lovelina
I had the pleasure to chat with Catherine Bui, designer of the line Lovelina about her designs this week. Her new line is filled with beautiful, feminine dresses, tops and skirts all in eco friendly materials that are sized quite small. So not only will they fit you, but you’ll also feel great about wearing them!
Tell me about your line. What is your inspiration?
Lovelina is a socially and ecologically ethical line that is elegant, feminine and is designed to make a woman feel beautiful and sophisticated. When I’m designing my pieces, I keep romantic, bygone eras in mind in order to blend unique, vintage looks with modern, wearable style. I am currently utilizing a lot of inspiration from the Victorian era and the glamorous 1930’s.
Do you have a favorite piece this season?
For the upcoming Fall/Winter season, there’s this capelet-silhouette jacket I’ve designed that I absolutely adore. It’s a beautiful, versatile piece with modern Victorian flair. What’s more, these jackets are made from gorgeous vintage wools so the fabrications are unique and few of a kind. This really gives the design even more of an old world sophistication.
What size/ height are you?
I am 5′0″ and wear a size 2.
What is the sizing of your line?
Most of my pieces run XS thru L, which is roughly 0/2 thru 8/10. I’d say that Lovelina runs pretty true to size, but because of the way my pieces are cut and designed, they’ll look flattering regardless if you’re small or tall.
Why a petite clothing line?
I don’t know if I would exactly classify my clothing line as “petite”, although I would definitely say that it’s “petite-friendly”. In general, I don’t like categorizing Lovelina at all. I’d like to think that women in a range of heights and sizes would look fabulous in my pieces. However, I do design for myself and I am petite, therefore my clothing naturally looks fantastic on less-than-tall girls. Lovelina was partly a result of my being frustrated with the inability to find pieces that would look flattering on my small frame.
Tell me about the fabrics you are working with? What makes your line eco friendly?
I’m currently working with a lot of organic cotton/soybean jerseys. Soybean has a really soft, luxurious feel and a beautiful drape. It is a sustainable and biodegradable fabric source. I’m also going to be incorporating bamboo and hemp to future collections, which also have the same ecological qualities of bamboo.
When I use the term ethical fashion, I refer to socially and ecologically conscious practices in design and manufacturing. For me, to be socially conscious means to use local manufacturing contractors who implement fair labor practices as opposed to sweatshop labor outsourced overseas. This way, since production is done nearby, I have more control over quality and can say for a fact that the employees that assemble my pieces are paid fairly and work reasonable hours in a positive environment. Of course, this makes the prices of my collection a little higher than your run-of-the-mill clothing line, but I believe that feeling good about where your clothes come from is worth the extra cost.
In terms of being an ecologically conscious clothing line, I do my best to make sure that Lovelina has as little negative effect on the environment as possible. I try to do that by utilizing fabrications that are organic, sustainable, and biodegradable. I also incorporate vintage and leftover fabrics in my pieces instead of ordering brand new fabrics made from scratch in an effort to reduce the amount of waste.
Another type of fabrication that I utilize is manufacturer surplus fabrics. Basically, these are leftover fabrics that large, mass-manufacture clothing companies discard. Instead of purchasing fabrics that need to be made from scratch and often require extra energy while producing waste, I make use of these leftover fabrics to eliminate that.
Where is your line carried? Boutiques and online?
Off the top of my head, in California, I’m sold at Mingle, R.A.G., and Ruby, all located in San Francisco. And of course at the Lovelina Salon and Showroom located in Berkeley, California. Cliché in Minneapolis, Minnesota sells my clothing as well as LA Funk in Wylie, Texas. Online I’m sold at www.saboraclothing.com, www.indieshopper.com, and at my own e-commerce site www.lovelina.com. I frequently get orders from Canada, Australia, and Singapore, but have yet to be stocked in any boutiques in those locations. Hopefully it’s just a matter of time before Lovelina will be available at international locations.
Tell me about your trip to Asia and the difference in US/Asian sizing.
When I traveled to Southeast Asia to observe fashion and design trends I was really impressed by the styles that were popular among the women there. They weren’t afraid to dress really frilly and girly, wearing colorful items with details such as prints, sequins, beading, ruffles, and lace. Also, since Asian women are generally slight in stature by nature, most of the sizing was more or less suited to the petite. When I was shopping in Vietnam, the largest sizes they had in stock were a medium or a size 6. In the lingerie department, the largest bra size available was a 34B.
Shopping in Asia was a lot of fun mostly because a lot of the items that I tried on were a good fit with no alterations necessary! I especially liked the way that coats, jackets, and dress pants fit because, for the most part, these pieces were tailor-made for women between the sizes of 00 thru 4 and under 5′4″.
In Vietnam, the required supermodel height is only 5′6″, much different from the requirement in the USA to be at least 5′8″ or 5′9″. Asians have always been a race of slighter stature in general and I found that the fashion in Asia suited my body type. Another great thing about shopping in Asia (sewing and fashion being one of the continent’s central industries) is that if a boutique doesn’t have something in your size available, it will have the in-house seamstress sew up a custom-made version of the item that you wanted to your exact measurements at no additional cost and will have it ready in a week or less. How cool is that?!
What is the next step for your line?
I think I’d like to raise more awareness among the general public about ethical fashion. I think that a lot of people are under the misconception that eco-friendly and sweatshop-free design tends to be ugly, hippie, or avant-garde. That’s not always the case. It is possible to shop guilt-free while remaining stylish if you purchase items from Lovelina and other designers of the like.
Another thing that I’m looking at, in the nearest future possible, is to set up a system in which a percentage of Lovelina’s profits are donated to ecological and humane charities.
Anything you’d like to share with my readers?
I just want everybody to know that I appreciate their taking the time to look at my collection and read about what I have to say in regards to it. I’d like to think that Lovelina isn’t just another clothing line, but rather one of a number of collections that’s geared towards a fashion revolution. Lovelina provides fabulous, petite-friendly style that is also socially and ecologically conscious. For me, as a designer as well as an avid shopper, fashion doesn’t get any better than that! I hope that there are others out there that agree.
Last question, if you could meet any designer who would it be? Why?
I have quite a few designers that I respect, but at this exact moment it would make my day to have tea with Betsey Johnson. Why? Because I admire her fearlessness as a fashion designer. She is unafraid to consistently create over-the-top frilly, frothy, feminine pieces that scream: “I’M A GIRL!” to the world. I think women are afraid to dress ultra-feminine because they feel that dressing like a girl runs the risk of making them appear weak. I believe there’s great strength in the ability to express yourself any way you wish without thinking twice about how others may perceive you. Betsey embodies that for me. She’s so talented and is a such a defined individual. I love the fact that she doesn’t hold back on the ruffles, lace, swingy silhouettes, and candy colors. I think it would be cool to be able to pick her brain and get some good advice from her.
