My introduction for Timo Weiland, creative director, and Donna Kang, head of design during their presentation at Washington University as part of the Fashion Lab series coordinated by Craft Alliance.
The Timo Weiland clothing line has established itself as a dynamic and innovative enterprise in an extremely short amount of time. It’s usually ironic when they call a company an overnight success, because it usually comes after a decade or more of struggle, but Timo Weiland managed to make an immediate and visceral impact on fashion tastemakers.
Looks from Timo Weiland Spring 2011 presentation at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
And it’s a testament to the trio of creative influences that guide this brand: Timo Weiland, the creative director; Alan Eckstein, the design director; and Donna Kang, the head of design.
Timo went to Vanderbilt University and majored in economics, business management, Spanish language and literature and he minored in music. (Yes, that’s three majors and a minor) Then he went to work in finance for a little while. Still he dabbled in Timo! Wallets a business he started at 17 years old when he taught himself to sew.
Alan went to school originally for music and studied music history and jazz but he left that program for FIT. There he enrolled in Advertising, Marketing and Communications courses with plans to take design classes at night.
Donna went to FIT and majored in eveningwear, art and knitwear (one of the staples of the TW brand). Donna comes from houses like Carolina Herrera and Adam Lippes.
This young, talented collaboration established a strong design voice that had an immediate impact. The first day of fashion week in Sept. 2009, the first time the Timo Weiland brand was ever shown to that elite audience of international fashion insiders and they managed to get the cover on the fashion bible, WWD, that issue was put directly into the hands of everyone visiting the tents. And many of them, most of them were looking at the brand for the very first time.
It can be hard to shine in a fashion world where you are vying for attention on the same show schedule as Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, but they distinguished themselves with high-minded, thoughtful concepts and exquisite fabrics.
Their fall 2010 collection was entitled “Pageantry and Ceremonial Splendor”. They described their inspiration as Gangs of New York meets The Age of Innocence.
The Spring 2011 collection was cryptically called A Wharf on the Baltic and was inspired by Swedish actress Bibi Andersson.
Their latest collection for fall 2011 was inspired by a fictional trip that Gloria Vanderbilt and Keith Richards might have taken to Indian cities like Bombay in the 60s. “This is what they looked like when they came back,” Timo told Style.com as sitars played during the morning presentation.
This small, burgeoning, dauntless brand that started with men’s ties just a few years ago, includes menswear and womens wear, including knits, outwear, dresses, bridal, shoes and accessories.
Timo Weiland continues to explore new challenges in design and concepts and materials and refuses to view itself as anything but the next great fashion house.
And we are proud to welcome them here to the Fashion Lab… Timo Weiland, creative director and Donna Kang, director of design.
Source: STL Today
