Pret-a-Portland

The fashion scene, with DeLorme, Curtis, and more, is alive and well

By Sonya Tomlinson

AMY CURTIS: “that’s what I strive for every time; creating a piece of clothing that is perfect for the person.”

Paranoid Social Wear Rustic Overtones lead singer Dave Gutter can do a lot more than sing: he’s also testing the waters of fashion with his own clothing line, Paranoid Social Wear. In his downtime between record deals this winter, Gutter brainstormed the idea of coupling his artwork with a logo to create a simple line of clothing for himself and his friends. So why the name? “I like oxymorons, so I thought I would make my own,” Gutter says. “Everyone is paranoid at some point, whether they’ve been smoking too much or they have some crackpot conspiracy. It’s funny to exploit the idea of paranoia.” (Paranoid Social Beats also happens to be the name of his beat production company.) In order to keep things inexpensive, he works with basic, well-fitting, traditional-style garments, including nylon tour jackets and hooded sweatshirts. The silk-screened logos are minimal, yet abstract and raw, such as the black-line drawing of what appears to be an older jazz musician crouched in a chair. His font choices, both readable and bold, appear in basic, primary colors. “I wanted to make low-profile work clothes for people who don’t want to jump on the bandwagon,” Gutter says. “There are a lot of clothing companies out there based around the hip-hop culture that are gaudy, with overpowering logos. I’m more inspired by skateboard fashion.” His plans, when he’s not committed to touring, are to develop fresh designs and to do a second printing of the new series. Unless you run into Gutter on the street, the only two places to purchase his line are at Newbury Comics and Bull Moose Music. —ST

If you attended this July’s First Friday Art Walk, you may have come across something that looked more like someone’s walk-in closet than an art exhibit. Brook DeLorme had her second showing/sample sale, as part of the HUB’s Faze project (See Sidebar), which showcases local up-and-coming talents.

Opportunities such as these give people like DeLorme, a self-taught fashion designer, the chance to introduce unconventional concepts. DeLorme uses her studio space as her gallery, and each of her finished products demonstrates its originality as an intricate and thoughtful collage of fabrics. Clotheslines are strung around the room, laden with elaborate tops, dresses, jackets, and vests. No two items are the same. Each bears a handmade tag that reflects its mood, such as the cotton knit, twisted-fabric dress whose tag says after a day of utter confusion, you slip into something more comfortable.

DeLorme was a fashion major at Savannah College of Art and Design, but she’s returned home to Portland and begun studying sculpture at Maine College of Art. This change in educational focus has influenced her designing, but sewing remains her true passion. “It’s all I do, all I think about,” she says. “That’s how it’s been all my life. I’ve just been fighting it.”

DeLorme’s interest in sewing began at the age of 13, when she couldn’t find what she wanted to wear in not-so-fashion-conscious Maine. She learned to sew from her mother, and although she found it thoroughly fulfilling, she never imagined supporting herself with such endeavors. Now 21 and a full-time student, she still manages to spend nearly 40 hours a week indulging in her hobby. DeLorme gathers ideas — drawing inspiration from historical garments and from fellow designer-artists, such as Iké Udé and J. Morgan Puett — and puts them together with a very personal touch.

“I think about what I would want to wear, what’s comfortable, and what I want to express through my clothing,” she says. “I also get a lot of ideas from the cloth itself. I like a deconstructed, asymmetrical look with a very finished inside. I use a lot of raw edges and natural fabrics, and mix and match them. I see a lot of reference to the symbolism of a puzzle, a conceptual puzzle that needs to be put together in a certain way.”

A newcomer to Portland’s fashion scene, DeLorme has been slowly generating buzz through different vehicles, particularly word of mouth. She was the model, photographer, clothing designer, and artist for her first brochure (she’ll give you one if you call her at (207) 415-5605); she expects to release a new edition quarterly. “I wanted to make something easy-looking and easily constructed, to build a foundation to go by,” she explains. In order to network, DeLorme has begun sending her portfolio to other designers, writers, and retailers. “I don’t want to deal with the fashion industry because they are so cutthroat,” she says. “This is my chosen career. Eventually, I may move to a larger city where people are more concerned with appearance and they’ll pay more for clothing. I like the individuality of what I do, and I’m not interested in mass production.”

Portland can look forward to a possible live fashion show of DeLorme’s work at a local gallery, as well as another sample sale, and a chance to see her clothing in local retail stores.

As an intern for renowned local clothing company owner, Jill McGowan Inc., DeLorme met Amy Curtis, then an employee, now owner of her own business.

Curtis designs and makes custom-made clothing for women, for both everyday wear and dress-up occasions. “It’s a process of intuitively figuring out what the person would look good in and how a piece of clothing can express their personality,” she says. “Some garments are so perfect for a person, the lines of it, the color and texture of the fabric are just right with the shape of their body, how they move, and what kind of person they are. That’s what I strive for every time; creating a piece of clothing that is perfect for the person.

“For any special event, people are presenting themselves and want to feel good about themselves. I want to help them present their own unique self, not a pre-set idea of how they’re supposed to look. At the first meeting, I create some rough sketches based on what they tell me, adding my own ideas, and we choose a fabric. For the second meeting, I make a muslin trial version of the garment. Then, I make the final piece, sometimes with a last bit of inspiration in the finishing details.”

After starting out doing men’s alterations, she broke in as a pattern maker and assistant designer for Jill McGowan, Inc. After seven years with McGowan, Curtis went solo in January 2001 (you can contact her at amy@amycurtisdressmaker.com). “I was ready with my own ideas, they had built to a critical proportion and I had to get them out there.” Marketing herself with a postcard, a web site, and, most importantly, word-of-mouth, she has been successful in securing name recognition.

Her specialties also include costume design for patrons such as dancer Buffy Miller, Ram Island Dance, and New York’s Whitney Museum. “Costume-making pushes your creativity. It’s like entering a fantasy realm, where constrictions of normalcy and wearability don’t apply.”

To be wrapped in the exquisite designs, fabrics, and details of an Amy Curtis original is something of a fairy tale, where you can pretend to be royalty if it suits, so to speak, your fancy.

Curtis gained her seamstress knowledge as a child, first sitting on her mother’s lap at an old foot treadle sewing machine, pushing the fabric through the machine while her mother treadled. Growing up in rural Maine, she was oblivious to wardrobes beyond fabric store pattern models and the Vogue Pattern Book circa 1970. In grade school, she was always sewing for 4-H Club events, and in high school, she started making her own patterns and dyeing fabric in an attempt to gain a sense of her own style. “I didn’t study fashion in college, I was actually a philosophy major. I had no intention of doing this for a career, but then it became obvious that the thing which I think about all the time should be my job.”

Sonya Tomlinson can be reached at stomlinson@phx.com.

Ratio For years, 26-year-old Bob Smyth has merged his artwork with T-shirt designs and used the profits to make more art. Also a part of the HUB’s Faze project, Smyth’s work has appeared in many mediums — particularly his T-shirts, which are part of his Ratio clothing line. The shirts themselves range from girls’ tees to three-quarter-sleeve baseball jerseys in an array of solid colors and two-tones. Using heat transfer, Smyth hand-presses each shirt with a different design or layout to create a customized original. His work is intricate and dimensional, as though M.C. Escher had collaborated with an architect and a graffiti artist to create a mandala. Creative from a young age, Smyth developed his skills by studying commercial art at a technical high school, where he learned screen-printing. Later, he went on to study at Massachusetts College of Art. “I found that school was unfulfilling,” he says. “I wanted to cultivate my own style and ability. T-shirts have always been a traditional form of fashion, especially among skateboarding companies. Putting your logo or design on clothing is an interactive way to present your work. It’s the most mobile form of a gallery.” Hence the creation of Ratio, so named for the way Smyth’s organic, symmetrical designs evoke the golden ratio of nature (Fibonacci spiral). Beginning with a black ballpoint pen, he generates highly detailed forms and fonts. “My work contains elements of sacred geometry, symmetry, and numerology,” he says. “I also reference mathematical, alchemical, and traditional religious symbols. My drawings have a spiritual orientation with the intent to raise a consciousness.” Smyth began selling his shirts among his circle of friends, where they would be cherished and appreciated. Now he markets via word of mouth, gallery exhibitions, and festivals. He’s also done T-shirt design in Portland for Velvet Records, Marcy’s Restaurant, the HUB, and local bands. “Sharing my work is the truest way to connect with people who would resonate with my ideas,” he explains. —ST