LOS ANGELES, CA (LA Elements) 6/17/2015 – Emily Daccarett has made quite the impression on coasts both east and west with accolades for her New York and Los Angeles Fashion Week shows. We caught up with Emily at the Toni&Guy runway show in LA to take a closer look at the designer and the inspiration behind her work.
Let’s start at the very beginning. Where are you from?
“I was born in Kansas and then my parents moved when I was two. I grew up in California.”
Did you always want to go into the fashion industry?
“I’ve always loved fashion. I grew up watching I Love Lucy, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. I love Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. I think all of those things just kind of made me want to go into something where I could make women beautiful and not just in a sense that’s superficial and materialistic. I just love to see how these women were very strong. They weren’t meek, but instead they always were so poised and very well educated and cultured and so I thought that through fashion I could do that. I grew up in the arts. I danced. I would sing and so I wanted to do something where I could just blend all these things together and the answer was always fashion.”
Tell us about your educational background
“I started at FIDM here, where I studied Apparel and Manufacturing, and then I moved to Paris because I wanted to have a different view in fashion design. So, I went to Instituto Marangoni, which is an Italian school but I went to the Paris campus. Afterwards, I went to the Chambre Syndicale de la couture Pariesienne. People like Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar de la Renta and Karl Lagerfeld all went there. I wanted to do something that was couture even though it was something I would incorporate into ready to wear, and then I started working in Paris. After a while, I wanted to come back to LA because I felt like right now it’s such a great time to experiment in fashion here in LA. “
Right: Emily Daccarett and finale of Doll Valley
Is there a time period that influences your work the most?
“I just love clean-cut lines. It’s very modern but it doesn’t mean it needs to be simple which is what I especially love. If you look at different aspects of the 60’s and 70’s, some of it is just crazy and wild. But it you take those design aspects apart, there are certain elements that are just so relevant to each decade, and those elements become something timeless. When you have something that’s timeless, I feel it’s easier to mold to each person, to their personality, and they can actually make the design their own. It’s not something they just wear and becomes someone else’s.”
So do you basically take what you feel are some of the best aspects of the 60’s and 70’s and give it a modern interpretation?
“The way I design is I start with a story. I look for that story through the fabric. I start developing on my mannequin. I do draping even though I don’t necessarily have a lot of flowy dresses. A lot of it does have tailored lines but I like to do draping on a mannequin. You’re able to see how the body forms. So I think there are certain aspects of that time period that are just in me, they’re ingrained and so I don’t necessarily have to reflect on them it’s just something that I kind of put into each design.”
When you use sheer fabric in your designs you tend to do it in such a way that questions of taste don’t arise. How do you pull that off?
“I remember studying about the Egyptians and the Egyptians felt that the human body was just so beautiful that you shouldn’t cover it up. And yes, I do think of the human body that way. I think that skin tones are just so beautiful and this is why I really like to play with transparency. On different people, it just looks different and you can actually appreciate the body in a tasteful way. I love to push the limit just far enough where you can still be classy, just far enough where you can still go out in public. There are just certain details that I kind of fixate over, for example, lace and embroidery. I think its very delicate but at the same time, there’s a lot of strength to it. I mean, you can rip lace easily, but at the same time, there are so many little cut outs and details and it still stays in place and I think I just like to play with delicate fabrics and make them more functional, make them a little bit tougher.”
What is the appeal that Los Angeles has for fashion designers?
“I think there’s a lot of open ground and people are really eager here. I feel like everybody is trying to make LA the next fashion capital and I think we certainly have the potential to make that happen. We have film, we have music, we can definitely do fashion and there’s a lot of great natural style here. So I wanted to come here and just discover myself really. I did do my first fashion show here and I incorporate film and music into my shows too. I feel like in LA we appreciate that a little bit more. I have that sense that we’re looking for something a little bit more different a little outside the box. In LA you can have different eclectic people come together and just kind of do what they want without really following a set formula.”
Doll Valley Collection inspired by 1967 film Valley of the Dolls.
For more information on Emily Daccarett please visit her website.
All photography by Jeff Cowan. Instagram @very liberal
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