Q and A: Corinne Grassini of Society for Rational Dress

When I first started Style Bite my main goal was to create a blog that featured the best of emerging, independent fashion and shopping, but for everyone. I wanted to write content that anyone could approach and enjoy, a blog w/out attitude, "fashion for the light of heart." When I approached Corinne Grassini of Society for Rational Dress, I jumped in knowing she was a sweetheart, but couldn't have foreseen how sweet. Her answers are some of the best I've received so far and she was more than a pleasure to work with. Its remarkable to me that a designer like Corinne could create clothing with such a an edge and cult following while remaining incredibly humble and genuinely grateful. She fits perfectly into my mold for this blog. Grassini created SFRD in 2005, and has since been gaining momentum among the indie fashion world ever since. Her work with silk and leather is amazing, each season never fails and once you own one of her pieces, you won't be able to stop. I couldn't imagine a better way to start off the new year. Here is what Corinne had to say:

S.B.: I own a couple of your dresses, and the fit always seems to be
right on. The silks you use really complement the shapes of your
garments and the body. What kind of formal training do you have in
garment/fashion design?
C.G: I studied pattern making and tailoring at a school in Los Angeles. I worked as a freelance pattern maker when I started Society for Rational Dress and learned a lot about design and how to translate it technically. Once Society for Rational Dress started to take off I realized that in order to fully realize my designs I wanted to study pattern making in more depth so I went to London for 6 months and took a course at Central Saint Martins called Innovative Pattern Cutting. That’s where I learned most of my technical skills.


S.B: I particularly love your shoes and your work with leather. What
kind of experience did you have with shoe design and/or leather before
starting your own line? Are shoes more difficult to design than
clothing?
C.G: Some of the first Society for Rational Dress pieces were leather harness dresses that were reworked from old army pieces. Eventually I ended up producing small runs of the harness dresses and learned a lot about leather then. From there I convinced myself that I knew enough about leather to be able to make my own shoes so I went and checked out a “how to make your own moccasins” book at the library. I made these boots that I had always had an idea of. After wearing them for a while I started to get requests to make them for other people. So eventually I did. When I started to feel like a one woman shoe factory I found a place that could help me produce them and that’s how the shoe collection was born. In learning how to design shoes and clothes, shoes were definitely a bigger challenge for me.
S.B: You seem to have a history of collaborating on projects with other
designers and boutiques. You were featured at NAKED and collaborated
on a collection for NAVE in the past. How important is it to involve
yourself in this aspect of the industry?
C.G.: I love collaborations and am always very flattered when I am approached to do them. Sometimes I start to feel like a machine designing for the same line every day… both the Naked and Nave collaborations took me out of my normal design mode and challenged me to do something different. It’s important to me to keep feeling challenged and alive with design or I feel as though I might as well be doing data entry.

S.B.: When approaching the design process, what do you look to for
inspiration? Music, movies, specific designers, etc, etc.
C.G.: Architecture and furniture design are my biggest creative influences. I like the juxtaposition in architecture and furniture of industrial materials with softer, more fluid fabrications. Rope, wire, dirt, wood, concrete, metal, silk, burlap, leather… when I see a nice pairing of those materials I’m inspired.

S.B: I absolutely loved the line Guild, but If I am right, summer '07 was
the last collection. Any other side projects you have in the works
you can tease us with?
C.G.:The Guild collection on its own is gone- but the feeling of the Guild pieces lives on in Society for Rational Dress collections. I merged the two collection. In regards to side projects I’m really excited about a private label project that I am working on for Satine boutique that will come out in Summer 2008 (Satine by Corinne Grassini). The collection’s main distribution will be in Japan. It has quite a bit of the Guild vibe to it- easy, comfortable layered looks.

S.B.: When you aren't wearing your own designs, who else are you rocking?
C.G.: I wear mostly vintage. My favorite piece was given to me by my friend, Joey, who owns Scout boutique in Los Angeles. He gave me a beautiful, crazily over sized hand knit sweater that’s big enough to fit three people in it. I like to be comfortable.


Society for rational dress can be found online at: Anica, Eva New York and Stels

Q and A: Corinne Grassini of Society for Rational Dress