Back In The Fashion Spotlight
[New York Fashion Week, America's biggest yearly fashion event, kicks off Friday, Sept. 8, 2006. See Showbuzz: STYLE for daily multimedia coverage of the Spring 2007 collections and the fashion scene.]
The rock 'n' roll trench coat in black satin with a beaded skull on the back that closed Badgley Mischka's fashion show last season said it all: The boys were back, and they had a few tricks up their sleeves.
"We had the luxury of starting something new but with an existing following," says Badgley. "Some customers said, `I couldn't go out all spring because I had not a thing to wear,"' adds Mischka, doing his best impression of a wealthy woman.
The design duo sat on fashion's sidelines for a few seasons before Iconix Brands infused Badgley Mischka with much-needed cash. Iconix acquired the red carpet-friendly label in 2004 from Escada, which had decided to pour its money into its own name brand - another player with the socialite and celebrity scene.
For Iconix, Badgley Mischka is more than a feather in its cap; it's the diamond in its ring. Besides Badgley Mischka, Iconix's other brands are mostly oriented to juniors and teens, yet Mischka describes it as "the suitor that was most suitable."
Together they've charted a course of swift but steady growth, including a return to New York Fashion Week, ads featuring Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, and branded handbags and eyewear. A new signature fragrance just arrived in stores and shoes are planned for spring 2007.
This is an effort to court younger shoppers as well as a more diverse group. A perfume for $65 fits into the budget of many more consumers than a gown that costs four figures.
And with their spring collection, to debut on catwalks Sept. 14, there will be a sportswear group for the first time. "There's always a little bit of daywear but it was special orders, trunk shows and for our socialite friends," Mischka says. "This is for the same woman but with a tailored edge," Badgley adds.
But he stresses that these aren't "office clothes." They've got Badgley Mischka's signature glitz - a few beads here, a bit of embroidery there. You could wear them to the office if you work in a creative field, he allows, but they're not for lawyers or bankers. They're better suited for daytime events, a charity luncheon or a wedding, perhaps.
"From their core, they're not really interested in dressing you for work. They have their vision of how a woman is supposed to look," says InStyle magazine's fashion director Hal Rubenstein. "I say this as a compliment: they see women as princesses – as women looking their best."
Rubenstein notes that the duo excels at eveningwear, but if they want their clothes in more closets, they have to expand their offerings. "If there's not a red carpet under there, there's a crystal chandelier in the background when women are wearing it. But the average person doesn't live like that; they are looking to get away from the special occasion thing."
That's where a new spin-off collection called Platinum comes in. It's slightly less expensive than the couture clothes – still $500-$1,500 for a dress. But these dresses are intended to be worn again, season after season, not show-stopping gowns that everyone will remember.
The duo is inspired by the women who wear their clothes. They get excited when they sketch a dress they can envision a specific person wearing. "We approach this very personally. We'll see something and say, `It looks like something Cornelia (Guest) would wear,'" Mischka says.
"We think about pieces that are meant to last. We've never really liked trendy or outrageous things. We pride ourselves on that," continues Badgley.
The two men, both 45, finish each other's sentences a lot. They even share a wide desk, sitting across from each other. Good thing they're both tall - Badgley is 6-foot-3 and Mischka 6-foot-2 - so they can peer over the tops of their computer screens.
Badgley, who was born in St. Louis and raised in Lake Oswego, Ore., and Mischka, who lived in Wisconsin, California and New Jersey before attending Rice University in Texas, were in the same class at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan in the early 1980s. They clicked personally and professionally, noting they had similar taste and style.
By 1988, they had launched their own label. "We didn't want to compete with each other," says Badgley. "We had the same vision."
Work crosses into their leisure time, since they are cozy with the rich and famous. They spend their time off doing "the horse circuit" in Palm Beach, Fla., and in Kentucky. Badgley is a serious rider; his horse is a European warmblood named Brando. "It's my job to take the braids out of (Brando's) hair," Mischka says with a laugh.
Mischka's passions are cooking and renovating homes. He's currently working on their apartment in New York and a house in Palm Beach. He also loves cars; a 1968 Avanti and a Mercedes 280 SL are among those parked in his garage.
"They're wonderful guys. Personally, they're really lovely gentlemen," says InStyle's Rubenstein. "They have a natural graciousness that reflects on the world they design for."
Badgley and Mischka are not big shoppers, though. They look at menswear and say, "We could do it better than that!" At one point Badgley Mischka did make men's clothes. They'd like to try it again but not until they've expanded their womenswear empire a bit more.
The fragrance is a step in that direction. All the New York-based marquee designers have one, and Badgley Mischka now joins the club.
"Our quest was to find a new classic. Something with staying power. Everything is so indistinguishable, we wanted to be more delicate, more feminine," Badgley says. Their blend of scents includes cassis, peach, berries, white peonies, jasmine, sandalwood and musk. Patchouli was added for a touch of the unexpected.
The bottle was inspired by a crystal bar decanter. "It makes sense with the whole eveningwear thing, with the fantasy thing," Badgley says.
(Neither of the designers wear designer fragrance. Mischka wears Creed, a centuries-old fragrance house that was a favorite with the English Court, and Badgley wears none at all.)
The perfume, the accessories and the runway shows all are an effort to reach a broader audience.
The designers also visit stores across the country for trunk shows, accomplishing a twofold goal: First, they say, you never know where they'll spot an incredibly chic woman as inspiration. And second, when they show up in person it dispels all notions that Badgley Mischka is an old Russian lady who dabbles in fashion.
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