What does it take to launch as a fashion designer in New York these days? Plenty of guts, talent, hard work and long hours are a given. Capitalizing on a reality television show will help – a lot.
Ivy Higa, a young, determined designer who came to the city three years ago to pursue her dream career, knows all too well.
Higa, 30, was just selected as one of three New York contestants on “Project Runway.” Her launching pad is the cutthroat, drama-fueled TV show that started its eighth season on Thursday for Lifetime Television. “Runway” has launched several successful designers, including Christian Siriano, who sold his fall 2009 collection to Saks Fifth Avenue and inked a makeup deal with Victoria’s Secret.
Higa, who works out of her bedroom in an East Village apartment she shares with two roommates, designs and sews for 100 hours a week. She rarely goes out
“The fashion industry has been hit so hard. It’s especially hard for small designers who don’t have investors. We’re just trying to stay alive,” says Higa, who lost her design job in a downsizing last year.
But Higa, whose designs are sold in four stores including A. Turen on Ludlow Street in downtown Manhattan, has a strategy to take advantage of her 15 minutes of fame. She has an e-commerce launch planned for later this month to coincide with her star turn on “Project Runway.” She will be selling everything she wore on the show from her fall 2010 collection on her site ivyhny.com.
“This is definitely the platform to advertise and just by being on the show I’m going to get more traffic to my Web site,” she said. “That in itself will be amazing, and I’m betting on getting sales through it.”
Higa also sells her designs at Legends of Nantucket, Mass.; Minx in Little Rock, Ark.; and Michael Nusskern in Orange County, Calif.
Higa’s love affair with fashion started early. Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Hawaii, Higa created her first outfit by age 13. She is a University of Hawaii art graduate. When she moved to New York, she enrolled at the Parsons School for Design, where her idol Donna Karan studied. Higa wanted to learn the business-side fundamentals of the apparel industry.
Higa was able to translate her design talents into a job in the fabric design department at DKNY and she worked other freelance jobs. She launched her own label, Ivy h., in the fall of 2008 with $5,000 she had saved, using leftover fabrics from DKNY.
Instead of using an industrial sewing machine that costs $1,000, Higa creates her fashions on a $60 model. “I was basically working on a really rickety machine, and still am. I do lose a little bit of time, but the money has to go to other things like fabric.”
Even before her “Project Runway” appearance, Higa had gotten recognition. She presented her first New York Fashion Week collection in September last year, for spring/summer 2010.
Her work caught the attention of editors at magazines like Vogue and Glamour and her collection was heavily requested for photo shoots this season. WWD reviewed her collection for both seasons.
“I had two seasons under my belt, and my business got to a standstill. I had to try for ‘Project Runway.’ It was a do-or-done situation.” The winner receives prizes including $100,000 from L’Oreal Paris to start his or her own line and a magazine spread.