Connected Through Fashion
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
When we last checked in with Israeli fashion designer Mirit Weinstock, she had launched her spring 2008 collection with the photographic work of artists she had never met. The designer contacted five individuals through the photo-sharing Web site Flickr and asked them to create self-portraits of themselves in her clothes.
Now Ms. Weinstock, in Paris last week to introduce her fall collection to buyers at a trade show on the Avenue Montaigne, has launched a Web site where the photos from the project can be seen and the clothes can be purchased. Each photographer and his or her work is presented, as well as a link connecting back to their Flickr page; some of those individual pages include a wider selection of the photos taken for the project. The virtual art show has brought new eyes to the budding brand, Ms. Weinstock said: “I’m connecting with clients and creating a relationship that starts in a very different place.”
But it is also fueling her next move. On the site, she invites creative types to contact her for another international fashion project to be announced. So far the community is growing strong: Within a month, nearly 30 stylists, jewelry designers, graphic designers, and photographers offered their services. For a small brand that has a highly targeted retail presence and no advertising, this virtual marketplace is proving to be a valuable stomping ground.
While her Web site — miritweinstock.com— shows the spring collection, the designer brought her fall 2008 pieces to Paris. A maroon silk cocktail dress, tied in the front and billowing with extra fabric in the back, offers femininity in an unconventional shape. A charcoal wool shirt with pleating at the shoulders, menswear-inspired vests, and a short-sleeve thigh-length jacket (which the designer herself was wearing) illustrates her talent for detailed tailoring. Though the color palette is forest deep for fall, Ms. Weinstock uses touches of a creamy red, such as on the skirt of a scoop-neck dress, and a dark blue that fades to white on one sleeve of a silk dress.
