Summer Titone: Fashion Design. Vintage. Recycled. New
“Philosophies develop deep in da back streets of dirty Jerzey.” – The Fugees. No better statement to describe a young, versatile and very gifted fashion designer I met while wreckin’ the Technics at my regular Monday night DJ residency. This is one of those rare instances when my skillz & song selection as a DJ got me work as a photographer. Now that’s pure ecstasy to mesh both of my careers into a single project, the first 1/2 of which is this short DJ mix for the catwalk (keep reading, I’ll explain):
Meet SUMMER TITONE, a Burlington, NJ, native whose family’s been a part of the fashion industry for nearly 80yrs, dating back to the 1930s, when her great-grandfather immigrated to the US from Italy, launching a successful lace manufacturing business from the ground up. A life-long student of fashion, Summer found her style & inspiration amidst thousands of vintage materials from her family’s warehouse lace factory (Titone & Sons). She’s been hailed a master “remixer”, recycling and reinventing vintage materials, ideas and textures into contemporary designs intended for any age, gender or fashion preference. And people are starting to take notice…
At 25, her work has already caught the eye of Matthew Weiner, the creator of MAD MEN. One of her close friends had an audition for the Emmy award-winning series and asked Summer to design a special dress for the occasion. Not only did she get the part, but during her audition the show’s creator had to know where she got that dress. Pretty impressive for a young Jersey native who became a recent LA transplant less than 2yrs ago. Ladies, for those of you familiar with Etsy.com , “the world’s most vibrant handmade marketplace”, her one-of-a-kind designs are constantly on their recommend list. Fellaz, don’t feel left out, I’ve personally seen custom pants, messenger bags, tailored shirts & jackets and even a yoga-mat case she made out of a vintage pair of pinstripe wool slacks. She’s got skillz to go around. To top it off, Summer will be a featured designer at the Project Ethos LA Fashion Week event this Friday, Oct. 22nd at Avalon in Hollywood, CA, a launching platform for “swiftly approaching talent” in the fields of art, fashion & music. That’s where I come in. Summer hired me to photograph & prepare lookbook samples of her new line and to provide a 10-min DJ mix to be played during the catwalk session. Not only that, the giant photo behind the models workin’ the stage will be a still shot I took on the streets of Zurich last year (see below).
Alright, consider yourself notified. You’re welcome. I know where I’m going for custom, tailor-fit threads from now on: SUMMER TITONE.