Mandy Coon: Beautiful People 2011
By MATTHEW SCHNEIER
Computer-science-major-turned-model-turned-designer Mandy Coon is probably the only person who can claim that particular career trajectory. But Houston-born Coon looks like she's hit on the right one this time. Though her line is still in its infancy, her mobbed New York Fashion Week presentations threaten to send her from an underground sensation to one very much above sea level.
But Mandy Coon the designer almost wasn't. "I've been in the fashion industry for 10 years, but in different incarnations -- casting director, model," she explains. "I wanted to design, but I was chicken." She worked up the courage to begin design classes at F.I.T. and an internship eventually led to an assistant position, with Camilla Staerk. A gentle push from Staerk sent Coon spiraling toward her own line. That line has always been long on dramatic, mostly-black pieces, but the last few seasons have seen Coon experimenting with color, texture and volume. She's inspired by Bernhard Willhelm, the avant-garde German designer famous for his jokey, acid-bright pieces. ("He has such a sense of humor about things, and that's really important to me," Coon says -- and when you think about it, her silver bug pins and brooches for fall, nestled on chic tailored jackets, are the sartorial equivalent of "Waiter, there's a fly in my soup.") A little streamlined, a little wild: That's the Coon formula. "Someone who's kind of adventurous with their fashion," she says of her ideal customer. "But I'm really obsessed with these old East Village ladies; the crazy 70-year-old lady with the pink hair and the lipstick and the crazy blush on their
cheeks, and they're wearing some Comme des Garçons crazy old outfit. I want to dress those ladies." A pause and a smile. "I want to be those ladies."
MANDY WEARS DRESS BY MANDY COON, TOP BY UNIQLO, TIGHTS BY AMERICAN APPAREL AND JEWELRY BY MADE HER THINK FOR MANDY COON.
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But Mandy Coon the designer almost wasn't. "I've been in the fashion industry for 10 years, but in different incarnations -- casting director, model," she explains. "I wanted to design, but I was chicken." She worked up the courage to begin design classes at F.I.T. and an internship eventually led to an assistant position, with Camilla Staerk. A gentle push from Staerk sent Coon spiraling toward her own line. That line has always been long on dramatic, mostly-black pieces, but the last few seasons have seen Coon experimenting with color, texture and volume. She's inspired by Bernhard Willhelm, the avant-garde German designer famous for his jokey, acid-bright pieces. ("He has such a sense of humor about things, and that's really important to me," Coon says -- and when you think about it, her silver bug pins and brooches for fall, nestled on chic tailored jackets, are the sartorial equivalent of "Waiter, there's a fly in my soup.") A little streamlined, a little wild: That's the Coon formula. "Someone who's kind of adventurous with their fashion," she says of her ideal customer. "But I'm really obsessed with these old East Village ladies; the crazy 70-year-old lady with the pink hair and the lipstick and the crazy blush on their
cheeks, and they're wearing some Comme des Garçons crazy old outfit. I want to dress those ladies." A pause and a smile. "I want to be those ladies."
MANDY WEARS DRESS BY MANDY COON, TOP BY UNIQLO, TIGHTS BY AMERICAN APPAREL AND JEWELRY BY MADE HER THINK FOR MANDY COON.
GO BACK TO SEE MORE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF 2011
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