Twinkle By Wenlan

As a PR, I know every successful event involves lots of detail, communication, time, and energy to accomplish in order to make it work out smoothly. Therefore when I found out (at end May) that Wenlan is coming to Taiwan in July— to be honest, I was really stressed out since there’s only a month to plan and prepare. My biggest concern was how and what is the best way to introduce Twinkle By Wenlan to the media and the public during this short amount of time. After several meetings, we came up with the idea to hold a seminar at Xue Xue Institute (an institute in Taipei for creativity, culture, and aesthetic) which Wenlan can share her experience of become a fashion designer, and how she overcome difficulties to establish a fashion brand in New York to people who are interested in fashion in Taiwan. At that day, even under the condition of adjusting the jet lag, Welan still gave a really inspiring and meaningful speech.

During these 6 days working with Wenlan, I was amazed by her hardworking, professional attitudes and efficiency. No matter when she’s facing the press discussing her design concepts, or at the VIP trunk show suggesting different customers the best style for them, she always had her big smile on. Although with a series of media interviews and busy schedule, she never lost her patience and energy. Through working with Wenlan and discovering her great passion towards fashion and the never-give-up attitude, I realized all my concerns during the past month were just unnecessary. After all, we felt really honored to be able to introduce Wenlan and Twinkle by Wenlan to Taiwan’s fashion media. Moreover, the experience of having Wenlan here at Taiwan inspired Level 6ix in many different ways. We are looking forward to continue working with Wenlan again.

Thank You ~Wenlan !!!

Level 6ix Perry.

http://www.level6ix.com.tw/

In the end of June 2009, Wenlan came back to Taipei, her hometown. At the same time, I was in Taipei for summer vacation. I’d got the chance to work with Wenlan on all the media events and meetings. The experience was totally different from that in NYC office when I was a PR intern at Twinkle by Wenlan. During her visit in Taipei, I was a personal assistant to Wenlan and we worked together day and night. We met people from local retailers and press. Wenlan gave a speech to an audience of 100 people about her fashion experience in NYC and I was assisting the preparation and the speech. Two day before Wenlan left for Japan, we held a trunk show in Taipei to accept pre-order on holiday 09 and resort 10 collection which was the first of the kind for Taiwan consumers. For me, most of these things are really interesting and fascinating. It’s my pleasure to do these things with Wenlan, which is really helpful and enlightening to me. The most impressive scene in this trip is that when Wenlan talked about her fashion business to some journalists, her facial expression was full of confidence, wisdom, and gratification. This inspired and encouraged me that nothing is impossible, just give it a try, someday I might have a great business and then do something helpful and meaningful to my hometown and even the whole world =)

Ryan

Wenlan during an interview

Wenlan giving a speech in Taipei

Everyone knows that New York City becomes a little bit frenzied with fashion shows during Fashion Week in the Fall and Spring.  But what about the time in between?  New collections of clothes are coming out all the time – and, as I’ve learned, designers can’t possibly wait for those two crazy times of year to debut them all.

So that’s why Twinkle by Wenlan hosted a presentation last week to show off our brand new Holiday 2009/Resort 2010 collections.  To prepare, we sent out email invitations to stylists, fashion directors from magazines, and more.  We emptied our entire showroom of our Fall clothes/knits/Twinkle Living pillows and blankets, brought in the Holiday and Resort racks, rearranged the tables and jewelry, moved the mannequins from their perch by the window and changed their outfits (and I didn’t drop any of the arms this time!).  We also booked two models, Roza and Dierdre, to wear all of the clothes throughout the afternoon.

Bright and early on the day of the presentation, a makeup artist, hairdresser and photographer arrived to do their own tasks: the models had to be ready for photos so our design team could create a “look book” – a collection of photos of each outfit we have to make it easier for magazines and stylists to see all of the clothes that Twinkle has to offer.  And our own preparation continued down to the very last second: even just 10 minutes before the presentation began, I was busy steaming all of the wrinkles out of the clothes while the other interns were in the office making sure the models’ shoes, pantyhose, and accessories were all in order.

Making sure that we were completely ready to host the presentation was really hectic, but once we were out in the showroom greeting guests and in the office helping the models get changed, it was all worth it.  On the ride home that day, I was sleepy but really satisfied: working as an intern at Twinkle and helping to make all of this exciting stuff happen convinces me more and more each day that this busy, high-speed, crazy fashion industry is definitely where I’m meant to be!

Twinkle Holiday/ Resort Presentation

After twelve seasons at Bryant Park, I took Twinkle’s Fall 2009 fashion show to an off site location for only the second time. I almost forgot how efficient and productive it is showing at the tents, and our show this season went through quite some dramatic moments. On the way home after the show was over, my mind flashed through a few unforgettable, and then felt-to-be some truly unfashionable moments in my career.

On top of the list is most people’s favorite, which happened during my second year in business when I first sold my collection to the major department stores. The shipment was held at US Customs for inspection, a very common procedure, yet it nearly caused me to have a total breakdown - the shipment was very delayed. Sitting by myself in my office above a gallery on 26th Street, I made repeated phone calls between the custom brokage agent, the trucking company and the US Customs office to no avail. Eventually out of complete despair, I called Senator Hillary Clinton’s office at 2PM, knowing that Barney’s truck was on their way to pick up at 5PM. Ms. Clinton’s assistant asked me to fax them all information and told me, “we have not received requests like this before but we will give it a try”. Guess what? The shipment was released and made it to the pick up. I don’t know if it’s because the phone call worked or the shipment was miraculously released, yet it was definitely amazing that the Senator’s office was so willing to help. I’ve told this story a few times and still hope they didn’t go out of their way to handle a young designer’s button and zipper problems.

My first fashion show was a three designer group show sponsored by Gen Art. It was the first time I ever did a show. The truck driver was late and showed up drunk. My collection only arrived at Bryant Park one hour before the show.  I had all my friends, plus the interns, be dressers. The biggest challenge for me was to tear off the first model’s shoes quickly and put them on the last model – and with only 11 looks then, every fraction of a second counted. Tragedy was bound to happen. Girls went out not according to program and there was about 10 seconds when the runway was empty. I cried when the show was over, while guests came backstage to congratulate (or was it to console?) me. Later, I watched the show video and discovered one of the designers had a dog walked out with one of the models, and this dog went to bathroom on the runway. “How lucky I was to be the first designer to show”, I told myself - you always have to look at the bright side in the fashion business.

I can regale you with so many tales of behind-the-scenes mishap.  There was a time when I realized a pair of gloves were missing only 45 minutes before the show. My design assistant rushed back to the studio to fetch them, returning only to find that the glove-less model was just about to step out onto the runway. The assistant, wanting to complete her mission, almost tackled the model to give her the gloves. She was fortunately stopped.  Once a model overslept and was escorted by her booker 15 minutes before the show, crying frantically with yesterday’s hair still gelled. Another time the electricity shorted for five seconds during the show. I stood in the dark backstage and nearly fainted. Once the stereo was not working when we sent out the first look. And two shows ago, 15 pairs of shoes arrived from London only 35 minutes before the show.

The other day I met someone who used to work in the fashion industry for a well established designer. After many years, he finally decided he should be a real estate broker. I asked him why. He said that a few seasons ago, 48 hours before a fashion show, he, responsible for million dollar sales, was sent to Milan to pick up a belt at the airport to bring back for the show. He said to himself, something was wrong. I did not ask him, however sorely tempted, how he felt now with what is happening in the real estate market. Isn’t something even more seriously wrong?!

I’ve always said that my clothes are for women who do not take fashion too seriously, who are up for an adventure, who have a sense of humor when it comes to fashion. These dramatic moments are flawed and unglamorous, yet make for some of the most wonderful memories.  I am already anticipating next season…

Wenlan

Twinkle’s first runway show, fall 2003

When Wenlan told me that we would be using 35 models for our show, I thought to myself, “Ok, it sounds like a large number but I can make it work.”   Little did I know what was ahead of me.   To hire 35 models, we had to see over 100+ models during our 3-day casting period.  Alright, so that part was not too bad.  We had beautiful girls come in and out of the office all day, took pictures of them, had them walk, and maybe try on a few looks.   What happened in the next couple of days after the model casting, however, was a whirlwind, to put it mildly.  With only literally days to go before the show, I had to negotiate with 7 different modeling agencies to get the exact models we wanted, while making sure that they could come in for a fitting (coordinating with the models’ 10,000 castings), book a hair/makeup test run using a girl that was representative of our “look,” all the while staying within a certain budget AND competing for them with DVF,Y3, and Herve Leger!
In those 3-4 days, I learned so much about how to speak the language of model bookers “Dahhling, let’s drink champagne~ Kiss-Kiss!” to get what I wanted.  I also realized, once again, that having a sense of humor goes a long way.  One booker and I became instant best friends when we joked around during a phone call.  We were negotiating a deal when I said something like, “Well, since we are using some of your newer girls this season, I think you can give us some of your bigger girls.”  She then said, “Wait, you don’t mean “big” as in “fat” right?”  Then, we both started laughing uncontrollably when I said, “Yes, we will be using whales for our show.”  I know it sounds mean but we were so stressed out and tired even the most ridiculous sounded funny.  After all the negotiations were over, she invited me to come to her agency’s party at 1 Oak to celebrate with the models and bookers.  We saw some of our models there and they were so cute because they wanted pictures with us!  I thought it would be the other way around.  We also ran into a girl that we unbooked last minute and was wary of how she would react.  However, when she saw us she was super sweet and gave us a warm greeting.
Despite all the stress, last minute emergencies, and chaos, when I saw all the models lined up backstage before the show started, I had a moment to myself where I thought, “I did it!”  Then, my moment was broken by someone from La Force and Stevens yelling into the radio about editors arriving and having to start the show.

Juliette with her new friends at the party!

“Doctor, I think I am invisible.”
“Who said that?”

I felt like an invisible person after our fashion show. There were many people who said to me, “The show was fabulous, but I didn’t see you. Were you there?” Yes, I was there!! All the time!!

It only dawned on me a couple of day later – all these people saw me, they just didn’t know it was me. Why? I changed my hair color. I am a blonde now.  I became one of the fragile creatures who can widen their eyes in bewilderment when you tell them how to copy and paste in Excel, to whom any man offers help with the smallest of shopping bags, and who can get the bartender’s attention just by flicking her eyelashes… or maybe not. I think I will stay the exception to the rule.

Eva

The Invisible Eva

Until the last second the show starts, the back stage was very very busy and was under tremendous pressure.
Its peak started 4 days before the show, non stop until the last moment.
Fitting 36 girls in 4 days… no time for anything but giving girls outfits and photograph them.
The last thing I concern was how I looked and what to eat.
The great consequences came after. Looking 36 girls standing wearing Twinkle and neon orange lip stick, was just glamorous and absolutely spectacular.
I was walking around and guess what I found… pop corn and coke! Having not eating properly for last 4 days, I ate so much I couldn’t even remember. Anyone couldn’t get pop corn that day, don’t blame on me. I just followed the natural human need.

Sayumi

Sayumi with the empty popcorn cart

With the fast approaching fashion week, the short days included constantly tracking samples, yelling at TNT customer service while our packages were held in customs, fitting, styling, and watching a slew of ladies come in for casting. But to maintain the level of sanity and team spirit in the office we decided to hold a fashion week potluck. Everyone brought in their favorite dishes and I brought in my oh-so-secretive toffee treat. Though the potluck was not to start till lunch Yuki a.k.a the graphic designer with the veracious appetite insisted on eating the toffee treat as soon as she came in. Once she started she couldn’t stop. By noon she had devoured a good handful so I had to intervene and slow her down. I warned her, “BE CAREFUL something bad may happen!” By late afternoon and about 20 toffee treats later I could hear her yelling in the back office.  Startled by her sudden outburst we all asked her what happened. She sadly mopped that her GIGANTIC filling fell out while eating a toffee treat! A harsh lesson learned, but a memorable fashion week moment for the rest of the staff.

Joanna

Yuki with the very scary filling.

By Tiffany

Normally no one likes to go to school, especially on a weekend but when we arrived at 9:30am on Saturday, this was obviously not your average school day.  There was a crowd of stylish young girls keen to start their fashionable education.  Their energy was contagious (or maybe it was the Venti latte’s) but we were excited to get started.  We had a great group of girl’s that were extremely passionate and eager for their knitting lesson.  They had a lot of questions for Wenlan and the hour flew by.  Wenlan taught them the basics of knitting and these girls had a crash course in knits and purls.  It was a lot of fun and definitely more exciting than the university that I remember.

Wenlan at Teen Vogue University

By Emily Kearns

One weekend a year, Lucky Magazine brings together the best designers to sell their products at a major discount. We’re talking 75% off Foley and Corinna bags and Stella McCartney clothes. Once again, Twinkle participated and our booth was filled with bargain-hungry ladies the whole time. It was so crowded that we could hardly keep the clothes on the hangers. The first night, girls of the moment Jessica Szorh and Leighton Meester, better known as Vanessa and Blair from Gossip Girl, stopped by our booth. While Leighton was snapped by photographers outside of our booth, Jessica scored one of Twinkle’s signature chunky knit sweaters. The best part of the whole event? Part of the proceeds benefit Robin Hood, a charity that helps fight poverty in New York City.

Christine at Lucky Shop