Photo By Thomas H Smith III
Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart is a veteran to the Vegan Mainstream blog, and hopefully your closets. We had the luxury of catching up with Leanne via phone, fresh out of New York Fashion Week to hear about Vaute Couture’s latest collection. Leanne has come a long way since we last spoke with her, and so has her compassionate clothing. It’s hard not to be enamoured with what the young designer is up to these days.
Vegan Mainstream: Tell us about your [Autumn/Winter 2011 Collection] North American Grand Tour.
Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart: I had my first tour, just an East Coast tour in the first season, about two years ago. I first did more traditional trunk show style open events and then I realized I had so much I wanted to say in terms of the fabrics I use, the designs and cuts, and the way I’ve purposefully created a production process that does good through each element. I also wanted to really meet my supporters and spend time with them one on one, so I created the Pop Up Shop Tour. Each shop in each city is a 1-3 day event, booked with 20 minute face to face appointments, and I love them! We have such a great time trying things on and looking at the collection. There’s no pressure to purchase a coat on the spot – [the point is that] they have the chance to see what their sizing is with me, and get to feel and see the coats in person, which some people say is a whole different experience than seeing the coats online. They get a chance to take home pieces from the previous collection at a special sale discount that we do only in person, or they can preorder a coat from the new collection at special tour prices too.
VM: What cities are you visiting this year?
LH: Last month I did my West Coast tour: San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland. I loved Portland. I want to go back and live there for a month on an off-month. I’d never been there before in my life and it just felt so comfy. My event was at Herbivore, and maybe that’s why. Michelle is the best- she has such an open heart. In San Francisco, it was such an honor to have our event at the brand new VegNews headquarters. We were the first official event in their new gorgeous space, with none other than Colleen Holland (the editor) herself hosting full throttle pouring champagne out of one hand, cupcakes in the other, all with a big smile on her face. In fact, the VegNews staff might just be the sweetest you’ll ever meet. In L.A. I also did a talk with Melanie Joy who wrote Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, and then had a pop-up shop the next day. Back to NYC, I just did a four-day event in my new hometown, including Fashion’s Night Out at MooShoes, [part of New York Fashion Week], which we did with Brave Gentleman and Cri De Coeur. That was followed by a three-day pop-up also at MooShoes, and then Compassion Over Killing’s Veg Fest in Washington D.C. Coming up I have Toronto and Montreal, which will be my first VC visit to Canada. Then I’ll be going home to Chicago for Chicago Vegan Mania on November 5th with a pop up the next day.
VM: What is your design process when sourcing materials? Is your process much different from designers using fur and leather?
LH: Most designers use fabrics that have already been created and are available for purchase wholesale and they’re done. So my process is different not just from designers who use leather and fur, but from most designers in general because the fabric R&D and production process are a big part of what I do, and not something most concern themselves with. It took me 8 months of fabric R&D to determine the fabrics and construction process to create a winter dress coat that was at once vegan, warm enough for below freezing weather, and looked like a dress coat. Then it takes three months to produce these fabrics. This also means that each run is limited because once we make the collection for the season and sell out of a style or color or size, that’s it. We can’t make more because it takes 3 months to make the fabrics and another 1-2 to make the coats. So customers have gotten good at watching for exactly when we launch the new collection and preordering their favorite color and style right away before it sells out. We’ve already soldout of the entire new collection in black luxe and I’m getting emails from customers wishing I could still make one for them, but sadly I can’t! Another reason my material process is so different than the traditional process is because I am designing with weatherproofness in mind. How warm the fabric is, how it holds up to snow, wind, how much it retains heat, and how the coats can be constructed to keep that heat in are all crucial in designing a winter coat. Because of all of these concerns, I look at fabrics and construction from an inventor’s standpoint. My parents are both science people; my dad’s a scientist, my mom’s a doctor. When I decided to create the label, I didn’t have a background in fashion. It was more from a problem-solving standpoint of asking myself- where are animals not being spoken for? Where can I put my time and energy that no one else has and be an advocate for animals in that realm, creating something better than what’s out there so that people can also see how wonderful it is to live compassionately? Creating Vaute Couture is about the trifecta of overlapping ideals-function, design, and ethics. I had to design coats that would be more weather-proof than a wool coat would be otherwise my efforts are useless.
VM: How do you find models for your looks?
LH: I try to work with as many vegan artists as possible, but it’s not always possible, unfortunately. But, when I am choosing models, if I’m not working with vegan models I personally know, I try to find models I think look sweet and smart and healthy – who look like the type of girl I want to spend time with… a girl who cares and debates and reads and loves animals and laughs a lot. I also really like a variation in looks. When I was able to choose models for my first New York Fashion Week it was so fun because it was the first time I could choose women who represented what I love, from many different types of beauty.
VM: What was the inspiration behind your fall/winter collection’s look book?
LH: When I am developing a collection and book there are a lot of things that inspire me…I think the main point (of this book) is that clothing has a lot to say in terms of what you are supporting and promoting by purchasing and wearing it. A lot of people don’t think about those things. I’ve been doing activism for animals since I was a kid… one of the poems I first read when I got into animal rights at ten was part of the Ella Wheeler Wilcox poem: “And I am my brothers keeper, And I will fight his fights; And speak the words for beast and bird, Till the world shall set things right.”
I think fashion has the capability to do the same as poetry in connecting others in a welcoming and personal way to a greater awareness, so I wanted to have a strong focus on words in this Look Book. I was stenciling those poster boards in my parents’ garage after our family vacation, and shot the next day with Jeremy Bustos, whose wife is vegetarian and had discovered the line. With my makeup artist and friend Trisha Star Vargo (this amazing vegan makeup artist & hair stylist in Chicago) and my friend from high school Carla Cosimo we wrote V is for Vegan on their hands and used cruelty free makeup to focus on the models’ natural beauty. After the shoot I spent many an intense late night working with the insanely talented (and infinitely hilarious) graphic designer and artist Julie Gueraseva (www.madebyjulie.com) (who’s also vegan- um, Julie will you marry me?) on designing the book itself- and we developed ways to integrate words into the rest of the pages while letting the photographed words speak out. I was really inspired by how words have played a part in activism my whole life. The other thing I wanted to capture was all the tiny things that together create the sweet of winter- snow and twinkly lights and jewel tones and grays. People hate winter! To me if you are only focusing on the cold and the dark, there’s a magic you’re missing. I feel like when it snows everything is covered in this quiet, this calm; I wanted to convey that, the joy of walking in the city while it snows, while everything just gets muffled and still and in slow motion. And of course, since I was shooting in Chicago I was thrilled to share the shoot with some amazing rescued animals from Chicago Animal Care (where my college group volunteered)- the rescued pit bulls Mya, Maddie, and Lucy were so fun, Pippen & Pooh made me & everyone else want to spend every day with kittens.
VM: If you could describe this collection in three words, what would they be?
LH: Hoods. Velvet. Zippers. Or how about Outerwear for Inner-glow? (or is that four? oops!)
VM: Have you received any push-back from the fashion industry by promoting a cruelty-free message?
Photo By Thomas H Smith III
LH: It is frustrating when mainstream editors or buyers pigeonhole what I do as ethical fashion, as if just because it is ethically produced it cannot be considered for its other qualities or for a mainstream audience. But luckily ethical fashion is getting more attention, and the market for it is being taken more seriously- there are some mainstream brands that are starting to do vegan collections & intentionally marketing them as vegan. This is good- vegan isn’t a bad word, and it shouldn’t be scary. For example Free People, even though they sell fur and leather, is doing a collection with all vegan “leather” skirts and jackets. Looks like the fashion industry is starting to get it. Even if they don’t understand that we shouldn’t be using fur and leather, they do at least see there are people who care enough to not want to wear it. So that’s huge. It’s like that quote, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” [Mahatma Gandhi]
First [the fashion industry] couldn’t have cared less about ethical fashion, than they started caring about green fashion, then mainstream labels started integrating more common eco fabrics into their collections, and similarly slowly mainstream stores like FreePeople and Express have been marketing things as vegan. Things take time but we are seeing progress…
VM: Personally, what are some trends you really like that are going on right now?
LH: I love one-piece dressing. If I can wear a dress with tights and boots, or a jumper or onesies, that’s my favorite because it’s effortless and comfy and looks pulled together with minimal effort. I like minis a lot too, since I’m petite- like mini-dresses with textured tights and boots. I wear a lot of vintage. When I was in Portland, I got a couple of dresses for ten bucks each that I just shortened. For hair and makeup I’m into the winged eyeliner of the season with bright lips from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (amazing vegan line that just opened their first flagship boutique in NYC-it’s gorgeous!), and I just figured out this faux hawk updo that I’m really into. I love girlie with a touch of tomboy- this look just sits well with me, like a great Terri sandwich.
VM: What are some trends you would like to see go away?
LH: Well, fur and feathers, but I guess that’s obvious. Besides that- Uggs and Crocs drive me crazy! Crocs did have a ballet flat that they discontinued that were actually cute, but otherwise, I can do without seeing another pair of Crocs for the rest of my life. But really I love most fashion, it’s all in how you wear it. And as long as you make it your own, I’m into it. That’s why I love vintage, because people can wear a one-of-a-kind piece in a way that’s never been worn before. I love mixing decades- even just in hair and makeup- to make something yours & yours alone.
VM: Is there anything you’re working on for next season?
LH: One bit of giddy exciting news for me is that we’re in the process of finding and soon opening our first flagship boutique in New York City. I’m really excited about creating an all-branded, Vaute Couture space for people to visit, learn about the collection, and hang out. We have a studio but it’s only open for appointments based on my schedule. Other than that, I have other stuff coming out for Fall/Winter that hasn’t been launched yet, some zip-up hoodies with raw edges printed with velvet V’s, some new no-fur tees and all the new knits will be out soon for preorder, along with the new earmuffs. We have some collaborations in the works too with some awesome vegan artists. Be sure to checkout the Look Book to see the new collection and stay tuned on the facebook and newsletter for updates on the search for our first flagship boutique, and new casuals out soon.
