Starting next week, we will be featuring a weekly peek into the work of upcoming NYC designer Louis Mairone, the man behind the Dominic Louis label, as he creates his spring collection.
This week, we get to know Louis, a born and raised Philadelphian, who came to live, work, play and make it big in Manhattan. Louis shares his fresh view and original thoughts on fashion, along with some tips from a good NYC café to what to avoid as a new designer.
Sense of Fashion: When did you launch your label?
Louis Mairone: My website featuring my first Fall collection was published June 1st.
SOF: What’s the story behind the label’s name?
LM: It is my first and middle names reversed. It just sounded more fluid to me. Plus, I always liked the idea of having an alias but didn’t want it to be too far off from my own.
SOF: What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?
LM: Making the transition from working in corporate design, where there is an unlimited budget to create new samples and buy all the necessary items to convey the vision.
SOF: How did you overcome that?
LM: I understood that being on a budget doesn’t necessarily create limits for me. It has just pushed me to find new options and experiment more with what I have available.
SOF: What strikes you as interesting in current fashion and what’s always relevant?
LM: Currently I think the play on volume and silhouette has really been driving my eye. I think it creates a sort of undefined un-contrived elegance. As for always relevant… you should always be effortless.
SOF: What trend has been over used?
LM: While I have been influenced by all of this incredibly emotional modern post apocalyptic idealism, at the end of the day I think the trend has been over done. There is only so much black to be worn. Although I love the black and the modern Gothic sensibility, I have more recently been missing the fun in fashion; the outright glamor and beauty.
SOF: Name your top three fashion loves
LM: I try not to pay too much attention to fashion periodicals and trend forecasters etc. It can kind of skew what we can imagine in a raw sensibility, it tends to taint an original vision. Not to say that everything in fashion isn’t repeated, but when it is fresh to you in that moment it is new.
That being said, I do find a lot of inspiration from skimming the racks at Atelier NY. They have a great aesthetic and a great buy season after season. I love Ann Demeulemeester this season, and I know this is incredibly predictable but I have always taken so much from the late McQueen’s work.
SOF: Which rock star would you most want to dress in Dominic Louis?
LM: I’ve always loved Mick Jagger. I think he emulates the image of a true rock star; I would have also loved to dress the Beatles. Now it would be more along the lines of Lenny Kravitz and MGMT. The effortless sensibility found in men like these, who could wear and carry anything, is something that makes my mind race. The possibilities are endless yet make sense and are functional.
SOF: Name your fave fahion blog, photographer and stylist
LM: Blog - Dirty Flaws, Nikki Moose seems to always have something exciting and interesting to write about, look at, look further into. Photographer – Zachery Michael, who also shot my first lookbook. Stylist – Tre Knight, also responsible for working on my first lookbook.
SOF: In the city where you dream and work, NYC, what’s your fave café?
LM: I just recently moved above a wonderful little cafe in the East Village called Café Orlin. It is a blend of French and American cuisines and the food is always perfect. They are always open, affordable and packed with an interesting crowd of people.
SOF: What’s something you wish someone had taught you in the first year of your business?
LM: Not to rush the inevitable. Chasing opportunities as opposed to working towards a common goal of success can not only be disheartening but also overwhelming. Your work will suffer and in the end the most important thing is the product. If you build the castle they will come all in due time.
SOF: What’s the best advice you can give a designer who’s just starting out?
LM: There is the idea in fashion that to be anything you have to be the best. What is the best? You don’t have to be the “best” or the most successful. You just have to be happy with your work and who you are inside. If you can center yourself to this point you will be successful, because you will be happy following your own path and no one else’s. The journey is just as important as the destination.
SOF: Where can shoppers find you online?
LM: The fall collection can be seen on website. There is no e-commerce, but a retail contact where special orders can be placed. The collection will be carried by OAK NYC come September 1st.
Dominic Louis on Sense of Fashion
http://www.senseofashion.com/DominicLouis
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