+AA-

+A Ameet the designers

By Valerie Chan

You would have to live under a fairly large rock to deny the fact that our economy has been just slightly off kilter for the last couple of years. Recession is the new black, and heavy hitters from all corners of the fashion industry have been affected by this not-so-cute economic kink.

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From Lacroix to Luella, fashion goliaths from all across the luxury spectrum have been struck down due to lack of funding. If you think it’s hard for major fashion houses in this economy, think about how hard it must be for new designers in this day and age.

Those who dare attempt to launch a new label under the recession need to possess a few things: raw talent in their trade, intense passion for what they do, a little bit of luck, and a massive amount of courage. Thank-

fully, both Andrew Lane and Andres Gonzalez of +AA(pronounced Plus AA Negative, or just “Double A” for short), have these traits in the bag. Originally from California and Puerto Rico respectively, the duo met ten years ago while still students at FIT. The two instantly became friends and have been inseparable since.

After graduation, Andres went back to his Puerto Rico, where he worked as an eveningwear designer, creating one-of-a-kind creations for clients. Andrew meanwhile went straight to work as a lingerie designer for brands such as Narciso Rodriguez and Vera Wang. Lane ultimately landed the position of head designer of Vera Wang’s lingerie department, “I needed a right hand man, and [our aesthetics and ideals matched up so well] that I knew that I had to call Andres up.” The two worked for a while at Vera Wang, and then moved to Donna Karan lingerie together.

But then the recession hit, and by February 2009 the whole lingerie department at Donna Karan unfortunately got the pink slip. “It was twenty-two people, from the interns to the pattern-makers to the seamstresses. The whole division was cut…” says Lane. So what is a pair of unemployed designers to do in a recession? Why, start a label of course.

It’s not the conventional or reasonable thing to do, launching a brand from scratch in the midst of a bad economy; however, there is some weird counterintuitive logic behind the two’s seemingly illogical behavior. “No one wants to [start a new brand] when times

are bad…so maybe we’re launching at the perfect time.”

Andrew explains. “It can go either way, but it can’t hurt to try.” Andres assures. +AA-‘s spring/summer collection for 2010 definitely does not reflect the hardships that the two went through

these past couple of months. The collection is soft, feminine and almost dream-like, all so without being effusively girly. Says Andrew of the two’s overall aesthetic “We are similar in overall style, but I would have to say that Andres is a bit more eccentric, it’s the Spanish in him…he has that evening-couture feel, and I’m a bit more minimal. We both love good fabric and good color.” The collection mirrors the designers’ style to a T, a seamless mesh between Andrew’s minimalism and Andres’ eccentricity. Only the best materials are used: luxurious silks, soft chiffons and intricate laces are prevalent in all the pieces. The clothes all seem simple, but look closer and you’ll find traces of the designers’ influences in high-end lingerie: a little pin-tucking here, some tiny accordion pleats there. “There are a lot of those lost techniques [from lingerie] that are starting to go back into ready-to-wear now.” And with a price point hovering between $250-$350 per piece, the design duo are definitely designing with the average girl in mind.

“We’re creating these clothes with the cosmopolitan girl in mind, the girl who has a fierce eye for style but doesn’t necessarily have the means to afford a $5,000 jacket.”

The designers have big plans for +AA- in the future.

However, though they are extremely optimistic, the two remain starkly realistic “We’re unemployed, we’re pulling this out of our ass…it’s like, okay another pasta and tomato dinner for us because we have to pay for that [bolt of chiffon]…It has been a hard year for us…we’re definitely sacrificing.” However, even in this bleak present, there is no doubt that +AA- has an extremely bright future. Little by little, the pieces are falling together for the label. The fledgling brand already has already sparked interest from boutiques around the Manhattan area, and a few have already gained enough confidence in the label to starting placing orders. “When I go back to my baby book, everything that I did from six months old to three years old had to do with fashion…” says Andrew “This is the first time that we’re really living our dream.”

“We’re doing what we love, which is great,” Andres follows, “It’s tough working in the bad economy because everything goes so slowly and [everything is so risky], but there is a good side, because people are always hungry for something new, even when times are tough.”

From what we can see from the collection so far, our appetites are definitely whetted for the official launch of +AA-. We are sure the fashion masses will agree.

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