samantha pleet WRITTEN BY TAYLLOR LEMPHERS PHOTOGRAPHY BY NAOHMI MONROE
You could say all artists live in fantasy worlds. Every one of them is operating in the realms of things unseen, unmade, unimagined, and bringing them to life. It’s one thing to make such a world; it’s a whole other to bring other people into it. We’d say designer SAMANTHA PLEET successfully transports cult followers of her clothing down the rabbit hole and into Neverland. Pleet has always had a tendency toward the imaginary, though she didn’t always envision being a fashion designer. “I was always making clothes and costumes for myself growing up,” shares Pleet, “but for a long time I thought I’d be an actress or [visual] artist.” It was after she graduated from Pratt in the early 2000s, she had her “ah-ha” moment. “I realized I wanted to be wearing clothes that didn’t exist, so I started designing things inspired by pirates and vagabonds and the Renaissance.” So began Pleet’s creation of whimsical, wearable art. Flash forward ten years to her Spring/Summer 2017 collection, which she tells us is inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and we see that she’s just as magical as ever. Her reason for designing clothes is rooted in creating a fantastical experience for others to step into. “Clothes to me are so creative and exciting because they let you be whoever you want every day,” explains Pleet. “Everyone has to get dressed, so I love that I can make beautiful, dreamy clothes for women so they can feel like that themselves.” And who doesn’t love playing dress-up?
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For each new collection, Pleet begins her creative process with a strong inspiration. Her most recent resort collection was inspired by a French harlequin and Nouveau Edwardian style. From there, she makes a mood board of collected images that fits the design and theme. Next come fabrics and colors. To guide the style, she thinks about what she would want to be wearing for the season she’s designing. And if she had to pick a favorite piece from the SS17 Collection? “I love the floweret shorts,” Pleet gushes, “because they look like Victorian underwear in the style of denim shorts.” The designer loves wearing hers with everything from t-shirts to tank tops to her own line’s cropped blouses. While her clothing may be some sort of magic, the process of running an independent clothing line takes a lot of guts and sweat. “We do everything from designing, to sales, to PR ourselves,” shares Pleet, “so the hardest part is just making sure we can do everything and on time!” With time Pleet has been able to nail down a system, but when she first started, “it was difficult to figure out how to do everything, like organizing production or designing a label,” the designer laughs. She believes that for entrepreneurs, this process is painful, but necessary. “Going through all those steps though allows you to eventually know exactly what you want and what you need to do to get that result.”
