I recently had the pleasure of connecting with B. Artise on LinkedIn. I was so excited to learn about her vision and her beautiful clothing line called Born Again Vintage. We discussed collaborating and she was sending me a couple of her gorgeous dresses to style and blog about. Unfortunately, the package never arrived and hasn’t been redirected back to her 🙁 so now, somewhere out there in the USPS shipping world, someone has a few fabulous pieces. SUCH A BUMMER!! I was so excited to style them, too! Anyway, everyone, please keep your fingers crossed and pray that package gets back to her safely!
B. Artise has also written a book called “Born Again Vintage: 25 Ways to Deconstruct, Reinvent and Recycle Your Wardrobe” which has been in magazines like Nylon and Teen Vogue and luckily for me, I had a fun opportunity to interview her!
HautePinkPretty – You’ve been designing for a while now, what is your educational and professional background and how do you feel it prepared you for a career in design?
B. Artise – I am a graduate of the Fashion Institute of technology however my emphasis was on buying. Upon graduating I held jobs as a buyer at Claire’s and Bloomingdale’s, an allocator at Strawberry’s and Manager for the Junior Dept. at Macy’s, so I held almost a job at every retail level before taking a hiatus to raise my kids. Having that experience before jumping in the designing pool allowed me to know what buyers wanted, what areas liked what even though all that gets thrown out the window when dealing with vintage.
HautePinkPretty – What attracted you to the fashion industry and specifically to design your own line?
B. Artise – I was always that girl in school that stood out and did things a little different whether it was my hairstyle or the way I wore something else everyone else wore so fashion was something I was attracted to as a teen but becoming a designer and having my own line was nothing something I can honestly say I sought after.
HautePinkPretty – You’ve been featured in amazing publications such as Vogue; how did it feel when you first saw your own designs in print?
B. Artise – Actually my book was featured in Teen Vogue. Born Again Vintage the book has really broken the mold as far as craft books go which really validated my clothing line for me.
HautePinkPretty – What was the most difficult aspect in launching your own label?
B. Artise – Ugh, finding my market. I assumed it would be vintage lovers but couldn’t have been more wrong. So it took a lot of hits and misses to finally find out who my customer was.
HautePinkPretty – What has inspired you for your most recent collection? And your personal style in general?
B. Artise – I am entirely inspired by vintage and the past eras. I love everything about the over the topness of the past eras. So I try to incorporate a little of that elegance from the yesteryear’s into my everyday wardrobe.
HautePinkPretty – What are you excited about for style and trends for the upcoming seasons?
B. Artise – Everything is vintage inspired nowadays so I like to see what era the designers decide to pull from and how they interpret it.
HautePinkPretty – What are your plans for the future?
B. Artise – The plan is to infiltrate the mind of the average consumer so that they do not automatically go to the mall for something new. I want them to think they have options, smarter options and if they go to the mall, oh well but at least they had a choice.
HautePinkPretty – How often do you incorporate your own designs into your outfits, do you still shop at other stores and buy other brands?
B. Artise – I have not step foot in a mall in years nor do I buy from boutiques, I wear my items, or colleagues or buy from thrift shops/vintage stores. I wear something vintage everyday, whether it’s just my shoes, or my glasses or my scarf, you won’t catch me vintage-less.
HautePinkPretty – What do you wish you had known before joining the fashion industry?
B. Artise – There were really no surprises when joining the industry but I did not know that people were so much a slave to labels and trends as I thought which is definitely an obstacle for emerging designers.
HautePinkPretty – Any fun facts about yourself you’re willing to share?
B. Artise – Ummmm, I am addicted to Hot Tamales (the candy) and Pepsi Max, lol. I am diligently working on trying to be more “green” with my eating, keyword “trying”.
Thanks so much, B. Artise! It was so much fun learning more about you, your book and your gorgeous clothing line!
Make sure you visit her site, book and Etsy shop!
Xox,
An
P.s. Thank you everyone for your super sweet birthday wishes on my previous blog posts!! <3
