Readying to Wear

“Eveningwear made comfortable”: Those are the operative words this season for Katherine Gerdes, the twenty-five-year-old designer best known for her appearance on Project Runway. The artist has successfully parlayed that exposure into businesses offering custom fashion and ready-to-wear, both of which bear the signature of Gerdes’ casual aesthetic. The avid snowboarder requires a loose fit from her own wardrobe, and has always designed for comfort as well as form. Last year at DIVA, she unveiled wrinkle-resistant gowns that could be packed into overnight bags. Now, a rainbow’s worth of jersey fabrics are stacked in Gerdes’ new downtown Minneapolis studio, destined to be made into a line of elegant but relaxed-looking dresses. Those gowns will premiere at the upscale DIVA gala, then reappear next month at Voltage, the fashion show geared to urban looks and streetwear. “These dresses will work well for both,” she pointed out.

Saks, Marshall Field’s, and the Minneapolis-based clothier Kuhlman have all produced menswear designed by Jason Hammerberg. But these days the thirty-three-year-old veteran has gone global as an independent apparel designer. Right now, for instance, he’s working with a manufacturer based in Istanbul, putting pen to paper for an “iPod-friendly” line for young men. But Hammerberg doesn’t do any of the stitching in his Golden Valley home/studio—instead, he sends sketches and representative images from magazines to the manufacturer, which then creates a pattern at the factory in Turkey. The versatile Hammerberg also meets with local clients desiring custom menswear—usually tailored jackets, pants, and suits akin to the dandy ensembles he’s dreaming up for the DIVA runway. And in his spare time, he designs baby onesies printed with punchy graphics and slogans, sold locally under the Brand New Baby Wear label. Why dabble in infant fashions? His twelve nieces and nephews are an inspiration. “I became an uncle when I was twelve,” he explained. “I love kids, been around them my whole life.”

“I liked the really cool things I was seeing in GQ and other magazines, like Versace,” said Russell Bourrienne, recalling his adolescence in the 1980s. “But most fourteen-year-olds can’t get their hands on that stuff”—especially if they are growing up outside St. Cloud. So he taught himself to sew, and now central Minnesota’s most fashionable teen has grown into an honest-to-goodness couturier, working out of a compact studio in Minneapolis’ Lyn-Lake area. One side is a showroom; the other is packed with fabrics, sketch books, a worktable, and no fewer than ten sewing machines, some state of the art, some vintage, one still in its box. “I’m very into the ’70s,” said Bourrienne, by way of characterizing his elaborate creations. That translates more specifically as menswear with exaggerated, often elongated silhouettes, done up in bold geometric patterns. For DIVA, his “English-Asian confusion” looks are inspired by the 1937 flick Lost Horizon, in which a plane full of Brits crashes into Shangri-la.

The DIVA MN benefit unfolds on March 3 at International Market Square, 275 Market St. in Minneapolis. Tickets at 651-209-6799 or divamn.org.