Oakazine

The transformational power of LD Tuttle is found in more places than just its signature footwear. This line of shoes, designed by Tiffany Tuttle, blends architectural inspiration with hard-wearing materials to create a look that has crossed many a catwalk and turned the heads of the fashion world. The Koreatown, LA based designer does quite a bit of crossing herself — spending half of her time speaking “Shoe Italian” at her factory in Italy. She sharpened her design skills at Rebecca Taylor before studying at Milan’s Ars Sutoria. The path that took her to the founding of LD Tuttle in 2006 has crossed Las Vegas, the ballet world, and even the Nat King Cole post office. Tiffany is now focusing on LD Tuttle’s next collection, and took some time to tell us about the process. Read our interview with LD Tuttle’s Tiffany Tuttle and check out some of the S/S 2011 at OAK . Interview after the jump. — Text by Kelsey Kreiling, Editor: Peter Berwind Humphrey

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The quietness of Melinda Santillan’s Adieu is a perfect representation of the way it was first created; the black and grey sketches were drawn in an apartment in wintry Montreal. Though the tee-shirts were later constructed in the warmth of Mexico City, the designs easily recall those first muffled, snowy days of a Montreal winter. Melinda Santillen is the voice and the hand behind the eclectic greyscale designs which incorporate funeral flowers, Baudelaire, swan figurines, and piñatas among other things into surreal graphics. Although her newest collection, Fleurs de Mal, was sketched with True Crime television in the background, it hasn’t lost the sense of lightness that defines Adieu and Melinda herself.  Learn more about Melinda Santillan in our interview after the jump. -Text by Kelsey Kreiling

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While deconstructionism has been well-hashed by the design community, designers Adrian Cowen and Diva Pittala bring a strong reconsideration of the concept to their line Pleasure Principle. Inspired by drug culture, life after-hours, politics and pattern-making, their collections push at the edge of darkness while still understanding the body as a vital component of the garment-to-wearer equation. Their cerebral prints feel inspired by long nights and LSD, while their new collection literally emerges from the light. Even with all of these deep concerns, Pleasure Principle is as filled with brevity as they are seriousness. Their collaboration with Olaf Bruening is a bit naughty and contrasts well with the Ants Acid Tab and Skull laser cut tees that they accompany in Pleasure Principle’s portfolio of iconic work. We talked to Diva Pittala about  who she is and everything else that makes Pleasure Principle tick. — Text by Kelsey Kreiling. Interview and images after the jump.

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The mastery in Ute Ploier’s menswear is found not only in her impeccable shaping and craftsmanship, but moreso in her profound interest in menswear as a concept. Designing for men of all kinds- from the dandy to the everyman- she accounts for textiles and tailoring alongside sculptural basics that form the backbone of any fashionable homme’s wardrobe. Known to develop garments for the “sensual-man-machine”, the Austrian designer is interested in the psychological impact that clothing can have- from the moment it is put on until the second it is taken off. She is fascinated by the sensation of fabric on skin and her constant examination of male archetypes makes her a female pioneer in an industry that becomes more brave each season. We interviewed Ute Ploier about her design process and daily life. Read the full Ute Ploier interview after the jump. –Text by Kelsey Kreiling. Editor: Peter Berwind Humphrey

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Hawaii raised Bliss Lau brings a fashion designer’s flair for draping, and an iconoclast’s bent for boundary obliteration to the traditionally rigid world of jewelry design. Jewelry, apart from the occasional rogue jangler, is made to remain confined to one designated part of the body and hopefully stay put for the rest of the day. But Lau’s unisex metal chain and leather pieces, refusing to remain pigeonholed, are body explorers — necklaces snake around the hips to form chain vests or cage dresses, bracelets branch out into rings, rings encompass multiple fingers, and earrings wrap around the back of the ear. Most of the pieces can be worn in multiple ways. “I ask myself, what are the beautiful and forgotten parts of the body? How many ways can you wear a chain?” the designer wrote — we imagine emphatically — in her interview. A Parsons grad with a degree in Apparel Design, Lau brings her technical understanding of the human form to collections featuring the chain skeletons (“it’s just the lines and seam lines without the fabric”) of dresses, vests, and boleros, which move and swing just like the real deal. Taking inspiration from suspension bridges, New York architecture, art deco, Hawaiian culture, and amorphous ideas like “perfume”, Lau’s pieces are inventive, fun, and bad ass in the way that only a multi-finger ring can be. Interview after the jump. — Picture of Bliss by Robyn Twomey. Editor: Peter Berwind Humphrey.

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