Jennifer Hudson wearing the dress that launched a young designer's career

By: Peter Lesser

Aspiring fashion designer Daniel Silverstein believes in using every opportunity to promote his wares. When he decided to check out the SoHo boutiques one spring afternoon, he brought along a friend who wore one of his designs, a teal-colored skin-tight dress. On their second stop of the day, they were rummaging through racks of clothes when the store’s manager hustled over to greet them, saying “God, I love your dress! Who makes that? I’d love to buy it for the store.” “Um, I did,” said Silverstein tentatively with a small, sheepish grin.

What may seem like a chance encounter was in fact preplanned. Silverstein used one of his favorite guerrilla marketing techniques: he simply had his friend wear his designs and hoped to get lucky. And he was doubly lucky this time around. On a subsequent meeting at the store, entertainer Jennifer Hudson’s stylist caught a glimpse of the dress and bought it on the spot. Just last month, Us Weekly published a photograph of Hudson wearing Silverstein’s dress in its ‘Hot Pics!’ section.

For Silverstein, what began as a side project has transformed into an exciting new career overnight. “It’s unbelievable,” said Silverstein, 22, “I never thought it would happen this fast. I never thought it would happen at all.” With an innovative idea and a bit of good fortune, Silverstein’s career as a fashion designer is taking off in a vicious and unforgiving industry.

Over the past decade, fashion-oriented reality TV shows, biannual fashion weeks, and the idolization of models and celebrities has fed New York’s obsession with fashion. In turn, it has helped New York City become a stronger magnet than ever for people like Silverstein who hope to “make it” in the fashion industry. Parsons School for Design for example has experienced a 15 percent increase in applications since 2006. But with more and more fashion designer hopefuls moving to New York, it’s more difficult than ever to get a foot in the door.

Fashion is a grueling, competitive industry, and more often than not, dreams are shot down before they’re realized. Employment of fashion designers is projected to grow by only 1 percent by 2018, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s occupational outlook handbook. Job opportunities in cut-and-sew manufacturing will continue to decline as more apparel is made overseas.

“It’s not as easy as people think it is to become a designer in New York,” said Kaleem Kamboj, a business design professor at The New School. Kamboj has an extensive background in orchestrating startups in various markets, including the Zodiac Ltd clothing company. “Before you even think about finding financial backers you need an idea, something that sets you apart.”

This is where Silverstein excels. His idea, dubbed ‘100 Percent NY’, is simple, trendy, and environmentally friendly. During his senior year at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Silverstein worked on a school project promoting environmentally sustainable fashion. He developed an idea for a sustainable pair of jeans that wasted no fabric. After graduation, he tabled the idea while hunting for jobs. He later found a job at Victoria’s Secret, working as an assistant sweater designer. “It was then that I realized what goes on in mass-produced fashion. They were wasting thousands and thousands of dollars on fabric and other resources on a daily basis, “ said Silverstein with a tone of bewilderment in his voice.

“Then a light bulb went off,” he said. “I called up a friend and asked her to help me revisit the idea I had for my school project, only this time we’d make more than just jeans.” Silverstein’s friend jumped on board and just two weeks later an angel investor–a wealthy parent of one of Silverstein’s friends–wrote them a very generous startup check. They were on their way.

The first, and often most daunting task, is procuring funding. Although persistence and determination are the key ingredients, Silverstein’s case shows that luck also plays a role. After receiving his startup check, Silverstein scheduled a meeting with investors and a couple of his favorite professors. By the end of his presentation, which included a business plan emphasizing the project’s sustainability and a collection of sketches, “Their jaws were on the floor,” he said. “They loved it.”

The next step is putting together a small collection of pieces. Silverstein bought all the fabrics, sewing machines, and hired a seamstress with the money his friend’s mother gave him. He put a “look book” together and was on to the next challenge: getting his designs seen. “It’s hard to get in touch with buyers. They’re selling what they already have, and they have too much as it is. I used some of my connections to setup meetings, but also used a little bit of guerilla marketing techniques.”

Silverstein has always dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. When he was a child, he designed dresses made out of tissues and tin foil for his sister’s Barbies. In high school he even made prom dresses for four of his girlfriends that he claimed to be the most stylish dresses there. But dressing someone like Hudson is much different than dressing Barbies, and he’s still adjusting to his newfound success. “I was like, ‘Oh my God. Is this really happening? Did I just break into the New York fashion world?’ I still can’t believe it.”

Silverstein’s is an exceptional case. Most young designers in New York spend years, even decades trying to get their foot in the door. Matthew Parrotti, another young and talented designer, spends every minute of his spare time sewing and designing his own line, yet is still hidden in the giant shadow of the ominous fashion industry. But Parrotti remains undiscouraged.

“This is what I love,” said Parrotti, 22, without looking up from his work on a recent April evening in his Chelsea apartment. He squinted through rectangular glasses while stitching colorful metallic beads along an elaborate print on one of his new T-shirts. The print depicts a large sketch of the side of a woman’s face with wild and bushy hair. “I guess you could say I’ve got the fashion bug.

Among the eccentric cotton and linen fabrics, vats of pink and blue dye, and scattered beads, Parrotti’s apartment is lined with various paintings of polygonal faces and patterns he’s done over the past several years. The apartment represents the creative chaos of a young designer following his dream.

Unlike Silverstein, Parrotti doesn’t dream of becoming a well-known fashion designer, but rather owning his own shop. He wants to make sure anything he creates has his own personalized touch. “I do not want to be a mass designer, ever, because it chokes creativity and is incredibly wasteful,” he said. “Retail, or fast fashion, is cutthroat and disgusting. I like being involved with people on a personal level and I also take great pride in having my hand touch everything that I put my name on.”

Young designers like Parrotti who hope to one day open their own shop face a daunting challenge. Most pieces done by independent designers are usually unique and stitched by hand, thus priced far out of the middle-income consumers price range. Gaining recognition and finding financial backing takes time, determination, persistence, and a bit of good fortune.

Custom sandal-maker Barbara Shaum knows well the struggle to become a successful designer and shop owner. “I’ve worked many decades to establish a name for myself. I can’t imagine starting up in today’s market,” said Shaum, who has been making sandals for over 50 years.

Sheets of leather and the strong odor of lacquer add to the rustic feel of her shop on East Fourth Street. The shop carries her handmade sandals, which range from $100 to over $600, as well as belts and other accessories. Customers choose a basic design and leather pattern, and have their feet measured by Shaum as she greets them with a warm, wrinkled smiled. “There are so many manufacturers now that can produce good quality products for lower prices, but I don’t pay it much attention,” said Shaum. “I have to keep the prices high because it takes me several days to make each pair.”

However, in Shaum’s case, people are willing to pay that much for such high quality. After she moved to New York in the ‘50s, her sandals caught the eye of young designers such as Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Her sandals have even been featured in Diesel fashion shows and on pages of national fashion magazines. With such high regard and recognition, Shaum has established a successful little niche in the East Village.

Right across the street from Shaum’s shop is Sara’s Vintage & Handmade Jewelry. The small, homey shop hasn’t experienced the same success as Shaum’s and is very much aware of the New York fashion market’s cruelty.

The owner, Sara Brandt, has been working with handmade jewelry for almost 40 years. She worked in a jewelry store in Queens up until three years ago when it closed down. She then decided to step up to the challenge and open up her own store. And a challenge it has been.

“Owning a small shop is tough,” said Brandt as the sunlight poured into her store and playfully danced off the hundreds of pieces of jewelry in her tiny shop. “The rent is very high and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you have a bad month, of which I’ve had several, you still have to pay the rent regardless.”

To make things worse, there are no regulations on commercial rent in most parts of New York, so for struggling shop owners like Brandt, it’s even harder to keep their shops afloat. “All I can do is sit and hope everyday that someone new comes in,” said Brandt. “I have my regulars, but they mostly just stop in just to say hello and get a biscuit for their dog. I keep a box behind my desk so at least I know the dogs will want to come back,” she said with a big, red lipstick smile.

Parrotti hopes to one day open his own shop as well, however it’s a long process. In the meantime, he’s worked for several startups in New York to pay the bills. His most recent employer, Wovenplay, makes luxury clothing for young children. This company too is having a difficult time staying afloat in the New York market, but is managing to scrape by. Parrotti worked behind the scenes at an entry-level position and eventually decided it wasn’t what he wanted to do. “There was no room for me to be creative. I was just crunching numbers most of the day. It was awful.”

Parrotti began designing in high school, making his own hats along with his paintings. He embroidered solid-colored baseball hats with different beads, emblems, and fabrics. Some even had army men and other small toys glued to them. During his years studying design management at Parsons, he slowly moved from making hats to sewing sweatshirts and T-shirts, and now plans to design a line of shorts.

When not working, Parrotti has more time to focus on his collection. He spends most days sewing and sketching, leaving little time to even eat. He generally sews to strengthen his collection, but on occasion his friends will buy one of his shirts or ask him to make a custom item for an agreed-upon price. One friend recently asked him to make a custom-made backpack, something he’s never done, but the challenge excites him.

Where designers like Parrotti and Silverstein differ is their approach to the fashion industry monster. Silverstein, who is further ahead in the game, is currently working on a look book for his brand new line for 100 Percent NY. He’s designing a resort collection for June and plans to host a small pop up shop in September. “Nothing too big because we’re still setting up and riding the PR wave from the Jennifer Hudson photo,” said Silverstein.

Parrotti will soon be starting his new job at Aritzia, a women’s clothing retailer, this month as a stock manager. He’s still getting acquainted with the ins and outs of the industry, but in his spare time he’ll continue to work on his own colorful and eccentric line of accessories and clothing. He’s developing a blog for the summer where he can showcase his pieces. “I want the site to build up a buzz, an entity,” said Parrotti. Although Parrotti’s been slow getting off the ground, his fearlessness and passion keep stringing him along.

Most young designer hopefuls in New York are in similar situations. Breaking through into the industry requires patience and an eye for opportunity. “Young designers need to be aware that they’re in the background,” said Ken Stevens, associate director of design and research development at The New School. “Many fashion students try to do everything to get acknowledgement and they stretch themselves thin. It’s not smart.”

Young designers need to wait for an opening to offer a point of view, whether it’s with a unique line like Parrotti’s, an innovative idea like Silverstein’s, or an unparalleled quality product like Shaum’s, according to Stevens. “The process can be agonizingly long, but with patience, a business sense, a creative hands-on skill, and a bit of luck you can create a limitless enterprise.” But if a young designer has the determination to pursue such a lofty goal, he or she must be wary of the merciless beast they’re up against.

The New York fashion market is as competitive as it gets. Young designers claw at the fashion giants only to continually be torn to shreds. “I used to watch Project Runway and think ‘oh, this looks easy.’ I don’t know what I was thinking,” said Silverstein one afternoon looking back on his days at FIT. “There’s so much hard work that needs to be put into it. It takes up my entire day, my entire week, my entire life! I know I got lucky with Jennifer Hudson and I hope it lasts. It’s my life’s work and it’s a scary industry to be in.”

Sidebar: New York’s Garment District

New York is home to the many faces of the fashion industry. The most common are struggling yet passionate young designers like Parsons graduate Matthew Parrotti. Then there are innovative beginner designers like Daniel Silverstein, who are making a splash in the market with a single brilliant idea. There are countless small, privately owned boutiques, like Barbara Shaum Leather, that bring their own unique flavor to the New York fashion world. It’s even home to some of the world’s biggest fashion retailers, like Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein. So why are so many designers allured by New York’s flashing lights? Simple. It’s the epicenter of American fashion.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the majority of fashion designers live in New York and California respectively, holding 22,700 jobs in 2008. This makes sense considering that the trend of the independent American fashion designer came out of New York. In the 1960s, New York designers like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Bill Blass began running their own operations with their own labels. Up to this point most American “designers” worked for fashion houses or specialty stores as all the well-known designers were from Paris.

The increasing focus on the American fashion designer was further encouraged by a change in the focus of “Women’s Wear Daily.” In the ‘60s and ‘70s, WWD transformed into a gossipy paper, deciding that the designers themselves, not the manufacturers, were the more interesting and newsworthy actors in the industry. Additionally, the Council of Fashion Designers of America was established in 1962 and began working with the new high-end designers in New York. Over time it gained prominence by sponsoring charity events and their own fashion awards. The American designer persona was born in New York, and naturally, it stayed in New York.

Today, New York City is headquarters to more than 900 companies across the fashion chain. Twenty percent of all American fashion designers are located in Manhattan alone. According to the New York City Economic Development Corporation, by hosting almost 75 major trade shows and thousands of fashion showrooms a year, New York generates 578,000 annual out-of-town wholesale visits along with $16.2 billion in direct spending.

Seventy-five percent of that activity is concentrated in the four by six-block area known as the Garment District. Luckily for Parrotti, his 8th Avenue and 17th Street apartment is only 17 blocks south of the New York fashion hub. “I couldn’t imagine doing this anywhere else,” said Parrotti. He was stationed in front of his computer, tracing out patterns for his new, flamboyant series of shorts he hopes to complete over the summer. All the fabric he’ll use for the shorts (and most all his other pieces) will come from the Garment District. “Personally, I think that if you want to be a designer, you need to live in New York and you need to live near the Garment District.”