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ISSUE 2 APRIL 2010

The Thistle & Clover Diaries

Stories from the Dressing Room Floor

Spring/Summer 2010

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Photo Credit, Zackery Michael

We’ve come pretty far since then: This past winter, we launched our first private label jewelry collection, created by a T&C Diaries designer, Mr. Max Steiner. We’ve been featured in three Daily Candy newsletters, and had a full page spread in the newly redesigned City Magazine. We’ve made tons of new blogosphere friends, and started tweeting! We’re really excited about the di-rection T&C is going in, and we hope you are too.

In this issue of the T&C Diaries, we’ve selected some of our boldest and brightest young design stars to get a little up close and personal with us. We have representation from the East to the West Coast, the South, Brooklyn (of course!), and even Canada! You’ll see we’ve chosen to highlight more jew-elry designers, as our little store has almost equal parts clothing to jew-elry these days.

The most fascinating thing about reading our designers’ answers was that they overlapped so much. We noticed that at Melissa Coker and Dace Moore cited Francoise Hardy as an inspiration for their current collections, and that both Ellen Van Dusen and Caitlin Mociun love listening to This American Life when they sketch. We’re thinking there are some sartorial soulmate connec-tions that need to be made at our Anniversary Party!

We invite you to sit back, kick your legs up on your desk, and relax while you get to know what really makes our T&C designers tick.

xx Rand & Camilla

Editors' Letter CAMILLA GALE & RAND NIEDERHOFFER

We are thrilled to present our second issue of The Thistle & Clover Diaries, just in time for our two year anniversary!

Boy, does time fly. It seems it was just yesterday that we were desperately scouring Brooklyn for the perfect site, gathering together our wish list of must-have designers, and creating our logo.

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TABLE OF CONTENTSEditors' Letter.....................Page 2.

Demy Lee............................Page 4.

Jessica DeCarlo.....................Page 6.

Dusen Dusen.........................Page 7.

Wren................................Page 8.

Mociun..............................Page 10.

Loyale..............................Page 11.

Dace................................Page 12.

Lily & Jae..........................Page 13.

Max Steiner.........................Page 14.

Blanca Monrós Gómez.................Page 15.

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Demy Lee started her cult, eponymous knitwear collection in Fall 2007 because she herself had a hard time finding classicly modern cashmere sweaters. A graduate of Parsons, Demy has serious design experience under her belt, help-ing designer Tory Burch launch her now epic line. The Demylee girl “epitomiz-es modern chic with effortless styling. She is comfortable and confident with herself.” We love the line because of its timelessness, high quality fabrics, and attention to detail.

The self-described "T-shirt and jeans girl" is introducing cotton items for Spring 2010 (her Heilie cotton tanks are flying out of our store as we speak!) to add versatility to the line as a whole.

Q. Did you have a specific source of inspiration for this season? A. I had an image of a lovely and modern tomboy who is clad in chic vintage-like pieces, exuding effortless style through unexpected mixes.

Q. How do you like to see your favorite looks accessorized?A. I like to keep the spring looks casual/chic. A wonderful large summer tote would be a great piece to add on.

Q. Where do you see the line going? What are you working on next?A. I am not so rigid about my line; I enjoy making designs that I can person-ally appreciate. It was such an accomplishment for me that I was able to in-troduce cotton tops for Spring 2010. Now I am taking things slow and enjoying the moment without losing myself!

DemyLee DEMY LEE

"Free your mind and don't limit yourself. Inspiration is truly everywhere around you."

Clockwise Top Right:Demylee Charlotte Sweater, $80, Becca Top, $74, Charlie Tis-sue Cashmere, $205...

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Jessica DeCarlo

Jewelry designer Jessica DeCarlo’s training is an enviable composite of Ital-ian art schools, Spanish apprenticeships, and one short stint with the ubiq-uitous jeweler David Yurman.

DeCarlo first fell in love with jewelry making while on a study abroad pro-gram in Florence. Jessica was instantly drawn to the Italian's illustrious design heritage. “There were just tables and tables of these people that knew how to do these amazing things with metal. And I was completely fascinated.”

So fascinated, that after graduation she decided she had to go back. Jessica learned the traditional techniques of casting and goldsmithing from artisans whose methods were passed down to them from generation to generation.

We met Jessica at our very first T&C Open Call, after she had recently re-turned from a sourcing trip in Madrid. Each of her items were laid out onto elegantly displayed mood boards, showing off a coral series, a bamboo collec-tion, and a lotus flower motif. We loved how each of her pieces told a story. “A lot of my past experiences influence my work.” A Vermont native, DeCarlo’s designs pay tribute to the forested landscapes of her youth. “I lived in Ver-mont for a time and did nothing but hike, [hence] the sticks, the stone. The lotus pattern came from a pattern in a 1960s vintage dress that my mom had.”

Jessica recently introduced a fine jewelry line (all 18K), to which peo-ple are already responding. “I’m coming out with a much more sophis-ticated edgier line; I see my collections change as I grow older.”

Jessica DeCarlo Spiral Hoop, $60.

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Dusen Dusen ELLEN VAN DUSEN

Ellen Van Dusen, called “Dusen” by friends, moved to Brooklyn after gradu-ating from Tufts University with a major of her own design (Psychology of Design, specifically the neurology of the visual system). Equipped with a sewing machine, an iron and a 200 pack of flavor ice, she launched Dusen Dusen after a side project to make extra cash developed into a full time fashion affair. “Dusen Dusen was created for fun times, good people and to inspire confidence into all who wear it.”

The former Proenza Schouler intern and Mary Meyer assistant designs clothes for “a youthful girl that likes to have fun and stand out. My clothes are body con-scious but not constricting, bright but not too busy.” This season, she looked to both contemporary art and traditional African prints. “I love the repetition of geometric shapes in African prints, which I see echoed in contemporary art. A major source of inspiration for me is the work of Tauba Auerbach, who works with geomet-ric shapes in black and white.”

Currently working on Fall 2010, El-len hopes the line will continue to expand, and is beginning to experi-ment with prints on silk for the first time.

T&C MAD LIBSI've lived in Bushwick for 2 years.

I heart NY because there's so much to look at!

I like to listen to This American Life when I’m sketching.

The ultimate spring fashion invest-ment piece is a great pair of sun-glasses.

The best fashion advice I’ve ever received is you can't wear that in public.

I wanted to wear all the fashions I saw in Clarissa Explains It All (the movie).

A Brooklyn girl does it herself!

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West Coast designer Melissa Coker be-gan her career working in editorial at W Magazine, and later at Vogue as a fash-ion assistant to the ultra charismatic Editor-at-Large, Andre Leon Talley.

Wren was born after Coker began to take on brand consulting appointments and realized she had a talent for design-ing. Her line is named after Jenny Wren, “a sadly winsome little creature,” who makes dresses for dolls in Charles Dick-ens’s Our Mutual Friend.

The homage to classic literature is per-fectly fitting for Melissa, whose cloth-ing line tends towards preppy, colle-giate pieces that are updated with wit and whimsy. Melissa says she strives to make her clothing “feminine with a tom-boy’s touch," and designs for “someone who doesn’t mind getting a bit mussed up.”

Her current collection, Spring 2010, is based around the French Ye-Ye girls (a genre of music popularized by American girl groups that emerged in the 1960s).

The imagery is of strong, quirky women, like Francoise Hardy, sim-ilar to the women whom Melissa dresses today.

Q. If you could have anyone wear your clothing it would be?A. Rosemary Woodhouse

Q. Whose closet would you most like to raid?A. Camille Bidault Waddington Q. Who do you listen to when you're sketching?A. Kate Bush

Q. What thing do you most covet for Spring 2010?A. A Tim Walker Print

Q. What's your ultimate spring in-vestment piece?A. Chanel two tone ballet flats!

Wren MELISSA COKER

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"Keep it focused and start off doing one thing you can become known for."

Photo Credit, Blossom Berkofsky

Wren Textured Stripe Day Dress (at left), $220. Opposite Page: Farrow Denim Skirt, $179.

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Mociun CAITLIN MOCIUN

A Park Slope local, Caitlin Mociun has made a name for herself creating beauti-fully executed clothing in fantastically imagined prints.

After attending RISD and graduating with a degree in textiles, Caitlin landed a job at a large-scale wovens company. The gig paid the bills, but was ultimately unrewarding. In her spare evenings and weekend hours, Caitlin would spend her time making dresses and printing fabrics from her apartment. The week she put her pieces into a few local shops, she got fired from her day job and suddenly her line was off and running.

Caitlin ascribes to the Bauhaus school of thought, an Eastern European arts & crafts movement that dates back to 1919. Followers of the Bauhaus school herald the synthesis of arts, technology and design. For Caitlin, that translates into digitally manipulated textiles or silk-screened tee-shirts coupled with thoughtful handsewn details.

Whenever possible, Mociun uses sus-tainable dyes and local labor.

An overachiever, Caitlin plans to “keep it going. I like having a smallish clothing collection. I’m branching out into more accesso-ries. I keep making new jewelry collections! I am working on bag and belt line right now. I want to make shoes...” Q. Your collection in one word?A. Eclectic.

Q. If you had to survive on one food it woud be? A. Kale. Q. What do you listen to when you're designing your collection?A. This American Life.

Q.The thing you most covet for Spring 2010?A. Ann Demeulemeester boots.

Clockwise Top Right: Caitlin Mociun, Moon & Stars

Ring, $1,240, Hexagon Ring, $150, A look from SS2010 Line.

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Loyale JENNY HWA

Loyale is a small clothing label with big convictions. Jenny Hwa launched Loyale in 2005 in order to provide environmentally conscious consumers with an alternative to the “frumpy” organic clothing options she had no interest in wearing.

The name Loyale denotes Hwa’s mission to be simultaneously “loyal to style and loy-al to the environment.” Her spring collec-tion is infused with floral liberty prints and colorful hues that are both playful and chic. You’d never guess that these pieces were made solely from organic cot-ton and reclaimed remnant fabrics.

As a college student in the California Bay area, Hwa interned at Surface Magazine and Chaiken. Upon graduation, she was ac-cepted to FIT’s competitive AAS program in New York City. While there, she worked at Kate Spade, Catherine Malendrino, Jill Stuart and W Magazine. Hwa says she looks on those unpaid experiences as “tuition for life." “Working with renowned design-ers gave me a deep understanding of the craft and the designer’s role of making a fashion line truly individual.” Four years later, Hwa broke out on her own.

Spring 2010, fittingly, takes its cue from one of the great environmentalists of our century, Henry David Thoreau. Hwa used Thoreau’s magnum opus, Walden: Life in the Woods, to conjure up images of a halcyon past or, in Hwa’s words,

“a bygone era of good old days when travelers were free to roam, and new discoveries were around every corner.”

Q: If you coud have anyone wear your clothing who would it be?A. "The Ladies I love already wear Loyale: Julia Roberts, Jes-sica Alba, Rachel McAdams and the Deschanel Sisters."

Loyale Valencia Dress, $213.

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Dace DACE MOORE

Dace Moore founded Vancouver based la-bel Dace in the spring of 2002. Since then, her collection's easy aesthetic has garnered a dedicated following. At first self-taught, Moore enrolled in the Blanche MacDonald Centre for Applied De-sign after she was sure her love of de-sign could be translated into a bonafide career. “I decided to start the collec-tion after I had been sewing for a while and doing mini fashion shows for fun. People would always ask me where they could buy the pieces.”

Dace the brand is now internationally renowned for its classic femininity, flattering fit, and versatility from day to night. And justifiably so: Moore de-scribes her style as “simple,” and rath-er than designing for a particular girl, just designs what she envisions would look good on. Next up for Moore? “I’d like to see the line moving towards Eu-rope and Australia. I’d love to open more doors there.”

T&C MAD LIBSI've lived in Canada all my life!

This is my collections 18th season.

If I could have anyone wear my clothing it would be Francoise Har-dy.

The closet I’d most like to raid belongs to Kate Moss.

The ultimate spring fashion invest-ment piece is an Arielle De Pinto necklace.

The best fashion advice I’ve ever received was in Antwerp, when a de-signer told me to never leave your house wearing a ponytail.

The designers I look to are Lover, Isabel Marant and Vanessa Bruno.

A Brooklyn girl is my favorite kind of girl.

"You have to be very patient. Growing big is good. But slow and steady wins the race."

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Lily & Jae JUDITH FELLER

Lily & Jae is a Vancouver based label founded in 2007 by former costume de-signer Judith Feller. While on set, she befriended Oscar-nominated actress Sarah Polley, who championed Feller’s creative vision, and encouraged her to start up her own line. Feller wanted to create a fashionable brand that was an amalgamation of masculine and feminine looks, and so named her line Lily & Jae.

Feller says she designs for,“a girl who can pull off tomboy and pretty at the same time: Someone who can walk out the door with her brother’s hoody over her cute dress and pull it off.“

Each season, Feller looks to a different city to direct her collection. For Spring 2010, she chose the American South West, and drew upon the iconograph-ic road trip imagery (think denim shirtdresses, and chic white button downs) of Thelma and Louise.

Feller’s lookbooks are always thoughtfully produced. As a nod to America’s well loved BFFs-turned-bank-robbers, the shoot was staged out in the desert, where they managed to secure an aqua Ford Thunderbird just like the one T&L had in the movie!

Feller keeps an updated blog, posting videos of “the making of the L&J look-book” and other insider glimpses of the Lily & Jae life. It’s this attention to detail and total conceptual vision that has gotten Feller to where she is today.

"Keep a fine balance between organization and creativity."

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Max Steiner

Max Steiner, the Westchester-raised, Parsons-educated jack-of-all trades (he’s the mastermind behind T&C’s jewelry line), is Thistle & Clover’s only male jewelry designer. After graduating from school with a degree in product design (concentrating in metal and computer design), Max launched his collec-tion 3 years ago, citing his line’s style as precise, intricate, and fully conceptualized.

We first reached out to Max after falling in love with his silver and 18K gold origami cranes!we just had to have them at T&C! Max complements his met-al work with handcrafted, etched wood boxes and stands, giving the customer a total work of art (or gesamtkunstwerk for all you art history geeks). And trust us, when you meet him, ask him what he’s carrying in his pockets.

Q. What are your favorite pieces from your current collections?A. The cinder blocks: They are made from cement and the chains are stainless steel, but are featherweight. I just moved to an industrial area in Brooklyn where I was inspired by a friend of mine using cement for a project.

The origami cranes: I’ve been making origami since I was five years old. Also, I’m able to draw upon my model making background when creating custom presentation boxes.

Q. Where do you see the line going? What are you working on next?A. Currently, I’m working on a private collection for T&C, expanding the seed line, and looking for more inspiration.

Q. What advice can you offer aspiring designers?A. Don’t be afraid. If you have an idea just do it. And if you don’t know how to do it, do it anyway.

Max Steiner Silver Peace Crane Necklace, $165.

Max Steiner Cinder Block Necklace, $60.

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Brooklyn-based jeweler Blanca Monrós Gómez, holds a degree in Industrial De-sign, apprenticed with a master gold-smith, and worked for established jewelry houses like Bing Bang before committing to her line full-time in December 2008. Her delicate, feminine pieces, inspired by natural and found objects in Prospect Park, are some of the most requested in our little shop.

Like her jewelry, Gómez describes her personal style as “a bit girly; a bit vintage,” designs for a “whimsical and witty” woman, and likes to see her fa-vorite looks accessorized by layering them with long chains and set against vintage brooches. While she points to her teeny diamond stacking rings (she wears them on her pinky) as her favorite pieces in the collection, she is work-ing on some thin bangle sets, and sees decorative objects and homewares in her line's future.

T&C MAD LIBSI’ve lived in Brooklyn for 5 years.

If I could have anyone wear my jew-elry it would be glamorous girls from the Victorian era.

The closet I’d most like to raid belongs to Madam X or Lady Agnew of Lochnaw from the John Singer Sar-gent paintings.

If I had to sum up my collection in one word it would be romantic.

If I had to survive on only one thing for a year it would be fresh, flaky croissants.

I’m currently coveting, everything little and small specially tiny baby earrings. I am happily waiting to meet my babies that are due to arrive in May!

I wanted to wear all the fashions I saw in Gosford Park.

A Brooklyn girl takes it in stride.

"As cliche as it sounds, just follow your dreams. Things will turn around. "

Blanca Monros Gómez

Blanca Gómez 14k Ruby Stacking Ring, $300.

MagCloud.com1501 Page Mill Rd, MS 1157 POSTAGEPalo Alto, CA 94304

221 DeKalb Avenue ° Brooklyn, NY ° 11205(718) 855-5577 (t) ° (718) 855-5533 (f) ° info@thistleclover.com° www.thistleclover.com

Spring & Summer 2010 Designers

CLOTHINGAlisha Levine

Amanda UprichardChris & Jaime

DaceDaftbirdDemylee

Dusen DusenEdelweiss

EskellFremont

Geren FordLewis NYCLily & Jae

LoyaleMyne

TrovataTylhoWrenYunhi

JEWELRYAmanda Rudey

BittersweetsBlanca Monrós Gómez

CatbirdEmma CarrollFlutter NYC

In God We TrustJessica DeCarloLauren Wimmer

Max SteinerMociun

Nancy KraskinNektar de Stagni

NissaPoupettePyrrha

Rebecka FröbergThistle & Clover Private Label

Virginia Galvan Jewelry

ACCESSORIESAki Kano Handbags

Blue Ribbon StationeryChan Luu Scarves

Fleabags HandbagsHello Robertson Hair Accessories

LauLau BagsOne and the Same Totes

Nightwood FurniturePaper + Cup

Peculiar Pair PressSmudge InkSML Bags

Snow & GrahamTeeny House Bunny

Tokyo Milk