THE HISTORY OF THE BEATEN MOTO: PART II

Sheri hit Rene's shop first.  Rene's advantages: he had done the style before and it had come out well. He also had 3 tailors vs Omar's one man show.  But the disadvantage was that Rene did not speak English and this had led to some unexpected results in the past.  He always says, "check it out" instead of "look" when he's showing you something which I now know is a trick to make you think he's familiar with the language by using slang.  Check it out R.E.N.E, we're off to Omar's.

Omar is the Karl Lagerfeld of the Lower East Side.  If you go into any shop carrying something that's not a suit (i.e. trash bag of neon pink mongolian fur) all the guys say "take it to Omar".  He once made me 7 dresses in one day and lemme tell ya I don't arrive til noon.  And he don't work past 6.  Some had patterns, some didn't.  Whatevs he says.  But he too has his disadvantages - disappearing being the main one.  "What do you mean he's working at the phone company now?!!!" I was once forced to exclaim.  "IT'S FASHION WEEK!!!!" Thank God he resurfaced a days later at Nelson.

Omar was quoting some outrageously high prices for the (32 piece) jackets.  We were barely hitting mark-up at this point adding up raw materials alone.  Sheri might have been new to the job but she is a life long hustler so back to Rene's she headed to get a better deal.  Omar insisted he send someone to help her carry all the leather.  

Mr. Carry All, it turns out, was a spy.  Once he heard that Rene wanted to charge even more than Omar he reported back and we suddenly became the victim of LES price fixing.  

We ended up splitting the jackets evenly amongst the two.  Before we left Omar that night he threw a zip lock bag of lipsticks on top of the giant pile of leather.  We examined it suspiciously.  Apparently Omar was also an Avon lady.  We encouraged him to further develop his sales pitch as Sheri sold him her old pay-as-you-go phone (she switched to Boost Mobile.)  It was time to head home.

A week or so later the jackets were looking great and it was time to face the real challenge - getting the hardware put on.  Why would getting a few snaps and studs on each jacket be so difficult?  Well it's not as long as you follow a few simple rules:

"By my watch it's 3:59!  C'mon Nancy!"

Now they're almost done!  Just a few hundred hand washes and tumble dries and voila!  The most gorgeous leather jackets you've ever seen.  Absolutely perfect for pumping gas in thigh highs.  And now they're available in black!  Buy them here http://leilashams.com/leilashamsstore.html?bpid=148 and if you've got beef with the price you know who to take it up with.  Sheri.

Below: Kim Kardashian in the Beaten Moto Jacket, Swamp.

THE HISTORY OF THE BEATEN MOTO: PART I

This season the factory where I get my leather pieces made was completely booked.  I only needed to make a few motorcycle jackets for production so I decided to do them in NY using the tailors that usually do single pieces or alterations for me.  I have made a lot of bad decisions in my day but this one is right up there with doing a reality show about my line while working full time for a company that didn't want me doing my line.  If only I could fire myself the way they fired me.

I did the original version of the jacket last Spring (above).  I was wearing one while filming the aforementioned reality show and everyone liked it so we decided to do a new version for Intermix, who I was showing the collection to.  When the Intermix buyers saw it they almost vomited*.  Apparently the only thing they were more sick of than motorcycle jackets was the color military, which of course the jacket was in.  

*As a side note the song "I shot the Sheriff" by Bob Marley was so popular when my mom was pregnant with me that she got physically sick of it, once throwing up in a department store when the instrumental version came on.  So yes, it's possible to be literally sick of something.

But Intermix aside the jackets are gorgeous, they are the softest leather and I hand wash them then tumble dry a million times so they're perfectly worn in.  Not only was I undaunted by Intermix's disgust, I proceeded to make even more, showing 4 different ones with my Spring collection.

I ended up getting orders on the military and ivory colorways.  So back to production: step 1 - endure the NY leather sales people.

Calling them sales people feels so wrong as their intention is always you leaving the store empty handed.  Last I checked (yesterday) you could get a double cheeseburger from McDonald's for $1.19.  So why the fuck can't I touch a cow skin without someone screaming, "Mommy!!! Wait for someone to help you!!!"  I don't have kids for a reason.  DON'T CALL ME MOMMY.

Then you're off to buy zippers, of which each jacket has 5.  I won't bore you with every step but lemme tell you, they all suck.  We couldn't find the same ones we originally used which turned out to be a relic of hardware past, no one recognized the brand, including the guy I originally bought them from.

So finally we got the leather, lining, zippers, buckles, and labels and headed downtown to get some mother fuckin jackets made.  Sheri, who had just started working for me, was assigned with this task.  There are only two tailors on the lower east side that are capable of this kind of craftsmanship - Omar and René (names not changed to expose the guilty).

Now when you're heavy in the while-you-wait $3 hem game and you see a fresh faced young thing hittin the streets with 2k worth of leather you take notice.  They were not giving up any piece of this job without a fight.....

Tune in tomorrow to see what happens!  Oh the suspense!  

MULTI TASKING

over christmas my dad suggested that my collection focus on beatles the band not beetles the bug and offered one of his ties (he considers himself a tie collector/expert) with beatles lyrics printed on it for inspiration. i don't really like music and i have absolutely no feelings towards the beatles, perhaps even a mild disregard so i'm gonna pass on that suggestion.

inspiration is actually the one thing i don't struggle with - i could come up with a different theme every day. one of my jobs was "director of color and concept" for express - it was amazing. i didn't have to get involved in the nitty gritty of design - i came up with the colors, prints and themes - the fun stuff - and i got paid for it!

now i have to do everything and it actually costs me money. in the last few weeks i've styled and retouched my spring lookbook (the second one - wasn't happy with the first), designed and sent out fall prints, e-mailed bloggers and stylists about the new collection, met with sales and pr showrooms, trafficed pr samples, made spring production orders, designed and sent out fall embellished pieces, updated and redesigned my website, started a blog, photographed samples for the on-line store, developed 2 custom pieces for clients, shopped vintage and new for embellishments and specs, paid invoices for make-up artists, hair stylists, photographers, factories and showrooms, sourced and bought fabric, and worked on 2 freelance projects.

i am a horrible combination of night owl, procrastinator and control freak. i'm really lucky to have an amazing assistant (love you amiko!) who is not only talented but extremely organized. she is going to be famous, i am 100% positive. however she insists on going to school, i have no idea why. well i know why but it still makes me mad.

i guess that brings me to my point - learn as many skills as possible before starting your own business. for a fashion line that's draping, pattern making, sewing, web design, jewelry making, photography, sketching, book keeping - the more you can do for yourself the cheaper it'll be and the happier you'll be with the results. i can't sew for shit and it is painful.