Pint sized Siriano creates big time dresses. With a collection inspired by the creatures of the sea, Siriano spoke in an exclusive interview about his love for bright colors as well as his requirement to reach out to audiences of all tax brackets.
Long billowing dresses fit for the red carpet, paired with bright, fun shoes, available at Payless, Siriano certainly accomplishes his goal. Separates to mix and match included maxi skirts, cape blouses, and shift dresses, all made of silky smooth fabrics of crepes, chiffons, and silk shimmied and shined down the runway. Wild and appliqued mini dresses perfect for a night on the town were juxtaposed with sleek, simple pieces, perfect for everyday life. Color blocking again dominates the show, a true trend noted since the start of the spring/summer 2012 shows. Teaming up with stylist to the stars, Danielle Nachmani, Siriano presents a well rounded collection with a cool girl edge, worthy of the praise of Heidi Klum, who sat front row.
MEGAN AVERBUCH - Talk to your collection, I see a lot of color, I think that's a big trend this season.
CHRISTIAN SIRIANO - We're working it. I think color is really important this season. A lot of inspiration comes from these really beautiful underwater creatures and different types of corals, barnacles, that I thought were so vibrant and grow in the dark and were interesting that way, so that was very important. I was inspired by a lot of different things. I really wanted my girl to have this cool/hip attitude this season, and really have this lighter feeling. That was very important.
MEGAN - We always have this big billowing dress. Talk to us about it and talk to us about the Christian Siriano girl, who is she?
CHRISTIAN - I think it's interesting because I have a lot of different customers that you have to please. I have department stores like Neiman Marcus who need evening wear, and need glamour and need those things, and we give it to them, hopefully in a modern way each season. And I think I also have those customers that really needs to wear her clothes everyday, so we have a lot of separates this season which I love. A lot of beautiful blouses, trousers, skirts, tops, jackets that you'll see as they put together and I'm really proud of them, and I love those pieces.
MEGAN - So you talked to us about pleasing a lot of different customers, and I know you have a shoe line with Payless, and you go from Neiman Marcus to Payless. How do you do it? How do you pair them together?
CHRISTIAN - For me, coming from a different place from me, I have a lot of fans that are in different worlds. I have these young girls who love fashion and love trends, but they aren't spending more than $200 on anything. In that way, I was like OK Why alienate these women and these girls who really want something from me. They want something fashion forward, so that was very important with the collaboration with Payless.
MEGAN - Reaching out to everybody?
CHRISTIAN - I like to! Not everyone can afford a $10,000 dress but hopefully they can afford a $20 or $30 shoe.
MEGAN - Thank you!