Sometimes being a young, hardworking New Yorker can get stressful. Living with the fumes, attitudes and noise all the time leaves us wishing we could escape to a more relaxing place, like the beaches in California or our childhoods before the divorce. Or both.
Spring & Clifton, a four-year old knitwear line by designer Michelle Zacks, offers us a break from the black and grey fashion landscape of New York. The sexy necklines and girly-pop prints in Zacks' prior collections remind us of sipping Icees on Venice Beach in the eighties. Did you see that tart Paris Hilton wearing that darling dress that said bonjour! all over it? Those were dreamed up by Zacks in her Lower East Side storefront. She has since moved to a larger studio where she's currently producing her fall line.
Her inspiration is Paris' answer to our Chloe Sevigny, French actress Lou Doillon, whom she named this season's collection after. "I'm really inspired by Parisian chic. I love how they manage to pull off sophisticated and casual at the same time. I was looking at pictures of (Lou) and made up a story about a girl who travels the world for the summer." Zacks produced a beautiful short film to launch her Fall line (out in August) and celebrated with a party at the members only Norwood House.
Fashion photographer Danielle Levitt, who is known for her unique Downtown style is a dedicated fan and shot the current lookbook. The two share a summer house in Montauk each year with friends where they spend the weekends escaping the hectic lifestyle in Manhattan. This season's story is "for a girl who needs things for the city and the beach. The mesh pieces in the collection were meant for beachy days that go into night."
Zacks also has an amazing personal style. She claims Sonia Rykiel as one of her icons and she shops Ebay for most of her wardrobe. On any given day you'll see Zacks fusing vintage accessories, important yet playful jewelry, and her own designs which evoke the subtle, everyday chic that she admires. Even though the line has a California feel to it, she finds inspiration from living in New York City as well. "There is a different kind of sexiness here from where I grew up in California. Its more hidden, cerebral. Much less flashy. I like how New York has taught me that sexy is sometimes less revealing."
Don't miss her short film at SpringandClifton.com
