Cy Twombly's peonies, now at the Art Institute.

Read my diary of one fun day in Chicago on Refinery29 here.

After much deliberation, I decided to move the production of Bodkin’s A/W 2009 collection to Los Angeles. I realize this makes things a bit less ‘local’, to say the least, and as I read Bill McKibben’s Deep Economy I feel guilty and carbon-gluttonous abandoning a perfectly useful local manufacturing base (though never my beloved patternmaker Alicia—more about her in another post). So why L.A.? It is the absolute center of the U.S. garment industry, and only getting bigger–you can actually develop your own domestic organic fabrics here!–and the environment is much more hospitable and user-friendly for small designers (at least in my experience). After a two-week period in March where I couldn’t walk due to severe lower back pain from lugging rolls of fabric through ice storms in the garment district, I needed something less stressful. Carbon footprint-wise, the difference may be negligible: many of Bodkin’s stores are in the west, and many of the best organic fabrics are coming from Asia. Or milled here (in California or Colorado or Texas) from Chinese or Texan raw materials. And I’m there at least once a year anyway for personal reasons. Alas, environmental gray areas like this are impossible to avoid when you’re trying to keep a tiny business afloat. What are your thoughts?

I got nothing but good vibes from Gohar, the woman who is sewing much of the collection. She is from Armenia and has a shop in Burbank called Ann of Magnolia (slogan: “Where Women Are Still Special”) where she sells her own remarkably ornate wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, and separates. She even used to make Michael Jackson’s costumes! (She never met the Gloved One, but knew his assistants quite well.) She is pictured here with Matt, one of two talented, life-saving guys who are managing the production process locally. I deliberately framed their heads around the portrait of Jesus. Said Gohar: “He”—JC—”runs this place. I’m just the manager.”

When you think about midcentury modern architecture, your mental image was probably shot by Julius Shulman. The legendary photographer, who passed away last week at 98, translated modernism’s principles to the masses–as Neutra’s staff photographer and on his own, he captured idealized scenes of domesticity in otherwise otherworldly cantilevered glass structures, translating and preserving a specific, iconic vision of how technology and simplicity and could mean a fitter, happier, more productive American future.

I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon with him in his Raphael Soriano-designed studio and house in the Hollywood Hills in 2006. My photographer friend Melanie had met him before and had a connection, so I simply rang him up and asked him if we could come by, then booked a flight. I just had to. The interview and photos were never published, but it was a defining moment for me–my father, who passed away in 2001, was an architect and devout modernist, and I guess I did it to somehow pay tribute to him.

Julius was gracious and funny, despite the fact that we’d interrupted him in the middle of a bowl of tomato soup, and totally self-deprecating about how he came into his line of work. He just stumbled into it–as I guess I have with making clothes. His warm demeanor and his insanely eye-pleasing and functional (but smallish and low-key) house have something in common: Good design can be smart, sensible, and intuitive; meticulously considered aesthetics can coincide with sensible science and a sense of humility and subtlety. It can make our lives easier and better-looking, and improve our world. Architecture has proven this; why not clothes? I guess that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing.

I haven’t announced this blog to the world yet because I’ve been too busy to update every day. Hopefully now that I have a part-time employee, that will change! A redesign is coming in the next week or so, too, so stay tuned. I’ll be writing about my new production facilities in Los Angeles, why clothes cost what they do, and offering a sneak peek of some style inspirations for SS10.