Tuesday

Summer Edit: Exclusive Personal Style Interview with CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year, Billy Reid's Womenswear Merchandising Manager

This week's muse...

Find out what this girl-on-the-go wears for executive meetings, showroom visits, fashion show invites and what ultimately defines her signature all-day style in the city that never sleeps.


Meet Karly Grawin.

Why do you need to know who RSP is featuring this week? Maybe because this week's style-influential just so happens to be the Womenswear Merchandise Manager for the CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year, Billy Reid. What makes her resume even more impressive? Prior, this fashion heavyweight worked for Ralph Lauren in design and merchandising.


When it comes to personal style, who else is there better to ask than the women making this industry tick? With that said, this week find out where she's shopping, what's in her closet and why Bianca Jagger circa the "Mick era" influences what she's wearing now...

Living and working in NYC, she has revived her signature look by masterfully mixing and juxtaposing textures, neutrals and unexpected proportions. She has procured an essential selection of basics and more importantly, she knows exactly how to team them together...

RSP breaks down her style for a summer in the city...


Take a cue from Grawin - slip on '60s-esque round-framed sunnies, a minimalist day dress and leather-flat sandals for savvy street style.


RSP: What is your position in the fashion industry?
Karly: Currently, I’m working with CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year, Billy Reid. I believe my actual title is Womenswear Merchandise Manager, which means seasonally, in some capacity, I’m involved with everything from conceptualization to styling to selling. For example, last week I worked on Holiday 12 Line Additions and Spring 13 design; this week I’m styling the Fall 12 Lookbook and next week I’m flying out of town to work on the product images for the web.
Prior to, I was working with Ralph Lauren for a couple years in design and merchandising.

RSP: Style influence? Runway? Celebrity? Icons in the industry? Muses? Models? In other words, what inspires your style:
Karly: Right now it’s Menswear, COMMES des GARCON, Supermodels circa 1992-1997, Diane Keaton in Manhattan, Eames: The Architect and the Painter, Abbey Lee, Bianca Jager in the Mick era, structured collars, plackets and shoulders, white tees, GUARDS music, my friends, bed head, taking photos, the French countryside and the freedom to run around barefoot.

RSP: Describe your look in three words:
Karly: I'll wear anything.

RSP: What is your most prized fashion possession?
Karly: My boyfriend’s closet.

RSP: What makes you tick?
Karly: Juxtapositions.

RSP: Favorite places to shop?
Karly: American Two Shot. They have it all from great coffee to hip people and a creative “City of Friends” curation of designer clothing from vintage to Timo Weiland. Additionally, Assembly New York is always a hit for minimal structured pieces, Love Adorned for home textiles and GreyEra Vintage for resold 90s gems and good conversations. Online stores like LaGarconne and SENSE and the Brooklyn Flea’s men’s vintage booths.

RSP: Finish this sentence:
Karly: "I wish… I was a little bit taller…”

RSP: Lip balm flavor?
Karly: Whatever is in the desk or the bottom of my purse or behind the deli counter.

Brands from head-to-toe?
Karly: That I would consider wearable…? ACNE, Assembly New York, Bodkin, Boy. Band of Outsiders, Jill Sander, The Row, ....Celine, naturally.

RSP: What's in your evening clutch?
Karly: Metro card, debit card, passport, sometimes keys; sometimes not; traces from the last time it was used.

RSP: Where can we find you in NYC?
Karly: The Smile. Or, my apartment as of late.

RSP: Drink of choice?
Karly: Fresh pressed, cold juice.

Bisous ♥


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