On the day of my interview with Rachel Antonoff and Allison Lewis, the designers behind Mooka Kinney, a PAPER colleague asked me to describe the fashion line: "Think Joanna Newsom," I said before heading out the door.
It just so happens that Joanna Newsom, the wood-nymph of a folk singer known for wearing spritely frocks not unlike those designed by Mooka Kinney, was the one who initially brought Rachel and Allison together. Back in 2005, recalls Rachel, "I had a room for rent and we had a mutual friend who knew that Allison needed a room. I was heavily into Joanna Newsom at the time -- most people didn't know who she was -- and Allison came in and was like, 'are you listening to Joanna Newsom?' So I knew we were destined. It's a trite story -- but true."
Two years, a fateful Teen Vogue article, a collection at Barney's and a nod from Newsom later ("She told me she liked our dresses when I saw her at Bonnaroo," says Rachel), the former roommates (Allison moved out last year) are putting the finishing touches on their Spring '08 collection to be displayed at their first runway presentation, as part of the Gen Art Fresh Faces in Fashion show. It's a big deal -- this is after all, the show that launched Zac Posen -- and the girls are appropriately nervous. "I've been waking up every morning feeling very something," says Rachel of her pre-show nerves-cum-excitement.
Unlike most fledgling designers, Rachel and Allison are not Pratt grads who walk around with sewing needles sticking out of their mouths talking about princess seams. In fact, the two have no formal fashion training to speak of. A year ago, Rachel (then a freelance writer) and Allison (a graphic designer), would often go vintage shopping together. Recalls Rachel, "the two of us loved vintage dresses – that was kind of our shared thing -- and we constantly talked about how we wished there were dresses that were more vintage-like, that were mass-marketed that you could just find in a store. We just constantly talked about actually doing it, and we literally just got our shit together and did it -- and that was like a year ago."
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