Designers Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos of Shipley & Halmos recently went on a two week road trip to Barney’s across the country, taking pictures of customers for a photo book they will be publishing this fall. Wardrobe Wire met up with these super cool guys for a quick interview and here’s what they had to say!
WW: Your collections always have such a cool kid vibe – where do you get your inspiration?
SAM: “We are inspired kind of by New York. Our offices are in SOHO and Jeff and I both live in Manhattan and I think we’re just sort of inspired by our environment really. I mean that’s the best way I can describe that. With men’s we work with classics and sort of reinterpreting them, same with women’s, it’s something we do as well and I think if you sort of redesign classics it’s a new fresh look on something that’s been around and familiar and I think when you put that together with other fashion it creates that cool vibe.”
WW: You guys meet in Colorado, right? (SAM) Yes. So how did you get from Colorado ski bums to New York fashion week? Was that always in the plan?
SAM: (Laughing) “No. I studied fine art, I studied painting and I really wanted to be a musician more than anything and Jeff studied finance and we just sort of had this idea to do a clothing brand…no idea why…and then we just did it and then it became successful and we just ended up where we are. It was just sort of like happenstance and sort of like just going for it at the same time.”
WW: So are you the more creative type and he’s more business?
SAM: “Well, I wouldn’t say it that way. I can draw and Jeff can’t and Jeff’s really good at accounting and I’m not. Other than that we meet kind of up the middle.”
WW: I know you guys are skipping Fashion Week to take on this photo book, does that mean you are skipping out on a Spring collection altogether?
SAM: “No, of course not. We’re actually finished with our women’s and men’s Spring collection. For fashion week we do press week interviews, where we bring people from market press in and show them the collection, go over the whole line with them so they know what we’re up to and they kind of get a more personal look at the collection, which is actually really beneficial. We also shoot a really intense look book and then give all those photos out. I almost feel like fashion week for us is more successful doing that than us doing shows. Shows are, first, they’re really expensive. And I’d rather spend money getting out meeting customers, real customers, people who are buying our clothing. At the same time creating something really fun with them, and then meeting people who work on the floor at Barneys, getting to go to our other accounts, it’s been a really great experience.”
WW: If you could use one word to best describe your latest collection what would it be? How about one for men and one for women?
JEFF: “Functional and Wearable”
WW: Out of all the places you have traveled, what city has the most memorable fashion?
JEFF: “Tokyo.”
WW: What inspires y’all to get out of bed everyday and hit the pavement running, even on days when it feels impossible?
JEFF: “I think working on projects like this we enjoy designing clothes, but I like just the challenge of creativity. Some days it’s just harder to come by than others but when you switch it up and work on projects that are outside of your comfort zone it challenges you and I like that challenge.”
WW: So what can we expect next from you guys?
JEFF: “Hopefully a lot! (laughing) Hopefully we can back to New York in one piece! Obviously we’re publishing this book so that’s pretty cool. We’ve got a lot of little projects, things that we are working on that I can’t talk about quite yet. We have some really cool things that we’ve been working on in addition to this type of thing.”
WW: What is the coolest thing about your life?
JEFF: “I think the coolest thing is that we have the freedom to do kind of anything we really want to do. We look at Shipley & Halmos as a means to create things and if we want to go on a two week road trip and meet people all around the country and shoot pictures of them and publish a book, well, let’s do it. And I think that’s sort of our mantra at the office, mantra within our company.”
SAM: “Doing things over talking about doing things. We’re really inspired to just make stuff. (Laughing) Sometimes you wish you had a different and easier and normaler life but no, it’s been good. I think the best part about it is basically what Jeff said, we are in the position, especially when we started Shipley & Halmos, the number one thing that we wanted to do is make sure that when designing clothes we don’t forget about living as well. Living and doing this sort of stuff. I play music and if I record a record it’s something we’ll put out, Jeff and I will put out, because we can. There’s no boundaries really. We really try and do whatever we have time for.”
Website: www.shipley-halmos.com
Wardrobe Wire is all about not taking life too seriously. Shipley & Halmos are some seriously down to earth dudes and we hope to see lots of amazing things from them in the future! Thank you to our favorite personal shopper at Barneys New York-Dallas, Jessica Millek, for setting us up with this interview.
*Heather Kilpatrick
