San Francisco could become for America what Antwerp is for Europe: a breeding ground for youthful fashion designers. And you can be sure that one young fashionista will be up there among the front-runners: 24-year-old Amy Sarabi.
Rising talent: Amy Sarabi.
For her first and, as yet, only collection, Sarabi was inspired by the gills of a mushroom, which reappear as circular insets along the neckline of her Mushroom Collection garments. What is important for Amy Sarabi are "sequences, which occur often in nature. I wanted to imitate a mushroom using fabric."
In her day job, Sarabi works for Old Navy's menswear line. A grant enabled her to travel to Europe this summer, where she visited fashion schools such as ESAA Duperré in Paris and festivals for young fashion designers in Hyères and Trieste, where MINI sponsors a photographic award.She is particularly partial to the styles of Belgian Martin Margiela and is an admirer of Cypriot Hussein Chalayan,new creative director of Puma. "The way he combines technology with fashion, I think it perfectly expresses the spirit of our times."
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Sarabi grew up in Texas, spending her summers in San Francisco with an aunt who is a seamstress. She subsequently graduated from the California College of the Arts. The inspiration behind her second collection will be pinecones, but she's taking her time with this project. "I'd like people to still find my fashions interesting ten years from now and consider them representative of my generation."
Get the full story by Anne Urbauer in the San Francisco edition of MINIInternational.