Twinkle By Wenlan

I was so excited when I was asked to be an intern at Twinkle. I love the fun, easy, and wearable pieces they create; they just make fashion fun.
When I started in January it was right before fashion week so the office was a buzz with preparation. I’ve worked in other studios, but never for a company that presented during fashion week. I couldn’t believe the immense amount of work that goes into a fashion show.

I had the opportunity to help with the chunky knits that Twinkle is famous for. I hand knit all the hats that were in the fashion presentation. It was a lot of work that involved knitting, de-knitting, and re-knitting some of the hats until they were the correct length and pattern. I’ve always loved hand knitting and am so excited that I got see my hand work in a fashion show. I worked right up to the last minute on the hats and my work paid off when I saw the images from the show on WWD.com.

I’m truly enjoying the office atmosphere here at Twinkle and can’t wait to see what the following months hold for me here!

Annalise

Model with Twinkle’s Dune Basket Case Hat made by Annalise

Being at Twinkle has really ignited my desire to be more involved in the fashion world. Clothes are really a fascinating form of expression. There is so much more than fabric intertwined in the beautiful designer clothes you see. It is an entire team of hard-working, ambitious people putting all of their effort into creating those intricate pieces. Everyone here has really made me feel like I am apart of something great, and I was, but this is my tearful farewell. Working at Twinkle by Wenlan has been the best job I have ever had, seriously. I was learning about fashion and loving it. I am so grateful for this opportunity and wish Wenlan the very best.

Chirstina

The day before Thanksgiving, our office had a potluck to commemorate the holiday and to add a little festive flair to the dreary weather.  Some people brought delicious home-made apple pie and others brought the infamous Bon Chon chicken.  Joanna, who is on our design team, casually put a plate of brownie bars and said, “Oh, I just baked something.”  These were not just ordinary brownie bars.  They had a thin layer of flaky heaven on the bottom with caramel somewhere in the middle.  The minute each of bit down into one of these bars, all our eyes widened as we exclaimed, “Mmmm!! What’s is this?? It’s sooo good!!  Joanna coyly responded, “It’s my friend’s recipe and I promised her that I would not share it with anyone.”  Of course this prompted everyone to pounce on her with 20 questions.  But Joanna remained mum.  Today, Yuki, who is a graphic designer, brought something that looked suspiciously similar to Joanna’s Thanksgiving brownies.  We all laughed because although Yuki made a valiant effort to mimic the brownies-hoping that in discussing the ingredients Joanna would somehow disclose something, Joanna still would not budge on giving up the secret recipe.  I’m going to tell Joanna all my secrets.

Juliette

Joanna and Yuki in the office.

By Dan Garzi

As Twinkle’s only male intern it’s hard to watch the Ladies picking out Twinkle outfits to add to their wardrobes. One dress here, one dress there; before you know it they’re all coming to work dressed in Twinkle’s finest. I’ll admit that I’m a little jealous. Little do they know that at home, I’ve started hoarding items from the Twinkle Living Collection.  I have the Thistle + Basil Dew Duvet Cover on my bed, covered by a Daring Fox Throw in complimentary shades of green and blue. Also in this photo is a hand-tufted Gator rug in the vibrant Iron + Mustard colors.

Take That Ladies!

Above you will see a glamour shot of the two biggest stars of our fabulous after party: Insomnia Cookies and my drink menus! Okay, maybe the actual drink specials were a bigger hit, but I saw people checking out my table-top menus and I can only assume were insanely impressed. And of course, nothing goes better with a gimlet then a delicious chocolate chip cookie. Best. Night. Ever!

The Big Stars of the Evening

6 AM call time!  I had on my oh-so-pretty blue Twinkle dress.  I was so excited as I entered The Salon at the Bryant Park Tent with my cool backstage pass!  Yes, I was legit lol. Hair and makeup people were running around like headless chickens!  Models were practicing their runway struts.  Reporters had their cameras out and about, interviewing and snapping pics.  Yes, the day was finally upon us.  Time for Twinkle to showcase their wonderful array of girly and sophisticated dresses, fun/funky shorts, and awesome skirts.

There was so much energy around me it didn’t matter that I was half awake after only getting two hours of sleep!!!  The adrenaline was kicking in.  Amidst all the chaos I was able to snap some pics with some of my fellow interns, like Gina here in the gray top.  Our official Twinkle mascot, Milan (Wenlan’s French bulldog) also could not contain his excitement as she ran back and forth across the runway.  The models are dressed, the crowd is waiting in anticipation…..ready, set, go!!  It’s Twinkle Time! : ) Let’s show them how it’s done here at New York Fashion Week!

Joy and Gina Strike a Pose

I am not sure who’s to blame, but we were under construction during fashion week.  Here’s a picture of the building manager, Budd (I think that’s his real name), painting while everyone races around trying to get ready for the show.  I think he’s smiling because young, gorgeous models keep traipsing in.  He never loved his job this much before.

Budd Smiles as the Fashion Week Frenzy Kicks In

I know that I am a little biased, but I thought this was an amazing collection and I wanted everything!  Fashion Week is always so exciting and I was really proud to be part of Spring 2009.  The models were all really sweet and I thought it was fun that a lot of them wore Twinkle to our show.  I loved the hair, but the poor girls were definitely not loving it when they had to comb it out!  The high price of fashion, I suppose.  This look was my favorite.  Now, I need to figure out how I can get the Manolo’s to go with it!

twinkles sunshine dress is a favorite

New York fashion show is in three days. It’s time to be ready for the perfect show, but we realized that some gift bags have a problem. Today, I am a bag inspector. I have to check 6 boxes of bags. I spend all morning to inspect and take out ugly bags. In case you find any mistakes on the bag, please forgive me generously.
I’m sure you’d love the bag specially offered by twinkle by wenlan. I’ll see your smile in the show.

Gift Bags in a row- just for you!

After the Twinkle show ended and we were all packed up, a few of the other interns and I thought we would try to talk our way into some other shows, with our all important backstage passes still swinging round our necks from  how hard could it be, right?

After an hour of hanging around by the ‘standing room only’ line, trying to come up with good excuses to why we weren’t on the ‘list’, being bluntly refused to two shows, and generally getting in everyone’s way, we admitted defeat. Tired and starving, with tails between our legs we wandered off to find brunch and then catch up on sleep.
Oh well there’s always next year!

the spring 2009 strut