Degen: Deux
I recently walked around
much of lower Manhattan with my seminal good friend Kimberly Logan-Hynes.
Kimberly is the Costume Shop Manager of the Florida Grand Opera. She and her lovely daughter Lucy were in Manhattan for a
vacation, but both also had an agenda to complete. Both women wanted to visit
yarn stores, as they love to knit. I always wanted to learn how to knit, but
being a lefty and only finding right handed instructors has kept knitting
something I can only admire from afar. For me, fall and winter are merely an
excuse to wear sweaters.
Kimberly needed to find a specific
shade of blue yarn to complete a project, and I was rather confident that this
would be easy to accomplish here in New York, with so many specialty shops that
cater to artisans of all types. We started our mission at Habu Textiles, which is a shop where one can find many varieties
of yarn from Japan, and ended at Purl Soho, which
once inside I saw yarn of every width and color (almost). There were other
stops in between, but despite our nearly Arthurian ‘yarn quest,’ the desired
shade of blue was a no-show. Kimberly vowed to continue her search elsewhere. Who
knew what a labor of love knitting could be?
Who indeed. As a matter of
fact, my friend Lindsey Degen knows well the passion for knitting. Her Degen line is mainly knitwear – though knitwear as
you’ve never seen it before. Her Degen S/S 2013 collection was inspired by the
individuality of ‘street style’ and her desire to move away from the trappings
of technical design into a more liberating ‘do it yourself’ or ‘make it yourself’
ethos.
Lindsey assembled a group of
like-minded designers and artists to help her execute this season’s endeavor.
Cobbler Chris Coulthrust, in conjunction with Converse
sneakers, created the fantastic footwear. The crochet hats were produced by the
milliner Amy Cakes, and Claudia Baethgen designed the denim wear. The melded
and multifarious jewelry design was by the artist Meredith Iszlai and Lindsey
Degen.
Lindsey believes that the
revolution will be craftivised and
she implores us to take action, own our decisions and ‘make it’! And hopefully
we will be able to do this by finding and making it in the colors that we need.
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| Two cool looks by Lindsey Degen. The set installations: Sam Jaffee and Lindsey Degen. |
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| Cropped 3/4 sleeve sweater worn with a necklace made in collaboration w/Meredith Iszlai. |
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| Multi-colored short tank worn with a hat by milliner Amy Cakes. |
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| 'Pizza' bra worn with a beautiful crotched cowl. |
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| These fantastically great Converse were designed in collaboration with cobbler Chris Coulthrust. |
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| The ring is by artist & jewelry designer Meredith Iszlai. Nails by Myrdith Leon-McCormack for M2M. |
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| On him: 'It's Like That' shorts. On her: A denim mini by Claudia Baethgen. |
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| The talented and lovely Lindsey Degen. |
