"In The Heights"

Ivette Urbaez, silk screen fashion designer 0f Stevie's Artisans, was just featured in an article in Manhattan Times, an online newspaper that covers Upper Manhattan (Washington heights and Inwood.) The following excerpt is written by Gloria Pazmino, who did the interview in Ivette's apartment/atelier.



In an apartment-turned fashion workshop and studio on Thayer Street, Ivette Urbaez, a local designer, holds “fashion parties” in what appears to be a creative, private space that welcomes the imagination and color of anyone with an idea to share.

Think Tupperware, Mary Kay, or Pampered Chef soirees, except with clothes, accessories, a little background music and – yes – a little vino.

The one-bedroom apartment located in a pre-war walkup building in Inwood has the look of the ultimate artist studio. There are paint cans, brushes, blank and halfway worked on canvasses, drawings, and a camera. It’s all a coordinated mess of artistry. Combine that with the obligatory heat and hot water issues of an old building, and it makes for a nice bohemian, starving artist package.

It’s like a smaller version of the musical “RENT,” sans drugs and unpaid rent. A gargantuan silk screening machine sits in the middle of Urbaez’s living room. At the opposite end of the room, two sewing machines sit under one of the apartment’s windows. “I make everything; it starts out with a sketch, then the muslin pattern, to the part where I put it together myself,” says Urbaez.

Samples of Urbaez’s work line a clothing rack, and accessories are set up for the viewing and trying-on pleasure of her guests. Urbaez is a painter and photographer and her work adorns the walls of her apartment, almost mirroring the images printed on her designs.

Urbaez’s designs embrace the urban landscape of New York, by including industrial elements in her graphics and designs. The women’s fashions include screen printed tops, pants, and accessories that have city motifs such as fire escapes, subway escalators, and intertwined messes of cables and wires, creating interesting graphics.

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Urbaez comes from a long lineage of artisans and craftspeople where she picked up her love for design. She learned basic skills from a grandmother who taught her how to sew from an early age. After moving to the United States in 1992, she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and studied surface design and accessories.

Urbaez is working towards establishing her brand and eventually selling her designs at small stores throughout the city. “I want to make women look good and make a living at it,” said Ivette.

In the works: Several of Ivette's spring designs will be sold at Lily, a boutique in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. A buyer for a shop in the Aspen, Colorado area is also interested in items from Ivette's spring line and Ivette is working on designs for a yoga wear line.

Ivette's portfolio/Look Book is now posted on YouTube. Check it out.