In 2002, when designer Joshua Hupper was approached to launch a fashion line for the nine-year-old science organization AlphaMicron Inc., Diane von Furstenberg creative director Nathan Jenden, his employer at the time, had two words for him: “You’re crazy.”
After all, AlphaMicron is a research concern that specializes in liquid crystal technology, and its products included Air Force helmet visors, digital rear-view mirrors and privacy glass — not sportswear separates and cocktail frocks. Why would Hupper leave a job at an established Seventh Avenue label for a gamble like that?
And yet, four years later, Hupper successfully showed off the Ohio company’s debut spring collection, named Adept by AlphaMicron Inc., to buyers and editors in a small showroom off Eighth Avenue during New York Fashion Week. There was nary a hint of the company’s roots during the three-hour presentation — well, save for the occasional scientist drifting among the fashion crowd.
What’s interesting about Adept’s lineup — chicly belted trenches, blazers, sexy swimwear, tops and jumpsuits — is not so much the technology offerings, but the fact that they’re nuanced, mere punctuations to the collection’s more fashion-y drive. In other words, one won’t find blinking LED lights or solar panels eclipsing the clothes themselves. “I’m not interested in that,” said Hupper, 25, the line’s creative director. “We’re figuring out ways to use what the chemists [at AlphaMicron Inc.] are working on in a really elegant way.”
The most obvious technological trick is in the swimwear, which, screened with photochromic liquid crystals, changes color according to sunlight exposure. Everything else in the 19-look collection is subtly trimmed or accented with color-changing sequins or with nothing at all. “We don’t want to use [these details] on everything because it feels a lot more precious when we’re only using them on certain things,” he said.
His design director, Miyako Nakamura, 27, formerly of Zac Posen’s studio, added, “The technology isn’t really for a show as much as for the person who’s wearing it to enjoy. The clothes are beautiful both ways, but by using the technology, we can bring the aesthetic level somewhat higher than with classic methods.”
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In keeping with the focus on quality apparel, Adept by AlphaMicron Inc. is being manufactured by New York’s Nancy Whiskey and the Sewing Factory, joining clients including Derek Lam, Thakoon, Costello Tagliapietra and Threeasfour. Wholesale prices have yet to be determined.
Although Adept had a soft launch for fall, this season is its official coming-out, with a full line of ready-to-wear as well as eyewear designed by Jonathan Figler. In fact, it was the latter that came first. Those military helmets, which allowed the pilot to adjust the visor’s tint, eventually gave way to similarly functioning ski goggles and, now, sunglasses. With a mere tap on the frame, the wearer can change the color of the lens. “The clothes came from the idea of creating an aesthetic that our glasses can exist in,” explained Hupper. Even so, the appeal of the collection lies in cool trappings for an urban customer, and it may not even matter that the sequin details are changing hue in the sun.
As for Nakamura and Hupper, it seems that designing for a liquid crystal research company out in the Midwest may not be so different from their work in the Posen and von Furstenberg ateliers. “The studio we have there is like anybody’s studio,” said Hupper, “except it has a chemistry lab downstairs and a lot of really expensive equipment.”