L.A. Look: Kimberly Ovitz
By
August 25, 2010
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LOGAN WHITE
As Kimberly Ovitz prepares to show her spring 2011 collection, the Los Angeles-born, Hollywood-bred designer is also getting ready to relocate to Manhattan. She’s also read to take her designs, which embody California cool–earth tones, sexy silhouettes and soft edges–to the next level. “It’s been an advantage to be in LA. It’s a serene environment for a hectic path. I was able to focus on the product,” says Ovitz. That said, there are obstacles in the world’s emptiest metropolis: “There’s a lot of talent that I’m missing out on. People I want to work with,” she says.
At 26, and over a year into her business, Ovitz has managed to create well focused collections, which, along with having an air of breezy LA, are well, disciplined—”sexy intellectual” as she calls it. Her muses? Dark warrior women and equestrians. “I grew up riding horses. I competed and had to miss school. It was a huge part of my life,” Ovtiz explains.
Ovitz is coy about what we will see at her Spring 2011 presentation at Milk Studios. But the designer says she’s continuing to work with rigor and structure, this time by exploring the corset. “I’ve remained conscious of the dialogue between a modern structure and the archaic form of corsetry. I chose to make my version of the corset more wearable” she says. Ovitz’s attempt at re-working the corset
The other inspiration for this collection is Sol Lewitt’s wall drawing, 565 (1988), which involves the artist drawing continuous black-and-white bands and a border on three walls. “I like how thisartist focuses on the elemental form of the square. Turning order into chaos through the seemingly random play of geometric shapes and angles.” This is the collection Ovitz feels is most her own, after trying her hand at color for spring 2010. “It didn’t work. There’s other ways to satisfy the costumer.” For resort Ovitz implements a burnt-out patterning into rich velvet which features the constricts of the strong geometry with precision and fluidity .
Ovitz is looking forward to her East Coast move. “I’m ready for a change. I’m looking forward to seeing people on the street. I hope that newness doesn’t go away.”
