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| Photo Credit: Scott Jordan Held |
Name: Anh Volcek
Line: L'une Collection by Anh Volcek
Inspiration: "From Water to Ice"
The Look: Romantic Modernism
As a designer who has worked for Calvin Klein and Gap Inc., was once head designer at a major firm and a recipient of a corporate award for launching a new brand, Anh Volcek knows her trade. But at the heart of the matter, Anh is an artist who designs with meaning. Now with her signature line L'une Collection, her Fall/Winter 2011 looks are inspired by a thematic story about her very personal journey being born at sea and her abduction at the age of 8 in which she calls "From Water to Ice".
The Inspiration:
Water represents Anh's birth at sea on a ship while her family was escaping the war in Vietnam.
"I used both inspiration of military, which represents pure function, and the idea of water. Both show contrasts of hard and soft," explains Anh. "The lines are inspired by the soft ripples of waves to structured lines representing ice showing contrasts of textures."
Ice represents her pain when she was abducted for one year at the age of 8. To demonstrate her pain, Anh introduced the concept of PLASTICS into this collection, a technique she learned in Paris. A whole line of jewelry, accessories and custom molded body pieces, Anh melted and created 4"-8" sequins to sew onto skirts and molded it into fantasy shapes for hats or bustier that symbolize body armor.
"The plastic is the ice or shell I built around me emotionally. The sequins in the line are all different types of tears I wanted to shed. When I allowed myself to cry, it was then that I allowed myself to feel human again," Anh shares.
Make-up & Hair:
Anh debuted her fall collection at Concept LA Fashion Show in February 2011 during LA Fashion Week. Anh gave the concept images to the hair stylist, Aubrey Loots of DNA Salon, and make-up artist Melanie Mills, an Emmy award winning artist whose work includes "Dancing with the Stars". Both were Concept LA show sponsors. Aubrey and team helped transform one of the models into an "ice princess" by adding airy winter-like extensions to her hair; Melanie and her team made the make-up look like snow fell on her face.
For the other models, Anh asked for beautiful tears and wild hair. The tears, which represented the tears Anh couldn't shed during her abduction, were all different in style; some models had feathered tears, smudged eyes or silver tears.
Fall/Winter '11 Runway Show - Final Looks:
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| All photos by Scott Jordan Held |
With a finished collection, Anh recently signed with Haus of Chic Agency, a showroom in the LA Fashion District's New Mart Building. But she also carries some press pieces at GatherLA showroom and has a sample room in San Diego. However, she still meets with vendors and factories in Los Angeles for production. "Made in the USA is something that I am really pushing for. It costs me more but anything I can do to help the economy and the LA Fashion District grow is important to me."
You can shop for L'une Collection by Anh Volcek here or visit her showroom at 127 E. 9th Street, Loft #800 Los Angeles, CA 90014 and contact sales rep, Ambriel at (213) 394-4201.