The Story
Sometimes the best collections start with the most unexpected inspiration. For Spring 2013, Creative Director Alvin Valley came to me with a single image: himself shark fishing off the Hamptons. That was it. What came next was entirely mine to build.
From One Idea to a Full Collection Vision
I took that moment — sun, salt water, the drama of the ocean — and developed it into a complete seasonal narrative. The concept centered on the raw, elemental world beneath the surface: the geometry of shark teeth, the spotted beauty of whale sharks, the timeless graphic language of nautical stripes. What could have been a literal "beach" collection became something more sophisticated — a study in nature's most powerful forms, translated into elevated RTW.
The Print
The signature print of the collection was sourced from a photograph in a book on whale sharks — their distinctive spotted patterning transformed into a textile repeat that felt both organic and refined. Rather than reproducing the reference literally, I abstracted the spotted detail into a print language that worked across multiple silhouettes and fabrications, giving the collection a cohesive visual identity without feeling costumey or theme-heavy.
The Construction Details
The structural details of the collection were equally intentional. Seam lines and cutout details throughout the garments were designed to mimic the jagged geometry of shark teeth — a subtle, sophisticated nod to the original inspiration that rewarded a closer look. Paired with crisp nautical stripe references, the collection balanced graphic boldness with the kind of refined detailing that defined the Alvin Valley aesthetic.
The Peplum Top — and How It Became the Heart of the Collection
The collection's best-selling piece almost didn't exist.
When I developed the peplum top, I designed and patterned it myself — from concept through muslin — because the investment in that silhouette wasn't initially supported. I believed in it, built it anyway, and it became the commercial anchor of the Spring 2013 line.
More than that, it became generative. The proportions, the waist emphasis, the way the peplum moved — all of it informed the dress silhouette that followed. One pattern, developed independently, shaped the DNA of the collection's most important pieces.
The Result
Spring 2013 was a collection built almost entirely from the ground up — concept development, print creation, pattern design, silhouette direction, and detail execution, all driven by my creative vision from a single starting point. It remains one of the clearest examples of my ability to take an offhand inspiration and transform it into a fully realized, commercially successful seasonal story.
