Helium Magazine: How long have you been designing? How did you get started?

Karen Lum: My mom had a sewing machine. She taught me how to mend my own clothes. When I got to middle school I realized I wanted to do different things and so I took some classes and make two pieces from scratch. In high school I started to experiment on my own and I even made my prom dress. In college I found out about Charity Show and starting to do this seriously and I do it because I enjoy it. now I realize that it is something that I really enjoy. I do it more for fun, not professionally.

HM: And you’re going to school?

KL: Yes, my major us Science & Technology with a concentration in Product Design.

HM: Any plans when you get out?

KL: I’m interested in product design or working for a company. I would love to travel. Sometimes I think I want to move somewhere like Hong Kong and see what happens in fashion. I don’t see myself working in the fashion industry, but I really love it a lot. It’s all up in the clouds and is a mystery- who knows where I will be.

HM:How long have you done Charity Fashion Show?

KL: Three years, this will be my last, so four total.

HM: What was the best part of doing the show?

KL: The clothes inspire me; CFS gives me a platform for my collection.  I like to just watch it ‘all go by’. The shelves and the mannequin comes to life with my collection.

HM: Remind our readers what your collection at last year’s Charity Fashion Show was like

KL: I lived in India for six months and worked for a non-profit that was developing a low-cost incubator using a pouch-contained material. The collection was inspired by architecture, nature, festivals, religion and colors. I brought my sewing machine to India and I worked on four dresses. My goal this year is to do four more, a smaller collection than usual. Basically, I utilized textiles from India and converted them in ways that express what I saw in India. They were inspired by banana leaves I saw in festivals and worn for decoration as applications. I used Kelly green color and rigid stripes. I made a dress based out of Indian textile, color and banana leaves. I also bought a lot of saries and converted them to dresses. Another dress was inspired by the Indian flag – saffron ,white and green. The colors represent peace and hard word.

HM: Compared to CFS last year, how do you explain your style today? Has it changed much?

KL: I make all these clothes for myself. I make what I am feeling at the moment. There are  two ways I work. I either end up buying fabric that catch’s my eye with no plan in mind, then I create something later OR I find material and I have no idea what to do with it  then later  I find something to do with it—this is the best form of method.

HM: Can you give us an example?

KL: For example 2 years ago at CFS I was given puffy sleeves by another designer that were cut off  a dress. I ended up making a trench coat jacket and this military inspired dress out of them. It makes it more creative when I buy with restriction and then make use with what I have.

HM: Do you have a specific style?

KL: I make what I am interested in wearing at the moment. I make things that I am interested in owning myself. I trying really hard to make clothes that no one else has, just like every fashion designer does, right? I like making dresses, going-out outfits, and good quality cocktail dresses. If I can’t afford it, I make copy of the original.

HM: Have you considered fashion as a business?

KL: Since I have no formal training, I can’t sell my fashions professionally. I could contract my services for construction or have some one to help me replica of the original but I have an attachment to the things I make; so I would feel that I am giving away. You can’t put a price on the conceptualization you are giving away.I have no desire to sell for money, I do it for fun.I make clothes that I want to have and keep.

HM: What are some of your favorite pieces?

KL: This dress I made last year for my 21st birthday dinner last year. It was a black dress- bunch of black stretch twill – short shift-dress with pocket, buttons and Indian hand bead work.

HM: What would you tell someone looking to get into designing? Are there any special skills that you need?

KL: Always try to do something new. The thing with fashion is that it is driven by consumer trends, whatever the style is now will sell. There are so many ways you can go with fashion. I make it [my style] anyway. I go for the accomplishment it brings and the truly original piece that comes out of it. Try something new and be true to yourself.

HM: What’s in the near future for Karen Lum? Are you working on anything now?

Besides working on CFS, I am working on an artwork exhibit for the art fair on campus. I want to blog more about my traveling. What is my dream job? I enjoy travel and then make clothes or art out f that experience.What if my job was to travel the world and make clothes inspired by art– that would be the coolest job ever! To travel to south Korea, Vietnam, France who knows? India was a very valuable experience in the way that I was able to translate what I saw– that is what I really love an am passionate about. I am in the process of trying to find a way to raise funds to go to Italy after graduation.

Karen Lum can be reached at: karen.lum.26@gmail.com

Interview by Amanda Holst

Photography by Ralph Nguyen

Photos used with permission by Karen Lum

Helium: Jewelry designing is so far away from geography and library and information science where you hold your degrees, can you tell me how that happened?

Christine Aiko Beck: When I was in grad school I picked up beading again.  I had taken jewelry classes over the years but I became inspired by a beading book that my aunt in Japan gave to me.  It was all in Japanese and I could read only a little of it.  I just started copied the designs in the book and found a new passion for creating.  It became a creative outlet.  The jewelry just kept calling at me and turned into this important part of my life.  I want to be a successful creative entrepreneur.

H:  What is the connection between fashion and jewelry?

CAB: It’s adornment. You can have a piece of jewelry or an accessory really be a statement piece to your outfit.  With my jewelry it’s very subtle and simple and I don’t tend to have a lot of chunky, over-sized pieces.  However my jewelry can also make a statement that you can be wearing a little black dress and that all you want to look at is the earrings that they are wearing.

H: Where do you get your inspiration for your pieces?

CAB: Mostly from the stones themselves I buy.

Some of the jewelry that I make don’t have any stones and have all metal;

My process generally is to go to source my supplies my stones, chains, and what not? It usually has to speak to me and I don’t always don’t know what its going to be when I buy it, but I know I have to have it.  I have a whole bunch of stuff on my worktable and things sort of come together organically.

I am really inspired by the Japanese aesthetic, both the natural organic and the simple and elegant as well.

H: Tell us about your style?

CAB: My style is definitely simple, elegant, subtle, there is organicness to it, without being overly on the organic side.

I also think its sweet without being syrupy sweet.  Something that is clean and simple and pretty.

H: What makes you different from other jewelry designers?

CAB: Sometimes other designers have a harder edge, which I like but not what comes out of me, and sometimes they like more chunky and heavy.  It depends on your style, but I don’t over-design and I pay attention to details.  I put little stones at the end of the chain that you don’t notice immediately but the extra- added thought is like a little secret that I try to incorporate.

H: You were born in England and journeyed to Japan while growing up: How has your multicultural background influenced your designs?

CAB: I think it did so in a lot of ways that I really didn’t discovery until later on.  I think that being mixed race and traveling a lot affected me much later.  My grandparents were traditional mikan farmers (Japanese mandarins) with a Japanese traditional home.  I traveled, ate the different food, and heard the language in Japan.  I also collected wooden kokeshi dolls.  The craftsmanship has struck a chord with me.

H:What was the defining moment where you knew you were going to make it as a designer?

CAB: There came a point where I knew I couldn’t dabble in part time work.  Working at a job and trying to make a business couldn’t coincide. I was pulled too many ways and my heart was in jewelry. There is something amazing about creating something and getting paid for it.  It’s definitely a labor of love.

H: What are you showing at Charity Fashion Show this weekend?

CAB: Pieces of pyrite; it’s what most people know as fool’s gold.  It’s this stone that has a crystallized formation that comes out looking like gold.

I am also showing lightly oxidized sterling silver, which I am being drawn to lately and a nice long gold necklace with a piece of labradorite.

H: What is in the future for Aiko Designs?

CAB: I’ve been doing a few tradeshows and I am planning to do some more.  I’m trying to get into the bridal market because I think my jewelry would go really well for the nontraditional bride.  I am also thinking about creating

another line of jewelry to develop in the summer and introduce in the fall.

H: You mix a lot of metals, for example rose gold plated chains with sterling silver, are you a believer in contrast?

CAB: I love the contrast. I’m running across a lot of people who are just silver or just gold and I am trying to get them used to the fact that it’s okay to wear both.  I personally mix black, copper, gold, and silver pieces.  I say why not?

H: What are your favorite pieces of jewelry outside your collection?

CAB: When I go to tradeshows I am trading with other designers or buying outright.  I have been wearing a pair earrings nonstop and a copper powder-coated ring from Cynthia Jones Jewelry from Santa Fe.  Other designers here in San Francisco that I admire are Joy O Designs and Kate Ellen Metalsmithing & Design.

H: Any advice to our readers about turning something they love into a business?

CAB: You have to be committed and you have to love what you are doing; in order to get through some of the struggles you are definitely going to come across. If you have the desire to make it you will.  I always wanted to be an artist and I couldn’t draw or paint and veered in another direction.  Then I found a creative outlet through jewelry.  If I didn’t love it I wouldn’t still be doing it.

Interview by Amanda Holst

All photos courtesy of Aiko Designs

Aiko Designs will also be at the Designer Clothing Sale @ Stanford on May 16, from noon to 4 pm

1. Aiko Designs
2. Aksel Paris
3. AVB by von Bromssen
4. Betsey Johnson
5. Civil Society
6. Clutch Couture
7. Danielle Pettee
8. Eva Franco
9. Isharya
10. Karen Lum
11. Kent Denim
12. Kittinhawk
13. Kitty Andrews
14. Lenny
15. Magdalena Trevor
16. Mary Lucas (Future Faces of Fashion)
17. Mary Meyer
18. Maryam Garba
19. Momo
20. Miss Morgan
21. Nanette Lepore
22. Nicole Pansoy
23. Paul’s Hatworks
24. Pink Studio Footwear
25. Priestess NYC
26. Shin Choi
27. Swati Couture
28. Tabbisocks
29. Taylor Tompane (FFF)
30. Tosca Soraya
31. Waddie Crazyhorse
32. WDesigns
33. Ylizaveta Shmaltko

Returning designers are in bold.

The notorious-acclaimed Charity Fashion Show only weeks away and I have not the faintest idea of what to wear.  With an excuse to go shopping and mallrat expertise on my side, I set off to Westfield Valley Fair Mall over the weekend.

April 25, 2010

4:00 p.m Parking is no problem for this mallrat, who knows that advancing to the top level will save time and energy for the bigger task at hand.

4:15 p.m. The last thing I need right now is to lose myself in the middle of a Macy’s shoe sale.  These Pastry Glam Night Pumps with fringe décor and slinky straps are just going to have to wait til I narrow down my outfit choices.

Pastry Glam Night $59

Mallrat Mantra: Have a plan.

Valley Fair may be a little overwhelming but I have my What, Where, & How Much

How much:  $100

What: Dress, Accessories, Shoes

Where: GUESS, BEBE, Charlotte Russe

4:30 Wow, everything I try on at GUESS I love but…

The Zipper

The Lubov Bubble

The Tracy

…Did I find the one?

Mallrat Tip: It’s OK to Put on Hold

5:00 p.m Next stop BEBE.  Here are my dressing room confessions

Belted Sailor Dress

Striped Halter Dress

Silk Party Dress

Romantic Shirt Dress

5:30 Some cute picks at Charlotte Russe

Satin Pleaded Dress

Satin Tube

Blossom Tube

Satin Slash Dress

Pleated Tube Dress

Mallrat tip: Love the outfit that Loves you back

5:45 p.m. Thank goodness I always bring a change of shoes- my dogs are killing me!  I still cannot find a necklace to go with my GUESS bracelet and earrings though; the closest fit I get is a Givenchy necklace back at Macy’s that’s way over budget.

Flower Hinge Bracelet

Givenchy

Chandelier Earrings

With only six dollars over budget, two accessories pieces that I would not have normally been able to get, and the excitement building up for Charity Fashion Show, I knew today being a mallrat paid off.

Perspective by: Amanda Holst/Fashion 101

It’s a great preview of the elite models who will be walking on the 220-foot runway on May 15th; the longest runway on the west coast. But most importantly, the campaign shows Charity Fashion Show’s commitment to diversity. In 2009, Charity Fashion Show’s “Future Faces of Fashion” model Monalisa Hassan sported her Hijab in the stunning Lancom Paris advertisement. Other models like Unoma “Nomis” Okolo (Nigerian/England native and Fire Goddess in the Elemental Fashion Show Issue), and Leslie Cachola (“five foot & under) also exemplify the diversity of CFS’s models.

Tickets go on sale @ charityfashionshow.org on April 20th.

View the full campaign and become a fan of Charity Fashion Show on their Facebook Page.

Believe it or not, many of Helium’s shoots are shot in front of  a white background (at Studio 2147X) and completed in post-editing. This behind the scenes video by Brian Agee shows how photographer and Helium’s Art Director Jack Husting teamed up with Wayne Hwang and some Charity Fashion Show models to produce Helium’s Fashion Feature on WDesigns.

Check out the rest of WDesigns’ new line and more from Charity Fashion Show at their May 15th event (the largest fashion show on the West Coast) plus the debut of Helium’s Elemental Fashion Show Issue.

On May 15th, 2010, Helium Magazine’s Elemental Fashion Show Issue (Volume 1. Issue 1) will launch at Stanford’s Charity Fashion Show: the largest fashion show on the West Coast!

The Event

Each year Stanford’s Charity Fashion Show produces a top-notch event, but in 2009 they broke the mold and laid out the largest fashion show on the West Coast with a 72-foot white glossy runway, 37 designers from around the world, and over 1,000 guests.

Check out Helium’s photo gallery of last year’s event, and CFS’s YouTube Page for Video.

This year, CFS is on a mission to not just produce another top-notch show, but put themselves in the history books. They’ve extended their runway to a staggering 220 feet with a diamond end that circles a press section. Their magnificent white tent will hold nearly 2,000 guests and top-industry professionals from across the bay area.

3D Rendering of the CFS 2010 Stage

CFS 2010 Floor Seating (2,000 Guests)

The Designers

The 2009 show displayed major industry names such as Andrew Christian, Aussiebum, Claiborne by Bartlett, Me&Ro, Nanette Lepore, Oscar de la Renta, Shin Choi, and Tadashi. While the announcement of the 2010 lineup is highly anticipated (move over iPad?), rumor has it Betsey Johnson will be returning with a FULL showing of their lingerie line. And, Tosca Soraya is expected to make her US Premiere at the show.

Helium is proud to announce that CFS 2010 will not only feature top designers from around the world, but some of Helium’s favorite designers from right here in the bay area. Kent Denim, who was first featured in Helium’s Atomic Fashion Show, will be launching his new line at CFS (available at the Blues Jean Bar). SWATI Couture (featured in the Atomic Fashion Show and in a 6-page photo editorial in the Elemental Issue) will also be featured in the show.

The Campaign

Pending confirmation of a formal partnership between CFS and Helium Magazine that has been brewing over the course of the last year, Helium is proud to finally release an advertising campaign for Charity Fashion Show 2010. The advertisement below (to be published in the Elemental Issue) features CFS model DeAnna Basques wearing a hand-died dress by SF designer Danielle Pettee. Photography and artistic direction by Helium’s Art Director, Jack Husting.

Their 2009 show was truly a sight to behold. Housed at the Stanford University campus in a giant white tent, 37 designer clothing lines were marched down the 72-foot runway in front of an audience of more than 1,000 guests. According to 7×7 Magazine’s research, there are shows with bigger audiences, shows with more designers, and shows with longer runways, but no show comes close to competing in all three categories on the west coast.

Check out Helium Magazine’s photo gallery of the 2009 show.

CFS 2009 GALLERY

The Charity Fashion Show also announced yesterday that model casting auditions will be held on Tuesday October 13 and Wednesday October 14th. Both days are from 7-10p.m. in the Roble Gym at Stanford University. No experience is necessary.

The Helium Zine was also well received; featuring a page on every designer in the show and a Helium Original photograph.

Helium had a red carpet set up for the VIP entrance where fashion designers, press, and Silicon Valley fashion industry experts arrived.

The Charity Fashion Show crew from Stanford; Taylor Jackson (FCubed Fashion Blog Editor-in-Chief), Lee Axelrod, Megan Anctil, Thom Scher (Executive Director), and Stephanie Werner.

"Stuff by Kate" designer, Kate Seavey

"Never Gets Old" designer, Amy Romaine

Helium Magazine’s Fashion Broadcaster, Camielle Rose-Rivera, interviewed all of the designers on the red carpet. The videos will be uploaded shortly to sjHelium.com’s new Video Portal.

Opening Scene: Yuppie Joints

The show started with a an explosion and black out of the entire ballroom. Four-foot He2 logos descended from the rafters in the darkness until the music began and the stage flooded with blue lights. Then, out came Yuppie Joints for a killer dance performance!

SWATI Couture from Swati Kapoor, Milpitas

When Helium first saw SWATI’s Fire Dress, we new it was the perfect outfit to kick off the Atomic Fashion Show! Check out Helium Magazine Fashion Feature on SWATI from early September. Just two days after the show, Helium did another photo shoot with SWATI for a photo essay in Helium’s first full issue coming out in December at the Elemental Fashion Show.

Stuff by Kate from Kate Seavey, San Jose

When Helium first worked with Kate Seavey, we thought Stuff by Kate was all about her one of a kind hoodies-with-flair. Enter neon tights and high heals, and a whole new beast is born. Helium’s full Fashion Feature on Stuff by Kate will be posted later this month.

RECAP: PART 2