Meet The Designers Behind The Shadowplay NYC Fashion Range
April 4, 2012
By: Ashleigh Wight
Designers and founders, Ali and Xime.
Shadowplay NYC is a new and exciting fashion range that incorporates funky space-themed designs with custom, handmade garments that are, quite simply, out of this world. Created by two New York based Parsons graduates, the fashion range features skirts, dresses and tutus, all adorned with real and unique galaxy prints. The designers also take custom-made requests, so you can create something truly individual and stylish that only you will have.
HerUni caught up with the two space-obsessed designers behind the fashion range, Ali and Xime, who tell us about the inspiration behind their designs, which celebrities they would like to dress and what their future plans are for the Shadowplay NYC.
When and where did you both meet and what bought you together?
We met in 2007 when we both moved to New York to start at Parsons through a mutual friend.
Where did you grow up and when did you arrive to New York City?
Ali: I grew up in Venezuela, moved to Miami when I was 12 and to New York at 18.
Xime: I was born in San Diego, moved to Mexico City when I was 10 and to New York at 20.
You mentioned you went to Parson The New School For Design, which course did you complete?
We both majored in Fashion Design.
Have you worked on any other fashion-related or non-fashion related projects in the past?
Ali: Yes, we have both done multiple fashion internships and freelancing projects in the past. Right now Xime is at Theysken’s Theory, and I am an Assistant Designer at Edun.
What made you decide that you wanted to go into fashion?
Ali: Art and design have always been my main interests, but I only decided to go into fashion design in my senior year of high school. It was a very spontaneous decision.
Xime: After switching majors 5 times, fashion grew on me.
Where did you find inspiration for your space-themed clothing range?
Xime: Space
Ali: Xime has always been obsessed with space and she would always drag me to the Natural History Museum to watch space shows. She was always buying space posters, or any space related things (like planetariums), and eventually started designing space-themed fabrics. After being around her too much, I became obsessed with space myself.
When did you establish your clothing range?
Ali: When we were Sophomores in college, we came up with the brand and many ideas for it, but school was so busy and made it impossible for us to dedicate time to it. We did a few things here and there, but the brand never really took off until a few months ago. After we graduated we had a lot of free time and really dedicated ourselves to developing our ideas.
Was it easy to set up a clothing range or were there some problems you did not expect to encounter?
Ali: For us it has been very easy because we are taking it slowly and learning as we go. At the moment we do everything ourselves, so we have control of every step of the process. We also get along extremely well, so that definitely makes everything better.
In this collaborative work, are there any moments where both of you disagree on something? How do you handle it?
Ali: Yes, we disagree for 5 seconds and then somebody eventually gives in. Usually Xime tries to convince me of some crazy imaginative idea and I always have to be realistic and talk her out of it, because sometimes things are not possible unless you have NASA’s budget, an issue that came up a few years ago.
What makes Shadowplay NYC clothing unique?
Being all about space. Also, all of our stuff is hand made in our Manhattan studio, our space images are real and up-to-date, and we often interact with our customers on a personal level. People send us photos for our blog, or email us with special requests for custom orders. They might also email us saying how much they love our space merchandise. We always appreciate everything and respond to everyone.
The founders model their designs
Who inspires you?
Ali: Space and David Bowie
What do you enjoy most about designing and creating clothes?
Ali: We both enjoy coming up with ideas and figuring out how to make them work.
Xime: Definitely not the sewing.
How long does it take you to create one Shadowplay NYC dress or skirt?
Ali: Several hours, but it depends on the fabric and garments. As we create new products, these things change.
Which materials do you use to create your dresses and skirts?
Ali: We use all types of fabrics, our most popular skirts are made of cotton sateen. As we develop new things we are experimenting with new fabric.
Do you have any plans to create different designs or garments in the future?
Ali: Definitely. We have way too many ideas, we are slowly developing them and learning as we go.
Which celebrities would you like to dress?
Ali: I would also want to dress Johnny Depp in one of our Occupy Outer Space shirts and then undress him, and I am sure Xime would want to do the same to Jack White.
Xime: We would love to dress Yuri Gagarin’s ghost (first man in space) and David Bowie.
What can we expect from Shadowplay NYC next season?
Ali: New prints, new silhouettes, new fabrics, possibly some space shorts (people have been requesting), backpacks, scarves. Every day we come up with new ideas so we never know what’s coming, all we know is that it will be spacey!
View their amazing collection on their website, take a look at their blog, or visit their online shop to purchase some of these unique and totally chic items.
–
Images: www.etsy.com/shop/shadowplaynyc; courtesy of Shadowplay NYC
About the Author
Ashleigh is co-head of editorial at HerUni.com and the MyUni Editor for the Kingston University page. She is a 21-year-old final year journalism graduate and a trainee reporter at Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines. She was the News Editor of her university newspaper, The River and has written music reviews, features and interviews for Ourzone Magazine, Dead Press! and Bring The Noise UK. Her loves are gigs, cats, trav...
STAY CONNECTED