Interview

Getting my top and Jason's jacket ready for Paperball. Check back tomorrow for the full party report!

PHOTO BY FABIOLA BERACASA

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Up-and-coming designer Jen Kao's got clutches like Kryptonite and chain maille shoes that ring themselves up. Fabiola Beracasa is on the case.


BERACASA: How do you come up with a chain maille clutch with a resin diamond on it? Does it just come from a dream?

KAO: Chain maille is such an interesting medium for a clutch. We were talking to this Lucite furniture lady who was like "I can do anything!" so we gave it to her and gave her the specs and then she made a mold for us.

BERACASA: Is this a diamond?

KAO: It's quartz—like a fragment.

BERACASA: Like all of us-fragments. I speak for myself at least. Did you start the collection with clothes or did you always want to do accessories as well?

KAO: It's something I always wanted to do, but I'm taking it slowly and being patient because the focus is really on the clothes

BERACASA:  Do you feel like that's your first passion the clothing?

KAO: Yeah, I mean I love accessories.

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Launch Mediaplayer »

Fabiola Beracasa captures front row and backstage at New York Fashion Week. She's got tan Misshapes at Preen; she's got cover girl Tavi. She's got man of the hour Alexander Wang. You heard it here first!


For more of Fabiola's Fashion Week coverage for Interview, click on. See her video work on Stylelist, too.

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Kimberly Ovitz couldn't stand up when she met Karl Lagerfeld, and she couldn't make Brad Pitt laugh, but she's ready for a fashion empire. Fabiola Beracasa asks her how she's getting it done:


FABIOLA BERACASA: How did you get into fashion?

KIMBERLY OVITZ: Every summer since elementary school, I tried to find jobs in the fashion industry to get experience and teach myself.

BERACASA: Are your parents involved in fashion?

OVITZ: Not at all. My dad is in entertainment and my mom breeds horses. (LEFT: FROM SPRING/SUMMER 2009)

BERACASA: You have a little bit of an equestrian flair in your collection. Is that from your mom?

OVITZ:  Absolutely, I grew up riding horses. I'm trying to build the brand-the core of it by being around an equestrian lifestyle.

BERACASA: So tell me, what was your first job in fashion?

OVITZ: The first one was J.Crew, when I was 15 or 16. I was in New York for the senior women's designer Jenna Lyons, who is now the creative director. It taught me a lot about merchadising meetings and doing color stories and fittings.

BERACASA: What has been your favorite job in fashion?

OVITZ: The coolest experience I had was working with Herb Ritts. I'm also a photographer. He would stop a whole shoot to let me look through the lens. Not snobby and just totally cool.

BERACASA: Any kind of most embarrassing moments from any of these jobs-where you were like "Oh my god."

OVITZ: I don't have any shame. There was one at Chanel in Paris, when they first introduced me and another intern to Karl.  I was in such awe that I literally—he came so close to me, and I didn't stand up. I wrote him an apology letter. I could tell he thought it was disrespectful to me.  

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