It may be the lazy hazy days of summer, but not everybody has vacation or taking it easy on their minds. That the fashion world is hungry for discovering and singling out new talent is an obvious state of affairs, and much has been made of the bright, young generation that will inherit the mantle from Donna, Ralph (Lauren and Rucci), Calvin, Narciso, Et Al. So with that in mind, and because all of us seasoned pros love the idea of finding the next big star, I relished the notion of meeting a talented, ambitious, and focused young lady like Ardeana Kirckof who has her eyes on the big picture.
The San Francisco native who is fluent in French attended the prestigious L’Ecole Nationale Superior des Beaux Arts in Paris, received her BA in Art, Emphasis in Textiles from the University of California Los Angeles, and spent two years at the Canada College School of Fashion in Redwood City, California, where she received an AS in Fashion Design with Certificates in Dressmaking, Patternmaking, Apparel Industry.
Since 2000, she has been involved in her own business venture, Ardeana Couture, www.ardeanacouture.com which specializes in exclusive custom made clothing. Everything is made by hand. Her trademarks are an amazing attention to detail, couture details and a love of texture and interesting fabrics. The designs are frothy, light and airy, and unapologetically feminine, but done with an inherently modern twist. As owner and designer Ardeana has worked with her clients from “concept to creation” and has overseen the entire process from beginning to end. As ‘Jack of all trades’, she started her own website, performed administrative and marketing duties, created logos, and promotional materials. In addition, she is the freelance designer and patternmaker for Fabuloid, a San Francisco based company, (she recently designed and made patterns for Spring 2006).
Based on the illustrations, sketches, and photographs she presented to me, I feel strongly this is a talent to watch. And with the current ‘trend’ towards ‘young couture’ and the renewed appreciation of couture – worthy details and handwork by the young, (Ardeana admitted her design ‘God’ is Charles James), I would say that her timing couldn’t be better.
Ardeana just moved to New York (the West Village) from Palo Alto in order to pursue her dreams, knowing that New York is THE place to be if she wants to gain invaluable experience in the fashion industry, knowledge of fashion production, and perfect her design and patternmaking skills. She is interested in working for an established designer in order to make this happen. If you or someone you know is interested in finding out more about Ardeana, contact her at contact@ardeanacouture.com.
-Marilyn Kirschner
