Fashion Crush

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In celebration of the upcoming Tucson Fashion Week, we profile some home-grown fashion designers. Our fashion crush this month: Cybil Waite of Julia Love. By Gillian Drummond.

3S: Why ‘Julia Love’?

Cybil: “It’s my grandmother’s name. I wanted to name the collection after someone I aspire to. I have a few of her pieces. One is a coat with a fur collar. I probably couldn’t wear that in Los Angeles.”

3S: You relocated to L.A. after graduating from the Art Institute of Tucson last year. Why did you move?

Cybil: “I moved there with my boyfriend. He’s a filmmaker. We decided to come out and live here for a year.

“I feel like in Tucson you’re nurtured to become an independent designer. I interned for Elizabeth Albert, Tucson Fashion Week founder and owner of CandyStrike, and Paula Taylor, TFW creative director. In Los Angeles it’s much more commercial. Out there it’s so much about who you are. It’s more about ‘I’m a designer’. [In Tucson] nobody would ever know who I was. I don’t want to criticize my new hometown, but I like Tucson a lot.”

3S: When and why did you get into fashion design?

Cybil: “I started at the Art Institute of Phoenix where I was studying graphic design. I really enjoyed it but I felt like I was always in front of the computer. My sister had just moved to Tucson so I followed her. I started studying fashion because I wanted to learn how to sew. After [a short while] I felt like I was creating something and watching it come to life on a person and how it makes them feel. I like how people interpret your garments.”

3S: How would you describe the Julia Love style?

Cybil: “I create these themes. My Fall collection [to be launched at Tucson Fashion Week] is early ’60s space race. It was partly inspired by women fighter pilots. I was really inspired by that and wanted to create glamorous clothes but tough, like they were an atomic blast, like the clothes are coming out of the ashes.

“I like structure and solid lines and form-fitting clothing. Every one of my collections has a story. It makes it a little bit more exciting. I like to create a line based off of characters. Sometimes I get more way more involved in my head [with the characters] and don’t tell everyone how deep it goes!”

3S: What designers influence you?

Cybil: “Marc Jacobs is my ultimate favorite. Oscar de la Renta. Carolina Herrera. Louis Vuitton Paris.”

3S: Who was your first fashion crush?

Cybil: “Gwen Stefani. She has always been an inspiration for me both in music and fashion. She is such a bad-ass in the way she confidently carries herself, while also managing to make it look so effortless. For me, Gwen really knows who she is and isn’t afraid to rock her personal style, which was always very inspiring to me as a young artist trying to build my own unique style.”

3 Story is a proud sponsor of Tucson Fashion Week, which runs October 17th to 19th, 2013. For tickets and info visit www.tucsonfashionweek.com.