LOS ANGELES — With her fall collection, designer Geren Ford is expanding beyond her loungewear beginnings with dresses, separates and jackets in the spirit of the jet-set muse that has long personified her label.
“It was always my intent to evolve this into a lifestyle company,” Ford said of the signature brand she founded in 2001 based on chic drawstring pants and minis, silk racer tops, bralets and briefs. The emphasis always has been on a weekender glamour, so even a lounging tuxedo pant was in the line.
The transition toward more ready-to-wear got under way this spring when Ford offered a kimono-style dress in short and long lengths that has all the ease of a T-shirt. It can be thrown on and cinched with a silk drawstring. It retails for $375.
“We’re selling thousands of that style,” Ford said.
With summer sales already 40 percent ahead of spring, Ford is confident that the expanded fall offerings will help propel the company to triple last year’s sales to $1.3 million this year.
“I’m just starting to meet with international buyers,” Ford said. “Asia and London are my focus.”
After her showcase with Gen Art during fashion week here in October, Ford signed with EM Productions, the showroom and show production boutique agency known for grooming young brands.
The collection is in New York through Thursday at the Day Space, then travels to the Clift Hotel in San Francisco from March 8 to 10.
Ford’s own lifestyle is at high altitude. Even with the growth of her line, she continues to work as a costume designer and stylist on advertising campaigns that have her zigzagging the globe. She just completed work on campaigns for American Eagle and Nordstrom; and she recently signed with the power agency Magnet.
As for her fall vision, Ford calls it “Parisian ranchero. I know, I even laugh when I say it,” she said. “I just imagine someone from Europe packing for a month in Mexico or Venezuela for a holiday filled with cinematic moments.”
There are twill pencil skirts and wide-legged trousers with high cuffs, and sheer dotted blousons and the simplest of canvas jackets with skinny sleeves and brass buttons. There’s a variation on kimono dresses, too, with a contrasting color waistband instead of the empire drawstring.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
The collection ranges from a twill vest for $69 wholesale to a long custom-print long gown for $289.
There are also tissue-thin jersey T-shirts, custom-dyed to match the silks in the line. Wholesale priced from $28 tanks to $38 long-sleeved shirts, the group is aimed in price and style between brands such as C&C of California and Rick Owens.
“I wanted even the T-shirts to be chic,” Ford said. “The adventure I design around is a proper adventure, nothing sloppy.”