Editor's Picks
Here at Minted we we chose our top choices from CurleeBikini’s summer Isla Collection.
MM: How do you explain what eco-fashion is, exactly?
MM: How would you describe the styles of your collections?
MC: I immediately cut to focusing the eco definition around the business practices—where I source my fabric, how I make my swimsuits, that I don’t mass prdocue and they’re made-to-order. I try to focus the eco-centric stuff on the business side of things, and keep that separate from the design because the design itself is high fashion and has a very wide range of different sizes and cuts for a variety of personalities and tastes.
MC: The first [collection] I had this whole gypsy focus—I was really in that mindset with lots of mixing and matching prints. This [summer collection] has those elements in it, but it’s meant to be a bit more ethnic rather than gypsy. I was inspiried by Queen Khalifia and that’s kind of how it started—the African princess of a tribe of women and empowering women. I got similar elements of the mixing and matching prints and the bright colors—that might be one unifiying thing, that I like to mix and match.
One thing I’ve become really used to saying and expressing really clearly is that I’m not recycling someone else’s old bathing suit. People get weary of that. And yes, I do and I have for certain clients who want me to, I can take apart a vintage swimsuit. Across the board, the majority of the stuff I use are scraps left over from other companies and that’s a really easy way for me to say ‘Look it’s still new fabric. It’s just new fabric that someone else was going to throw away and I’m retrieving it.’ Then their ears perk up and they get really interested in that.
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MM: You also have a 9-to-5 job in the fashion industry—how do you juggle both? MC: It is difficult, sometimes more difficult than others! I think one of the places I started was not giving myself a full weekend off from work. I only get one day off, and that’s Sunday. That was my one rule—I have to spend a full day on Saturday working on stuff [for CurleeBikini]. I like to try to space things out; I like to give myself an hour or two after work or if I’m feeling