in the front of the shoe below the eyestay lace area and ending at the back counter area of the shoe. It followed the stitch line of the padded color of the Style 36,” explains Van Doren. “The navy suede and the light blue canvas was an excellent-looking shoe. I was really excited when it first came out, because it was more durable. Also, before that we did not have our own identifying design, and this was it! My father wanted to create a unique design that would identify the shoes as Vans. He always had a pencil in his hand and was always drawing or doodling simple sketches on a notepad.”

While Vans maintain a certain “relaxed” connotation thanks to their Southern California roots, as well as the earliest customers who flocked to the company, the Sidestripe’s origins are similar to those of other sneaker imprints. “You can see it from far away, [and it] stands out from all other shoes,” says Van Doren. “Skateboarding shoes back in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s all looked the same, but if an athlete wore an Old Skool or Sk8-Hi you could spot it right away.” Brand recognition from afar is what footwear is all about.

One could argue that Stacy Peralta did for Vans and skateboarding what Michael Jordan did for basketball and Nike. Simply put, he became a role model for kids to emulate. “Stacy Peralta was the very first skateboarder to wear Vans,” says Van Doren. “From there, every skateboarder wore them, and then we came out with the high-top version, the Style 38, and the Sk8-Hi with a similar Sidestripe. Every well-known skater in the world wore one or the other during the ’80s and ’90s. If you were to watch the movie Bones Brigade, you would see every rider donning the Sidestripe.” From there, Vans and their signature design would go on to permeate other facets of youth lifestyle. “BMX riders immediately took on the Old Skool’s added benefits of padded materials and unique customization options,” adds Van Doren. “Today, I see a lot of musicians, artists, sneaker fans and car and motorcycle enthusiasts making the Old Skool their own.”

Very rarely does a brand get to keep its counterculture placard while at the same time enjoying fiscal and critical success. Yet Vans continue to carry an underground appeal that allows wearers to feel there’s a universal connection among them. “I would say Vans fans are expressing their individuality and personal style,” Van Doren says. “They like their product to be different, and Vans allows them that individuality and offers a heritage of good-quality products. The Sidestripe has represented authentic Vans branding for over 37 years.”

With nearly 50 years of success under their belt, there’s an anecdote— that just so happens to be true—that illustrates perfectly why Vans continue to be as beloved now as they were back in 1966. As the story goes, the first people to own Vans were each given a pair on an “honor system” of sorts, after Paul Van Doren and his associates had “forgotten to maintain a cash reserve to provide change to their customers.” “All 16 did come back,” says Van Doren. “15 of them by the next day, and the last was [paid for] by a lady a week later when she came home from a trip. It basically comes down to the trust and passion that is the foundation of our brand. My dad and his partners were trying to start a business [where] you put trust in your workers and customers. The company guaranteed its products because we trusted we made great shoes. The customer, by using our product, put trust that the American-made product they saw was good quality. People believing in other people is a very valuable idea. We had to prove we made great shoes, and counted on our customers to help tell our story to their friends. On the wall of our stores, we had a sign 8 feet long that said ‘Tell A Friend.’ From the first day the founders believed that our customers were our Number 1 focus, and we needed them to believe in our brand.”

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BERBERJIN

Posted on December 10, 2015September 28, 2017 by Taylor Norman

Vintage retail boutiques may seem a dime a dozen, but quality vintage is still hard to find. Things aren’t made like they used to be, and while many boutiques boast wide selection, the garments may not be stellar vintage, one-of-a-kind pieces: something old, well made and classic in character and style. It takes a very special eye to find these pieces. In Tokyo, though, there is a place that has a global reputation in the vintage scene. That place is BerBerJin.

Yutaka Fujihara became interested in vintage clothing in high school and aspired to work in the fashion industry from then on. The devoted denim lover’s early affair with Levi’s, Lee and Ralph Lauren played a part in inspiring his dream. In 1996, he opened BerBerJin with his vice president, Mr. Furutachi, and now he travels the world sourcing the perfect pieces for his stores in Shibuya and Harajuku. Fujihara loves shopping in Los Angeles and references Melrose Avenue for having one of his favorite vintage stores. “I think people desire to own the beauty of ‘one of a kind’ like vintage clothing,” he says. His rules for vintage are: the year it was made, the label and the rarity. He likes pieces that have a good vintage feel, but he mostly relies on what catches his eye.

It’s his love affair with denim that has ultimately made BerBerJin exceptional. The passion has also developed into an unprecedented personal book project with Levi’s. With the company’s blessing, Fujihara is creating a photography book on the amazing Levi’s 501 collection found in Japan. “I love the history of denim, and simply the feel of denim and the shade of indigo colors,” he says. BerBerJin’s success is also attributed to the quality and quantity of dead stock vintage items they carry, how fast their items rotate and how much they care for each of their customers.

To find clothes with a certain fit is part of the vintage anomaly. Clothing is not tailored like the good ol’ days either. There is so much bulk manufacturing in the clothing industry, it’s hard to find something perfect, something special. A trip to BerBerJin is like going back in time, digging in a treasure chest of wonder.

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COLLEEN ATWOOD

Posted on December 10, 2015February 27, 2018 by Taylor Norman

I was introduced to COLLEEN ATWOOD 15 years ago. As someone who works “in costume,” I was of course curious how Colleen produced such interesting designs. Expecting a serious type of person, I walked into her office and she was on the floor, doing a yoga handstand against the wall, and shook my hand upside down. That’s kind of how I always think of Colleen—looking at things from a different angle.

Our personalities clicked, and I have been lucky enough to be able to work with her almost exclusively for quite some time. We both come from small towns, me from Texas and Colleen from Washington state; I think we are similarly able to be open to new ideas and experiences, as curious people are when they have outgrown their surroundings. That open-mindedness is the main thing we have in common, both in our working relationship and, over time, what has become a great friendship.

When Colleen and I are working, we spend enormous amounts of time in the car together. Whether it’s going from fabric store to fitting or driving to locations that at times may be two to three hours away. When we are on the open road, we listen to everything from Sons of the Pioneers to Kanye West. And when we aren’t listening to music, we talk. We talk about anything and everything, taking in all that we pass along the way.

Christine: You grew up on the flat, plain side of Washington state. How do you think that influenced you growing up? Did it inspire you or did you just want to get out?

Colleen: I think that, when you grow up in a place that’s pretty empty, that in your mind you’re able to fill up the space in different ways and appreciate the beauty that’s in the things that aren’t there, like the sky as opposed to a bunch of buildings or the one tree as opposed to the forest, which is a different kind of sensibility that I think affected my design sensibility and what it was. Of course, I was driven to leave in a way, too, because I wanted to be stimulated in different ways. But I think ultimately growing up in a place that is nominal like that, you learn to see different things in a different way and you appreciate the—what you call in art “negative space.”

Christine: You kind of have a cowboy attitude. Do you think that’s part of it? You’ve kind of taken it in now and appreciate it more?

Colleen: No, I think I’ve always loved it because I think that the two things that I wanted to do as a kid were to be an artist or to own a ranch. My grandmother and my grandfather were ranchers, and I spent a lot of time in a very beautiful ranch environment. I’ve always loved it.

Christine: Your ideas come from all over the place. Do you think that you’re on all the time? Just absorbing all the time, from everything you see? Or do you give yourself a break sometimes?

Colleen: I don’t think about it consciously really. I think when you’re out and around you see stuff and sometimes you go, Oh man look at that guy over there. I wish I had seen him on my last job. Or you just look at people and you get inspired from what they’re doing or the way they’re acting or a piece of material. But it’s almost like you look at it and it flows through your subconscious in a way and comes back in strange ways. Like last night, I had a dream—I used to make model towns when I was little, and I dreamed I was making one and the roads were made out of rickrack.

Christine: Oh, nice.

Colleen: I was like, why am I dreaming—about rickrack?

Christine: The winding streets in town?

Colleen: Yeah, because I saw velvet rickrack yesterday and got excited for a minute.

Christine: Lovely. That’s awesome. I read a quote—something a while back where you said, “Costume is the first impression of a character you have before they open their mouths. It establishes who they are.” How does that translate into your new bag line that you’re going to be coming out with? You’ve given each of your bags a character name, right?

Colleen: It’s changed a little bit from that because it started out as character names or place names. One bag is called [Scala] because it’s kind of an Old World bag, and I was going to Italy to design [La Scala] and I kept thinking of it as the bag, that Milanese bag [the Scala]. I’m inventing names as they go. They’ve shifted a little bit from the original concept, too, where I was thinking kind of almost like women’s personalities. And I think it’s become a combination, a marriage of the two.

Christine: Say you’re styling someone in modern clothes; do you go about that the same way? Do you need to get to know that person to get a personality read from them so that you can draw that into part of a design?

Colleen: I think I do that no matter whether it’s modern or period. You can’t really design a character without knowing who the character is going to be. Even though you read about the newest idea. You think fondly of films that you’ve worked on before, but is that true? Is it that you just look forward to thenext challenge?

Colleen: I like the idea of taking what I know, taking what I’ve done and trying to not do it again the same way and always trying to be fresh and come up with new things. I think that excites me more than going down memory lane and going, “Oh, on that job I did this and on that job I did that.” You kind of remember, “OK, I did that there, that worked kind of good, but for this it’s not right,” and come to a new place.

Christine: And past ideas that maybe didn’t get completely thought out on other jobs.

Colleen: Yes, or used sometimes, which is always kind of a drag. But still you go, “OK, I’ll save that for another day.”

Christine: Just put it in your back pocket. What are you working on right now?

Colleen: I’m working on Through the Looking Glass. It’s the Alice in Wonderland second book. It’s a similar kind of fantasy sort of atmosphere, sort of like the first one. Same cast, basically part two, which I’ve never done before. It’s kind of weird for me, but I didn’t want to not do it because I liked the process on the first one so much. I’m also working on this first project, this purse project, which is an ongoing thing and something I think about every day and do a little bit on every day while I’m doing everything else. And then I’m getting ready to do a movie called Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which is a wonderful Tim project that I’m really looking forward to but haven’t started yet.

Christine: Do you have any personal heroes? Maybe now and also maybe when you were young?

Colleen: I think the people that I admired when I was young were my grandparents probably the most. I grew up when Kennedy was president. He was a great hero, and Martin Luther King Jr., but it was sort of a hero that was so huge that it was sort of untouchable.

But my parents and their stories and their histories, which were very diverse, were fascinating to me when I was a child, and I still think they are great stories. As you go through life and become an adult, you have the great heroes of politics and the great heroes of religion, like the Dalai Lama. They’re heroic people, but to me some of the people that I’ve met through a charity that I helped with that worked with children that need serious medical help are really amazing heroes. I think that anyone that works in medicine and healing is a special kind of hero.

Christine: You are talking about Art of Elysium?

Colleen: Yes.

Christine: What did you do? Did you do any specific project with them?

Colleen: I have to confess I didn’t do enough with them, and it’s something that I’m not walking away from. But I did a Halloween project at the hospital where a group of people that worked with me all with great love came together, and we made costumes for the kids and they made costumes with us. It was a great afternoon. It was so rewarding and inspirational to see what little things mean to people. Sometimes some of us forget that.

Christine: Last question. You told me once that when you—I’m going to say it aloud—“retire,” which personally I don’t think will ever happen, that you want to design for a cheesy Mexican soap opera. Is that still true?

Colleen: Probably. I think that would be fun. At least they’ll be able to use a lot of color and things.

Christine: Get your Mariachi inspiration worked in there somewhere.

Colleen: Yeah. I’ve always loved the Mariachi costume and where it comes from. Actually, this week I’ve been listening to NPR do this story on the border and there’s a lot of Mariachi in the background. The idea of telling a story through the song the way that Mariachi does is a beautiful thing to me. But for a band they have a pretty good outfit.

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MURAT OZTURK

Posted on December 9, 2015September 28, 2017 by Sacha Cosentino

“When I feel good about something, I want to do it more and more,” says Murat Ozturk. “I want to get better and better at it.” It’s an approach he’s developed since his first job working at a denim factory in his native Turkey, and today, it’s the same way he looks at his role at Citizens of Humanity.

Inside his office at the company’s headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, Ozturk proudly displays his work: Along one wall, his latest patterns compete for space next to denim-inspired street- style shots, fabric samples and a few reminders from back home. The rest of the room is dominated by a floor-to-ceiling Laser Systems Technology (LST) machine, one of the six machines that Citizens of Humanity counts in its arsenal for distressing denim—the same technology that Ozturk, 30, has to thank for bringing him to Los Angeles to live out his American dream.

The third boy in a family of five brothers and two sisters, Ozturk was born in Ağrı, a small city in eastern Turkey. His father is a shopkeeper by trade, and his mother grows the flowers and vegetables they sell. “When you are little, it’s hard, but when you grow up, it’s amazing,” says Ozturk of a childhood spent surrounded by siblings. “You take care of each other.” When he was 15, the family, including his aunts and uncles, uprooted and headed for Istanbul, in search of a better quality of life and a better education for Ozturk, his siblings and cousins. Immediately the teenager felt at home in the country’s largest city, and upon graduating from high school, Ozturk landed his first job, at Turkish denim staple Mr. Bright.

There he immersed himself in the art of jean making, navigating his way through the process of dying, rinsing and treating the fabric. “On the weekends, I missed going to work,” says Ozturk, whose enthusiasm for learning was not lost on his peers (it’s a small, tight-knit industry in Istanbul, he says). Within a year and a half, he was handpicked to join the team that produced denim for Tommy Hilfiger and Levi’s.

Not before long Ozturk found himself on the front lines for the Levi’s Team, using his newfound know-how in etching designs onto fabrics, combined with his background in washes and treatments.

After four years, he was tapped to join the LST team. Taking his skills and knowledge into the field, Ozturk helped to educate other industry players about the possibilities of LST—including Citizens of Humanity on the other side of the world.

When Ozturk landed in Los Angeles almost three years ago, his plan was to stay for a month before heading to China on his next assignment, but he had a life-changing moment at Citizens. “We liked each other so much that they asked me if I wanted to stay.”

The young Turk, who had previously communicated via translator, began furiously studying English several hours after work each night. As of late, he’s embarked on Spanish lessons, too, to communicate even more effectively with his 10-person team.

Ozturk didn’t just bring six LST machines with him from Turkey; he’s also brought as much of the culture as he can. Instead of swimming in the Bosphorus, Ozturk now spends weekends in the water at Redondo Beach. Here he fishes regularly early in the mornings with friends—a hobby picked up in Turkey. Also a lifelong soccer fanatic, he continues his passion stateside as a member of a soccer team, playing matches every Friday night in the South Bay. He’s tried to pick up new interests, too, including surfing, which didn’t exactly go as planned. “I saw people doing it and thought I had to too, but it’s really hard.”

These days, it’s family and food that Ozturk misses most from his native Turkey—but even that’s changed. His new bride, Auka—has just moved to Los Angeles. “I really love Los Angeles and I don’t have any plans to go back to Turkey,” he says as he takes stock of his new life in America. “I really think anything you can imagine is possible here!”

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