“This time last year, on my 34th birthday, I had $34 in my main bank account,” the designer Emily Dawn Long said one afternoon late this summer.
She was standing in a new space in a building on Chrystie Street, reflecting on how her fortunes have ebbed and flowed. She now rents three units on the same floor: one for inventory and fulfillment, one as her personal office and one as a showroom to accommodate the steady stream of customers, stylists and buyers coming in to try on her creations.
Hanging from racks and arranged on metal shelves in that showroom are a mélange of clothing and accessories, including a spiral-shaped French cellulose barrette; jewelry inspired by cowrie shells; and a slinky, statuesque dress with a plunging back. The disparate offerings come out on an irregular schedule (whenever Ms. Dawn Long wants them to). They stem from Ms. Dawn Long’s instincts and the ideas she crowdsources from her friend group.
“I’m talking to my people. I’m like, ‘What do we need? What’s missing?’”
The post The Accidental Trendsetter appeared first on New York Times.
