NIKOLAKI Goddesses Rule Over Style Week OC!
This past Friday night, the Irvine Spectrum--and its fabulous Ferris Wheel became the backdrop to the start of the 3rd Annual Style Week Orange County. I was honored to have been invited to show my NIKOLAKI Spring 2011 Collection--along with my Co-Designer David Paul. I was also asked to host the "Cadillac Couture: Red Carpet Gowns" and Ezekiel's 2nd Annual Needle & Thread Competitions, both of which featured original designs from graduates of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/FIDM (my alma mater and the college I am instructor at).
Our NIKOLAKI Spring 2011 Collection kicked off Style Week OC and by all the compliments and effusive praise we received afterward, it was a big success. Backstage, through all the madness of getting the models out, it was fun to hear all the "ooohs" and "aahhs" coming from the audience, even through the pumping Rihanna-Lady Gaga-Freemasons soundtrack. For Spring 2011, our Inspiration springboard was this stunning American socialite from the early 1900's, Rita de Acosta Lydig. A beauty of Cuban and Spanish descent (David and I loved that since both of us are half-Latino), she was, by all accounts FABULOUS and loved fashion.
We were excited to have some fabulous models walk our Spring 2011 Runway, some of which you might recognize, including the stunning Amanda Fields (who opened our show naturally) from Season 3 Project Runway, and the statuesque Holly Ridings from Models of the Runway 2/Project Runway Season 7. The beautiful Saleisha Stowers, Winner of America's Next Top Model Cycle 9, and Eugena Washington, Second Runner Up to Cycle 7 of America's Next Top Model also modeled in our show.
With this collection, we were definitely making a "Red Carpet" statement--from the gowns to the cocktail dresses to the easy-breezy yet still elegant tunics. Every woman deserves to have their "Rita de Acosta Lydig Moment" and with this collection, we are allowing them to! I will have more photos of the other shows, the "Special Guests", the scene at Style Week Orange County, on later posts, but for now... Below is a complete Slide Show from our NIKOLAKI Spring 2011 Collection and for even more GREAT photos click HERE for a slide show from 944 Magazine:

Couture In The Islands
I'm BACK! Yes, last week I finally returned to Los Angeles from debuting my Spring 2009 Collection. Of course, I did not just show my collection (along with my design partner, David Paul) but I had a whole week's worth of activities, official welcoming parties, judging duties (for Next Gen and EcoFashion Awards), hours of fittings and alterations, and somehow got to sneak in some "fun time" in the Caribbean sun--but more on that in a separate post.
I was invited by Mode Iles Ltd./The Montague Group, producers of the first ever Islands Of The World Fashion Week, to show my line, NIKOLAKI, in Nassau, The Bahamas. David and I began the process of designing the line over 6 months ago. Just Friday, after getting back to LA, we received the wonderful news that our collection (or one of the gowns from it) made the cover of the California Apparel News publication, THE West Coast fashion industry "bible". I guess that we must have done something good.... Inspiration:
My starting point of reference was "The Golden Era Of Mexican Cinema". Why? You might ask. Both David and I remembered thinking about our maternal Grandmothers and how they both loved watching those old black and white movies from the 50's and 60's, the era usually associated as "La Epoca de Oro" of Mexican Cinema. It was very glamorous then. All I kept imagining were images of Divas like Maria Feliz and Sarita Montiel in their couture gowns, furs, Cartier diamonds...They were truly women with innate (and individual) style. They had no stylists picking those Dior gowns for them back then; they flew to the Parisian Ateliers and ordered them themselves. I wanted to give a nod to how fabulous they were but at the same time, bring it to 2009. We knew we were going to do a "Red Carpet" collection of mostly gowns and cocktail dresses and the theme seemed ideal. Make-Up and Hair:
Speaking of models, the day after we arrived, we had our official fittings and saw over 20 beautiful models, mostly from the Bahamas or neighboring Caribbean islands. I don't know what it is about the Caribbean but there must be something in the water that breeds over 6 feet tall girls!!! We also used models from Brazil and the US, that were brought in from a top Miami modeling agency.
Fabrics: The Collection:
Couture Touches: We added special Couture-like touches , such as Vintage George Wittels Swarovski pins and brooches, which we attached with several of the dresses. David even hand-sewed hundreds of Swarovski paillettes and sequins (two 6 inch straps took 18 hours to finish!).
Along with the glorious silks, for Spring '09, we decided to "turn it up a couple notches" on the "red carpet" luxe level, by using some fabrics we deemed as our "Novelty Fabrics", including some hand-beaded sequined silks from India, as seen in the gown above which is completely made of hand-beaded sequin paillettes sewn over bias-cut silk chiffon with an attached Zibeline strapless corset. The gown weighed over a ton! (sorry Vanessa). Shoes:In terms of accessories, we were privileged enough to have used these divine shoes provided by the fabulous Michael Antonio Footwear Group. We used their higher-end line from Michael Antonio Studio, which also had jeweled and crystal detail and embellishment, which coordinated perfectly with our gowns.
In the end, I was very happy to debut my Spring 2009 NIKOLAKI Collection at the first ever Islands Of The World Fashion Week and proud of the hard work David, myself and my amazing "petite main" of seamstresses had painstakingly put into it. According to the last press reports we had read (it has been only a week after all) the collection was well received and I can't wait to return to this wonderful Paradise to show my collection next year. Click HERE to view more photos of the collection.