Not to belittle the gravity of a global economic collapse, but when
you tire of crying into your empty coffers, it’s time to bust out the
glad rags. It is rather apt that the Portland designer Emily Sunnell
has chosen a Marie Antoinette theme for her upcoming fashion show, an
affair that aspires to over-the-top levels of frill, drama, and up-done
hair. Let them eat lace, I suppose.
Sunnell’s line, Emilia Kaye, takes inspiration from a post-Betsey
Johnson approach to the Victorian era, a look that dovetails with
Sunnell’s job as a hairstylist, where she favors the upswept looks that
complement her decadently embellished designs. For the show, she is
collaborating with Fada Salon’s (where Sunnell also works) French art
director, Monic Mateau, to create follicular homes for Sunnell’s
hairpieces, and the models’ make-up will be powdery pale and red
lipped. Set to a melodramatic violin-and-accordion soundtrack of Miss
Murgatroid and Petra Haden recordings, the goal of creating a mood of
melancholic excess stands a promising chance of being reached.
It must be noted, though, that the other side of Sunnell’s coin is
one of sheer resourcefulness and distaste for waste. All of the
clothing in the Emilia Kaye line is reconstructed from old pieces, a
process that Sunnell approaches with artistic gusto, making frothy
special occasion-wear out of refuse. In fact, an entire arm of her
operation deals in custom orders for people who want to breathe new
life into items they already have—for instance, a sentimental
dress that belonged to a grandmother, but which may be ill fitting and
dated, can be rectified to a purposeful place in today’s wardrobe.
A designer for only a few years, Sunnell began making items for sale
in earnest about a year and a half ago and her work can be found at
Seaplane (827 NW 23rd) and Frock (1439 NE Alberta). The former,
historically known for girlier designs, is where to seek the more
intricate, higher end of Sunnell’s spectrum, and the designer says she
tends to sell more of her less dramatic pieces at Frock—pieces
that can be worn every day, but are by no means casual, like a
delicate antique lace top with puffed sleeves that she recently styled
with jeans and boots for a photo shoot.
As gluttonous as her artistic eye may be (funny enough, she says she
herself doesn’t wear frilly clothing, instead living vicariously
through her patrons and exhibitions), there’s no question that Emilia
Kaye is rooted in production values that approach something
downright… sensible.
“Madame Deficit” must be rolling in her grave. (Fada Salon, 615
SW Broadway, Ste. 4, Thurs Dec 11, 7 pm, free, but canned food
donations to the Oregon Food Bank are encouraged)