wonders never cease
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Abigail Glaum-Lathbury creates her clothing collections in Chicago. But the inventively-tailored, cleverly-tucked and sculptural pieces she designs look as if they hail from a wildly fashionable future. Inspired by both fabric and science, Glaum-Lathbury dresses confident, chic women. She’ll be showing her spring collection (and previewing fall) with us Friday from 5-8 p.m. and Saturday from 2-5 p.m. Jennifer Barger, the styles editor at Washington Post Express and the editor of Washington Post’s FW will be on hand to introduce her. Here’s her recent chat with the young designer.
TUESDAY, APRIL 13th, 2010more abigail glaum-lathbury: a chat with washington post's jenn barger
Abigail Glaum-Lathbury creates her clothing collections in Chicago. But the inventively-tailored, cleverly-tucked and sculptural pieces she designs look as if they hail from a wildly fashionable future. Inspired by both fabric and science, Glaum-Lathbury dresses confident, chic women. She’ll be showing her spring collection (and previewing fall) with us Friday from 5-8 p.m. and Saturday from 2-5 p.m. Jennifer Barger, the styles editor at Washington Post Express and the editor of Washington Post’s FW will be on hand to introduce her. Here’s her recent chat with the young designer.Why’d you decide to become a designer? Is designing a dress different from making a stew? What’s it like working in Chicago? Your clothes have such lovely tailoring and detailing. Tell me more about that. Who wears your clothes? Some of your pieces, particularly the skirts, have dramatic detailing — high waists, cascading pleats. What should they be paired with? What inspired your spring line? What about fall? Anything your are excited about?
I’ve always had a desire to make things, and clothing is just one vehicle for me. I also like to cook and garden and I build things. Give me a tool; I’ll make something.
Well, they’re both about ingredients, testing and fiddling. You make a couple of variations until you’ve got something that looks the way you want it to look or tastes right.
I don’t know that it matters where anybody is. But there is something nice about being away from the center of things, which can give you clarity of vision.
I think bodies are beautiful and I don’t like to swaddle them in fabric in an outrageous way — you lose the identity of the person. I think of making clothing as a sculptural process, and I try to think about how they look from all angles.
Women who have a strong sense of themselves, who aren’t worried about being told what to wear.
They go really well with T-shirts! It’s like the push and pull of having a wildly shaped skirt with something as pedestrian as a tank top. If you have a balance, it isn’t too costumey.
I’m very fond of natural history and how things work. For spring, I was thinking about electricity, and the charts that show how electrons move through metals. That translated into my collection in three dimensions.
I’m doing these robotic leather jackets with embellishments. They’re very ornate, and I can’t wait to wear them.
Any design heroes?
I’m an enormous fan of Vionnet. She had such an awareness of fabric as a medium.
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fashion