Twinkle By Wenlan

A few years ago, I received an email from a stranger, who had just adopted a Chinese baby girl and wanted to name her Wenlan. She wanted to know what my name means. People often say that my name is “pretty” by the sound of it; but, once they learn what it means, their eyes twinkle as if they just spotted an adorable puppy. I replied to the stranger with the answer that Wenlan means “orchid in mist.”

Yet, this is not entirely what my name means. Or rather, Wenlan can mean many other things as well but I choose this image- orchid in mist. It was probably what my dad expected his first daughter to be when he gave me the name.

I have always thought that the most uncreative part of English was the names. Of course, different names attract certain moods. We acquire love and romance from “Juliet, modernity from “Stephanie,” and manliness from “Jack”. But there is little room for imagination. Do I want it to be pretty Anna. Classic? Grace. Smart? Hilary. Sweet? Renee. Passionate? Scarlet. And if you aren’t a celebrity that isn’t concerned with being too adventurous with names, it might be hard to get away with Apple.

In Chinese, you can create unique names by combining characters. But, even with endless choices, many Chinese parents still settle with common names. The “-lan” in my first name means orchid and is a common character for girl’s name. There was a girl named Ling-lan in my 8^th grade. And the two of use felt we were too cool for being one of the “-lans”. When she found out my sister’s name, Ai-lan, she couldn’t help but burst into sad laughter. “Shouldn’t one lan enough for your household? “Wen-“ is a relatively abstract word. People rarely use it nowadays. The dictionary says it was used in classic Chinese literature to describe talented writing. The mist surrounds mountain is also referred as “wen”. So, I guess my name has two literal meanings: good writing orchid or mountain mist orchid. I twist it a little and say “orchid in mist” because of its beautiful image.

Unless you are a storyteller or a writer, one rarely has the opportunity to give names on a regular basis. My dad was not happy with the name my sister gave her daughter. But, my sister told him his naming right had ended with us two. A modern woman like my sister probably does not plan to have too many children so she wants to enjoy the opportunity of naming her own kids. Many have this joy when naming their pets – like my husband and I did with my French bulldog. But, the real fun began when I decided to give a name to each Twinkle creation.

Naming clothes is fun because the choices are limitless, bold, humorous, wild, and over the top. Some of my favorites from Twinkle’s Holiday 08 collection include “Illusionist”, a fake double-layered mohair cardigan and “Simply Darling”, a sweet black and white button down blouse. Memorable names from past seasons are: “Sweat Pea” for a high-waist full dome shape skirt, “Ahoy” for a black and white striped chunky knit cardigan, “Jet Star” for a black techo fabric hoodie with bat sleeves, and “Never a Bridesmaid” for a sexy black lace top.

If naming blouse and skirt is like writing a newspaper column, then naming a dress is like writing a short story with a plot, characters, and complicated relationships. A dress needs a character to play it. For example, “Snow Bunny”, a tuxedo inspired spaghetti dress for the cocktail-ready lady; “Book Worm”, a white shirtdress with button details for a sharp daydreamer; and Final Bow, a bold multi color dress, is for a woman that wants to make an entrance.

Naming a print is even more challenging, since it is so abstract- almost like writing a poem. Yet, when the inspiration strikes, its rhythm and imagery magically flow. My favorites are a dark grey-bluish color called “Monsoon” and a light foggy color called “Dew light”. They both are for a print named “Impressionist”. A geometric velvet burn out fabric is named “Moon Dance”, which captures the mystery of the pattern and luxe quality. Naming has become a fun game in the office as well. We debated what the best name for a beautiful silver jacquard fabric might be and finally settled with Taj Mahal.

People say your design is like your baby. I enjoy the parenting part of naming. It gives me sheer joy when a good name screams the essence of the design. The difference between naming my baby and a real baby is that mine has already gone through its growing pain. So when I give names, I have fun without fearing that the name will be mismatched. But, naming an actual baby is built on so much expectation and hope. My sister’s first child is Yuelan and my dog is named Milan. For different reasons, they both have “-lan” in their names. Or maybe, my family just can’t get enough of this beautiful flower.

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Impressionist Print

Monsoon                                      Dewlight

Above: Leon and Annie getting ready to exterminate the office. Actually, they were just painting the bathroom. After we finished dyeing 25 pairs of umbre tights for fashion show, our bathroom looked like Jackson Pollack might have had work in there for a year.

 

Yuki Sekiya - Graphic Designer

Don’t believe everything you see… Contrary to the myth, not everyone in the fashion world starves themselves. Here, at Twinkle, food is a BIG deal.

Unarguably, lunch time is the happiest time for me. Yet, every day I am confronted with the same question, “Where do I go for lunch?” Since our location is 38 and 8th, it’s very hard for us to find nice place to eat. At the same time, there are a lot of different places to eat. Therefore, my colleagues and I have narrowed it down to the following spots:

Amici: The grilled cheese and fries are very good.

Starbucks: Gotta have my fix!

Dunkin Donuts: Why do they call it box of Joe?

NYC fried chicken: The greasy fingers are a minus

Village 38: Same as Amici’s but the line is shorter.

Chef Yu: Asian fusion.

Pret a manager: When I want to treat myself to a fancy picnic-style lunch.

Zaiya: Only for those special days because it’s so far.

 

Above: Yuki refuses to take a picture. But, aren’t her slippers so cute?

 

Joanna Song - Assistant Designer

Twinkle Staff picks:

Favorite Artist of the moment : Tegan and Sara

Favorite Quicky Lunch Spot: Pret a Manager

Favorite office snack: M & M’s plain

Favorite carrier and mailman - DAVE from UPS

Favorite magazine: Vogue (US, Italy)

Best way to unwind after a long days work: Sweat it out at Bikram NYC

Best part of the Twinkle Studio: The AMAZING Staff and hard working interns, Milan -the office French bull dog, and of course the endless supply of snacks that inundate our office.

Most Memorable Moment: The sheer joy of finishing a successful fashion show-more specifically Fall 2008’s show after consecutive late nights and small bumps along the way it turned out amazing - felt like giving BIRTH.

Most Stressful Moment: Fall 2008 show prep - waiting nervously for our show shoes to arrive and making backup shoes and embellishing them through the late night - our multitalented design team created a customized TWINKLE shoe*. Just call us GEPETTO.

Looking forward to: Having the clothes produced so we can finally wear them. Another amazing season and show and of course the infamously enjoyable Twinkle After-show party.

Most thankful for: Hardworking and always enjoyable Twinkle Interns that have become like family.

*Not available anywhere else but Twinkle

  

Dave with a copy of Italian Vogue

 

Sayumi Namba - Assistant Designer

 I believe that my desk is located in the best part of our office. If I kick the floor, slide my chair a little bit towards the back, I can reach a copier. Another kick and I’m back to my desk. Isn’t it brilliant? I can amuse myself a bit, while making the laziest effort to reach the copier.

 

 

Eva Kasprikova - Administrative Assistant

When I went to interview for my job at Twinkle I was acutely aware of the fact that I was going to a fashion design studio. I agonized over my appearance only to find the studio full of people casually dressed in jeans and trendy tops. Amongst the funky fashion taste in the office, my formal black pants and crisp white shirt seemed strangely out of place.

 In the beginning, I got the opportunity to come in for a couple of days as an intern. My first task was to sort buttons according to size and color into different boxes. I recall bitterly saying to myself: “Several years of studying university level abstract math – and I am counting buttons?” But, I stuck to it and was accepted as a full-time Twinkle employee within a few days. Needless to say, my duties have changed and increased with time considerably.

 Over the five months that I have worked here, I am glad to have become a part of the Twinkle Team. When standing in the back row of the Fall 2008 fashion show in March, I burst with pride when reminded of the fact that my company has achieved all this. I reflected on my first day and smiled. 

Me and my desk

Karina Peng - Operations Manager

 As my due date was approaching, Wenlan kindly decided to throw me a surprise party before my maternity leave. So she and my co-workers secretly schemed behind my back and also teamed up with my husband Jamie to make it absolutely perfect.

 A couple days before the event, I randomly picked phone call from The Merchant,  restaurant in the city, asking for Leon who works at our pr dept.

“He’s not here, can I take a message?” I responded,

Sure! I’m calling to confirm the reservation for his party for 15 people.”

 As I quickly took down the information, I felt that there was something strange going on, since I wasn’t aware of any upcoming Twinkle events.

After a couple days had passed, in the end of the day neared, however, people started to leave the office around the same time, a bit earlier than usual…and that is when I began to notice some odd behaviors.

 First, Leon fled the office mentioning that he has to take off for school and Ms. Huang, our sample maker, who is NOT a 45 year student ran after him asking whether she could go along with him. (I thought that was weird but still had no clue as to what was going on). Then, two more of my colleagues on the design team, Lily and Joanna, walked out without even saying goodbye. Finally, Wenlan was the last one to leave (it was only around 7pm, which is rather early for her). As she packed her stuff and prepared to leave, she said:

“Go home early, Karina. Don’t work too hard.” At this point, I knew something was wrong….Wenlan is always the last to leave!

 A short while later, Jamie called and asked if I was ready to go grab a bite to eat. Once I got downstairs and into the car, Jamie looked at me and said:

“My friend told me there’s a restaurant downtown that has great burgers, do you want to go?”

 “Sure! What’s the name of the place?” I replied

 “The Merchant restaurant….”

 Jamie, completely caught off guard, we just both burst into laughter.

 At the end of the day, although it was not the “surprise” party they had originally planned, it was still a fabulous party and the best send-off I could’ve every asked for.

 

2 months after the party, I’m back to work, joined by my new assistant Eva at twinkle.

Yuki, Jamie (my husband), Me, Joanna and Ms. Huang

 

Leon Yuan - International PR/Marketing

Fashion week is the most hectic period of the year.

The fact that it took months of preparation works, the 20 minutes show just seems not long enough. I remember that crazy 3 weeks before the show, I was trying to recover from my trip to Asia. And everyone thought I had Sars when I came back with a pollution mask on.

For more than a week, I had a hard time recovering from the bad flu. And, for an entire week, my interns had to speak to the sponsors of the show on my behalf. The planning of gift bags, judging all the top models in the city for the show, arranging schedules and meeting all the deadlines, trying very hard to make the show and after-party all translate into stress. My job is to make sure everything run as smooth and trouble-less as much as possible. Unfortunately, as always, there are always unexpected problems that occur.

As the show began, I felt a huge relief from all the prior-show stress. Despite all the obstacles that happened front-house and backstage, I remained calm and relaxed. In the end, this is probably the best way to solve all the problems.

The after-party was the best way to relax- for Wenlan and design department perhaps but not for me.  Fortunately, I had a great team of intern to make the party even fun for me!

  

Lily Tran, design assistant

I still haven’t decided if I should blame it on the tights or the dye. In all honesty, it could’ve been me. All I have to say was that this project was like a love-hate relationship. I cared for it so much, yet we had some really tough times together. When you think of dying tights, you would think that it would take a little one-or-two dunks into the bucket, then a rinse off. And then, BAM! You have these awesome tights.

Unfortunately, I only encountered this feeling of contentment for about, I would say, 36% of the time. Scratch that, probably more like 31%. After all, there was that time I burned a large hole in the tights. Anyway, let’s just focus on the positive for now.

Dyeing is not very difficult. It’s all about patience and grasping the technique. I think the tights have so much to do with how it will absorb the dye and how it reacts once it is dry. The opaque tights were much harder to get the color saturated and even harder to create an ombre effect, since they usually ended up being blotchy or came out looking like a flesh eating disease had attacked your legs.

The sheer tights on the other hand were much easier to work with because the colors soaked more easily. But, even then, you still have to be extra careful, so that it won’t turn dark too quickly. Instead, get a moderately expensive pair of tights because the cheaper ones from the drug stores or the super fancy ones are made from a fiber that doesn’t absorb the dye as well.

The use of several different vats is a great resource. If I wanted blue-to-black tights, I would have 4 different buckets: black, navy blue, royal blue and light blue (made by diluting it with water). Also, after you heat up the water once or twice, I would suggest making a new vat of dye. You can save the old colored water for the over dyeing part. Once you dry off the tights and they still looked blotchy, I would save them by over-dyeing.

Heat also plays a significant factor in the equation: the hotter the water, the faster it dyes. Even though the tights come out a shade darker, don’t worry! All the levels of color came together and evenly transitioned.

I would highly recommend dying them with the lighter dye first; then, dye them a second time with the darker shade. Once you’ve gone through the dying process the first time, ensure that all the excess dye has come out by gently running it through water before dyeing it again. Just don’t wring it out because you’ll end up getting a very tie-dye look, which is totally unfashionable and 80s.

Through it all, the most crucial thing to remember is to have positive outlook on the whole process, so that your tights will prevail a chic and fantastic look! With all honesty, Wenlan, this artsy painterly moody umbre tights is the worst best idea ever!!!

Materials: large buckets, bottle of RIT dye (preferably one of a darker and lighter shade)

Tips:

+ Microwaving the dye is out of the question. Instead, avoid laziness and heat up the RIT dye up on a conventional stove. It’ll save you heartache and a headache. Plus, radiation is bad for you!

+ Unless you want to end up with Smurf hands, remember to wear two pairs of latex gloves or one pair of heavy-duty rubber ones

+ Invest in a good book and a comfy chair because it will take you longer than you imagine for you to get your perfect pair. But, don’t become fazed!

+ Work with a friend, so that she/he can spice things up when you’re bored.

Above: The Umbre tights in Twinkle by Wenlan Fall 08’ Show  

 

It’s my first day at Twinkle and my first week in the city. I was greeted with an EAP (Emergency Action Plan) meeting, in which possible “emergency” situations were covered – a crane accident, an asbestos break out, possible black outs, and even a nuclear attack. Needless to say, I was completely frightened – there is a crane right outside our office window! The internship seems promising… might have to double-check on the building safety though.