Freedom in fashion startups for up and comers

The big names at New York Fashion Week who are watched for trends include Marc Jacobs and Proenza Schouler. But now, Jacobs and Proenza designers Jack McCollugh and Lazaro Hernandez have more on their minds than mere creativity and innovation.They have big businesses to run, and that has to enter the decision-making process at some point. When you're more of a startup, there's freedom.And there might not be much money, so fashion shows are done on a much smaller scale. Models might work for clothes and other freebies. Fashionable friends might help with the styling. The shoestring approach worked for Zac Posen and Alexander Wang — and look at them now.
For Jason Wu it was more about a single dress: the first lady's inaugural gown. Prabal Gurung became the toast of the town with support from his old boss Cynthia Rowley and his appointed mentor Carolina Herrera.Lela Rose added several glimmering touches to her romantic collection.As part of Fashion Week, The Associated Press attended a handful of shows by designers who seem on the cusp. They are not household names, unless you live among the hipsters of SoHo or Brooklyn, but based on the buzz they had among front-row players, they seem to have potential as the next big things:Joseph Altuzarra is at the top of the list, winning in the past year both the Council of Fashion Designers of America award for up-and-coming talent and the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund prize, which gave him mentors and some seed money for his business.
In the first collection since then, Altuzarra drew on a gypsy's life, a wandering woman wearing jangling coin sequins and high leather boots.There were other references, too, and they were oh-so-global: There was a bold, black-and-white African-inspired print in dresses and on a chunky, fur-trimmed jacket that would serve at a ski lodge or for every day.He used wide panels of Moroccan blues and reds on some fronts, small red pompoms in a V design on others, along with shaggy fringe on heavy white knit tunics.
"I'm really thinking about my roots, what it means to be French and to be multicultural," he said backstage. "The fantasy really came from travel and this idea of an imaginary world traveler who kind of picks up things everywhere they go. From Morocco, North Africa, India, China."The Swarthmore-educated Altuzarra, whose father is French-Basque and mother Chinese American, also had a favorite '70s comic book rapscallion in mind, Corto Maltese. Some of his strong shoulders and military tailoring were references to a "Viennese military cadet," he said.