Lady Konnyaku |
Meet fashion designer Malia Peoples, AKA Lady Konnyaku Clothing,
our featured designer for January
What kind of products do you create and where can people find them? I am the happy maker of a very limited quantity of high-quality dresses, tops and skirts. All items transcend the mainstream fashion trends and are inspired by Japanese street fashion, vintage knit fabrics and styles of the 60s and 70s. I invite you to experience them virtually at LadyKonnyaku.com, or in person at the Pretty Parlor, Seattle.
Where do you get your ideas for your designs? My designer diet consists of Japanese fashion magazines, costly European runway mags, vintage fashions of the 60s and 70s, and the fabulous all-encompassing internet. |
What inspired you to start doing what you do? There are three reasons why Lady Konnyaku exists. Whenever I go shopping, I feel a general dissatisfaction with the choices I am presented with. There weren’t very many things that I could find in a store that reflected my own personal style Bad fit, thoughtless design and poor quality are my biggest shopping gripes and it is my mission to solve all three!
I tried to work in a cubicle-and-computer setting and felt like a zombie. I felt my mind and talent going to mush, and I hadn’t even reached my mid-twenties! I needed to be in a dynamic environment and nothing is more so than owning your own fashion line. I love the challenge of starting something from the ground-up.
People were always coming up to me and complimenting my funky style. I figured if I could elicit that sort of response from strangers, then maybe I could make people happy through fashion design. Think about how good you feel when you rock that special dress or top… looking cool feels pretty darn cool! It turns you into a nicer person, which the world always needs more of!
What's your background and have you always been creative? Are there other artistic endeavors you're involved in? My parents both have had a lot of contact with Asia which has heavily influenced my love of cute stuff. When I was little, Dad was always bringing back surprises from Japan, and I would spend a lot of time enjoying the colorful packages in which they came.
Mom, from Hawaii, was an art major. We were always doing crafty things like using tons of glitter and puffy paint to embellish t-shirts and decorating cakes for their ice cream store.
As a kid, I was pretty deep into band, orchestra and ballet and spent several years participating in each. In high school, I developed my personal style through thrift store shopping, dying my hair every color of the rainbow, watching anime and turning junk into something useful and stylish. Now I spend most of my creative energy making clothes, but I also do my own website, ads, and flyers.
What type of equipment do you use? Do you make all of your pieces yourself? I sew everything on the 1967 Singer dad gave to my mom as a wedding gift. I do everything single-handedly---designing, cutting, patternmaking, fitting, sewing. It’s a lot more work than people realize. The process of fashion design when you’re doing it all by yourself is very slow and extremely time consuming. When I’m in production mode alone, meaning after the patterns have been made, I spend about 6-8 hours a day locked away in my room.
How do you see expanding your line in the near future? More sizes! More online availability! More designs! More fashion shows! More vintage fabrics!
Whose work do you admire?
I admire all of the fashion designers out there that started in their tiny, cold apartment and have blazed their own trails. There are a handful of female indie designers from the US who started their clothing labels online and continue their success to this very day.
What advice would you offer new designers entering the market? Be at peace with the fact that it takes years to build a business from scratch. Never give up, never quit. Always be out there doing relevant stuff, no matter how silly it may seem. Shout it out to the world, even when you think no one is listening! You can’t be successful if no one knows what you’re up to.
What is your vision for your business and where would you like to be in five years? In the next few years I will be growing my business locally, developing a method of production that does not involve a factory setting or me by my lonesome in my room. In five years, I will have a presence overseas in a few really cute Japanese boutiques; I agree with and appreciate folks with a taste for superior quality artisan crafts and products that are one of a kind.
Any other area of fashion you'd like to delve into? Designing socks and shoes-- they really complete the “look”!
What current trend would you like to see go away? Airbrushed photos EVERYWHERE!!
If you could have one item, new or vintage, what would it be? A storefront with free rent and utilities.
What item did you wear to shreds growing up? Black converse high tops, they have traveled on many a foreign soil including Korea, Mexico, and Jamaica to name a few…
Which designer(s) has really inspired you? Takuya Angel and Mercibeaucoup.
Any advice for new designers? Try your best to be sunny and vibrant and involve as many people that you DON’T know in your process- photographers, make-up artists, models, etc… Get the word out beyond just your good friends.
Anything extra you’d like to share with us? Konnyaku is a grayish speckled yam jelly which is an ingredient to Oden, a delicious traditional Japanese winter “stew”. I really love Konnyaku and it is supposed to have wonderful digestive properties. YUMMY!
FUN
FACTS:
What's your favorite color? Red.
If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? Build a family compound on the street I grew up. Start small-scale production, buy up advertising, and throw a sweet launch party for my line, complete with a print club machine. Set up an annual event that unifies the fragmented local indie fashion scene in Seattle.
Pet of choice? I would like a pet chimp.
What makes you laugh every time?
It’s a tie: farts and dogs pooping. I’m cracking up just imagining it!!
What are you embarrassed to admit you can't live without?
My parents.
What do you listen to over and over again on your iPod?
Soulful Slow Jams.
Paper, plastic or re-useable shopping bag?
This question is waay too personal to answer in a town like Seattle.
What's your favorite movie of all time?
Wall-e!
Who/what are you currently obsessed with?
Going out on dates!
Favorite food? Fried Dungeness Crab with garlic.
What was your favorite band growing up? Nirvana. We were pretty grungy down in Olympia!
If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would it be? I want to dine with my dearly departed great-aunt Nellie Wilcox from Wrangell, Alaska. We could talk about our mutual love for fun-fur and perhaps she could take out her teeth so we could have a harmonica and auto-harp jam session over tea. I miss that woman.
What's your favorite guilty pleasure?
Super cute stuffed animals!
What is something most people don’t know?
I moved to China at age 18 without knowing a single word of Chinese; after studying it for some time now, I am fluent in Mandarin.
I did not have a background in sewing and didn’t know how to sew a single stitch 3 years ago. I decided that I wanted to make clothing and enrolled in fashion design school, which was tough.
I figured that if I could learn to read, write, and speak Mandarin, I could sure as hell learn how to sew!
For more info check out her website: http://www.LadyKonnyaku.com |
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Archive
of Past Featured Designers:
Miyuki Ott - August 2007
Seed Clothing - September
2007
Moxie & Oliver - October 2007
MishMash - November 2007
Tarah Prater Designs - December 2007
Effie's Heart - January 2008
Organik - February 2008
Red Delicious - March 2008
Marlo M Jewelry - April 2008
Ugly Baby - May 2008
Like a Rock Star - June 2008
Da-a tis - July 2008
Birna Jewelry - August 2008
Lucia Apparel - September 2008
Revival Ink - October 2008
Adorn Jewelry - November 2008
Sam Trout - December 2008
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