Senin, 31 Maret 2014

Local designer makes debut at New Orleans Fashion Week


For businesswoman turned designer Tiffany Langlinais, the latest events in her life have shown her that life can unfold in a most 'unexpected fashion.'


Her new Freret & Napoleon fashion line made its runway debut at New Orleans Fashion Week recently, at the Board of Trade in the Central Business District.


Langlinais, 23, was born and raised in Biloxi. She recently graduated from Millsaps College, where she studied business administration.


She is living in New Orleans and working as the state development manager for the American Diabetes Association in Mississippi and Louisiana.


Langlinais said that when she began to work in a corporate environment, she felt she was sacrificing her self-expression and creativity in wearing the expected business attire.


This led her to design her own clothing.


Last November, she taught herself to sew and began creating what became the Freret & Napoleon collection.


Langlinais describes herself as always being an artistic person who loved art and fashion.


'I felt like it was something I always had in me and wanted to express myself in all kinds of different ways,' she said.


Freret & Napoleon takes its name from the area of New Orleans which she calls home.


Once a rough part of town, it's now 'a very up-and-coming area. It's young and fresh and continually being developed,' she said.


Langinais said the line reflects the area's 'multiple checkered histories intertwined in a rugged past and a hopeful look toward a more refined future. It is contradictory in lines and texture, always on the cusp of polished, but never just so.'


Freret & Napoleon is inspired by New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.


Her pieces include furry fabric reminiscent of Spanish moss, a shimmer alluding to oyster shells and neon chartreuse colors, which are a tribute to the shades of New Orleans city life.


On a recent visit home, she collected oyster shells from the shipyard by Boomtown Casino, and the shells inspired jewelry in the collection.


She said her advice to women in terms of fashion is, 'If you have this feeling about a certain piece, you should go with your gut instinct and wear it no matter what, because the feeling that you get when you're wearing something you truly like will never match anything anyone else could possibly get you to wear. If you like it, you should wear it.'


Langlinais said she applied to Fashion Week on a whim, and when she found out she was accepted, she reread the email three times because she couldn't believe it.


'Each day since, I've pinched myself the second I wake up to make sure it wasn't a cruel dream,' she said. 'This was finally everything I hadn't realized I wanted so badly, rushing to meet me in the most unexpected fashion.'


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