August 23, 2016

Meet Designer and Stylist: Evey

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Evey .

Evey, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My grandmother was a seamstress, and I would sit with her by the sewing machine for hours when I was a little girl. We would sew patches on my jeans and in high school she helped me design and make my own clothes combining treasures I found at local thrift stores.

I came out with a line of skirts made of vintage pillow cases, and purses made of men’s ties back in 2000 and while I was a student at UCLA, I walked into a boutique in Westwood,, and the owner loved my purse and when I told him I’d made it, he offered me half of his store to sell my clothing and accessories.

Friends of mine who were producers and directors would always ask me to provide the wardrobe for their short films, commercials and music videos they were working on. Some of my clients included Fox Networks FUEL TV, TOKYOPOP Comics, Blizzard Entertainment, and World of Warcraft. My work was featured at Comic-con.

I decided I didn’t know as much as I should know if I was going to be a designer, so I got this idea that I wanted to meet my idol, Betsey Johnson, and ask her how she got to where she’s at.
I picked up the phone and called her studio in New York one day, and they mentioned that she was looking for interns. So I moved out of my apartment, put my two mutts in the car, and drove all the way from Los Angeles, to New York, to try to become one of Betsey’s interns.

I whipped together a portfolio, and after 3 interviews I landed the position, and it was really a dream come true. I got to work directly with Betsey, within weeks I was sketching for their design team, dying fabrics, and learning all about how the industry works.

Something else I realized while working there was that I needed an education in fashion.
So I moved back to LA and enrolled in LA Trade Techs incredible fashion design and merchandising program.
I spent 3 years practicing my stitches, learning how to cut, learning how to draw, draping, drafting patterns and even making my own fabric.

While I was in school, I kept getting asked by performance artists to make their costumes. I designed clothing for the Avante Garde performance troupe Lucent Dossier to wear at their Coachella, I also designed a crystal covered Mermaid Tail for Linden Wolbert to wear while swimming in the ocean, with sharks! She wore the tail at the New Years eve party at the Soho House.

I began experimenting with fashion. Playing with electricity, designing garments that light up, with motorized parts. I made a carousel dress for an art exhibition for Raw Artists Hollywood.

I then started getting requests from brides who wanted very unique dresses, and I became the go-to designer for offbeat, one -of-a-kind wedding gowns. I’ve had brides who want pink ombre dresses, inspired by Gwen Stefani’s wedding dress, and others who want a rainbow colored or black and metal dress. Many of my brides have me wire in a surprise light up effect so they can flip a switch and sparkle with fiber optics and delicate LED’s after the ceremony. I’ve even been hired lately to make dresses out of oddball materials including pages of books, candy, and toys.

Has it been a smooth road?
I kind of did it all backward. I started off selling to stores, and then had a humbling moment when I realized I needed to learn to walk before I could run. And so I stopped everything, put my business on hold and decided to rewind and start from the beginning, as an intern, and then go to school. The more I learned, the more I realized I needed to learn. I am always learning. I love figuring out how to take my designs to the next level. I always look for inspiration and realize inspiration is everywhere.

When you look back, what are you most proud of?
Whether it’s a bride walking down the aisle, artists performing at Coachella, or a dress made out of a product that a company is selling at a trade show, I feel really lucky to have those moments where I get to bring people’s imagination to life, and it makes me feel super proud every single time I see my work walk down that aisle, or rock out on stage. Those are the moments when you see your client loving it, and the crowd’s reaction is so positive, that makes it all worth it.

Every story has ups and downs. What were some of the downs others might not be aware of?
I’ll never forget my first-day interning for Betsey Johnson. It was terrifying!
I had no idea what I was doing, she called me into a design meeting and asked me if I could sketch a few of the garments that she had hanging there, and asked me to sketch a few changes that she was describing, and I panicked cause I had absolutely no idea how to sketch! I ran to the bookstore that night and picked up a book on fashion illustration, and every night before I went to bed for the next few weeks, I practiced tracing every garment in the book.
finally I figured it out and got a lot better at it but the moment was very humbling because it made me realize that I had a lot to learn and that this fashion stuff was going to take a tremendous amount of practice, and that’s why I decided to go back to school and stay in school until my stitches and sketches were good.

What’s your outlook for the industry in our city?
Brides are everywhere, so you definitely can’t go wrong if you want to design wedding gowns in any city, I attract the more daring and creative brides and there are definitely a bunch of them out here. In terms of designing costumes for performance artists, LA is awesome cause you’ve got the whole entertainment industry and then there are also so many creative people who want to wear something really eye-catching, memorable, and groundbreaking. So if you can keep ahead of the trends, and have fun with it, LA is a great place to work.

Contact Info: