What the Cool Kids Wear

I attended the “Atticus Presents the Cool Kids” event last week. Owner Kristin Wild featured four young, up-and-coming designers from the Madison area at her trunk show event. I was amazed by their versatility and variety of viewpoints they had. All of the designers showing were UW students in the textile and design program.

Danni Trester designed amazing swatches of fabric for a school project—fantastical patterns in zigzags, dots and more. They looked straight out of a fabric catalog you’d find at a high-end fabric store! Trester also designs fun wallets out of vintage papers and shoppers can even have a custom wallet made—they can choose from among a book of papers Trester has, and she’ll make a wallet out of any pattern you choose.

Brittany Kucera’s looks are simple—a two-toned dress/tunic out of jersey, a cropped jacket with a major collar and a beautiful, dove-gray sleeveless top with a drapey collar. I loved her pink leather studded clutch for $100. Kucera said it took her quite a while to perfect the technique and amazingly, the leather lived a former life—as a piece from the now-defunct Wilson’s leather store! Reusing fabrics and products is hot—and just proves that we can live green and still be fashionable.

Meg Koglin’s looks were heavily inspired by the past—like the novel Little Women, for example. That’s right, Koglin’s inspiration/sketch book was chock-full of fascinating sketches of looks, many of which were inspired by books or plays. Some were costume-influenced and others were just looks she dreamed up, like a little white cropped short-sleeved jacket fashioned out of a men’s shirt and embellished with strips of fabrics from other shirts. Koglin also designed a wildly different look for MMoCA’s Hair Affair event I wrote about the other week—a tight, shiny black Spandex look adorned with gray cuffs, neckpiece and anklets enhanced with zippers (see photo of model with blue hair). It was quite a departure from the looks she showed at Atticus—which is a positive sign that Ms. Koglin can show different looks for different occasions.

I was charmed by Dokiang Thao’s looks—fun little party dresses and sassy tunics (well, it’d be a tunic for someone as tall as me!) many of which were made out of reclaimed fabrics. The vibrant colors and chic styles looked to be a promising start for this young designer.
More on these designers to come…

Atticus, 18 N. Carroll St. 204-9001. atticus.com