When popular children’s-wear designer Bonnie Young waves her sparkly fashion wand, she seems to bring out the budding fashionista in girls and a cool, princely attitude in boys.
The style magic happens in her SoHo studio, attached to the ultra-modern, all-white, canvas-like loft space she shares with her husband, Luca Babini, and two children: Celia, 13 and Brando, 11.
Young’s fun, très-chic creations for kids, tweens, and teens have graced the pages of top international publications. Her brand conveys a fresh, timeless quality — evident in her classic, well-tailored skirts, dresses, blazers, and outerwear. She is best known for looks that are infused with surprising, exotic undertones — signature touches of nomadic glamour, inspired by her travels to many faraway places.
We caught up with the elegant designer in March, shortly after her exciting fashion show in Chelsea’s gallery district, part of the Vogue Bambini-petitePARADE/2014 Kids Fashion Week NYC. Adorable young models — including her own children — owned the runway, sporting the brand’s must-have trends for the fall 2014 season.
Young was one of the five featured designers. Highlights from her new line for tweens and teens included comfy, sophisticated coats and jackets with plaid and geometric patterns (for girls’ and boys’ markets); a cool, black, retro “Brando” motorcycle jacket; a striking silvery dress, worn with a dark shearling jacket; and a champagne-colored gold dress, paired with a white, faux fur poncho — combos that any little fashion bug would love.
In this interview, Young talks about her family, career, and trendsetting creations.
Tammy Scileppi: Your au courant designs have taken New York City’s kids’ fashion scene by storm. So, when you’re not working on your collection, or running about town with the kids, you probably can’t wait to catch a few moments of downtime at home — relaxing or working in your light-filled studio. It sounds like a wonderfully inspiring place, and our readers are probably thinking, what better spot for an artist to create?
Bonnie Young: It’s extremely challenging when it comes to focus. When you work where you live, it is very difficult to make divisions, and your life becomes a big balancing act. We always seem to be busy between my daughter’s acting coach on 104th Street and the Downtown United Soccer Club training at Pier 40. (Her son, Brando, practices there).
I want to please my kids, yet I have to work, so there is always this tug of war within myself.
TS: What are your plans for Mother’s Day?
BY: We go to Long Island, where my parents have a house by the beach, and we hang around the pool and play tennis all day with my family.
TS: What were the strongest elements at the fashion show, and what was the inspiration for your new fall collection?
BY: I would say, for me, [the Fall 2014] season was about outerwear. The double-breasted coat, for me, was the key silhouette. Coats are back. Perhaps because of the arctic winter we have been forced to endure, designers showed a lot of coats on the runway.
I loved the kilt skirt for boys this season. I find that a man who can wear a skirt well has a great confidence and masculinity. In fact, soccer star Tim Cahill’s son, Kyah, rocked that skirt with confidence!
The inspiration was futuristic romance. It was about a mix of classical mohair plaids, faux fur, and metallic. The colors were mostly pale grays and lavender, with a touch of silver and black, against the starkness of white shoes.
My background is women’s. I was the creative director for Donna Karan for 16 years, so I believe that definitely influenced my aesthetics in my children’s line.
TS: It seems your love of all that is ethnic and multicultural fuels your philosophy?
BY: Because I have traveled extensively, my clothes that I design have influences from all over the world. I have an incredible collection of tribal jewelry and vintage and tribal costumes.
While I was at Donna Karan, I traveled extensively, looking for inspiration.
I met Donna in 1992, through her daughter’s ex-boyfriend. I was living in Italy at the time and was in New York for a week, visiting my grandmother, who was ill.
Donna hired me on the spot. I did not want to move back to New York, and Donna was thrilled because all the fabric mills and factories were in Italy, anyway. She opened an office for me in Milan, and I began my bi-weekly, trans-Atlantic life.
In ’97 I started to get antsy, and I was offered a position at Prada, which I ended up not taking. I had explained to Donna that I was not very inspired and needed to make a change, or travel around the world to get inspired. The latter happened and Donna sent me to India, Nepal, Tibet and China for two months.
I returned with more inspiration to do many, many collections — more than she could have ever imagined!
And so, for years I was between Milan, Florence, New York, and some exotic location, which became the inspiration for the next collection.
Some of those places included Papua, New Guinea; Mali; Japan; Benin City, Nigeria; Vietnam; Turkey; the Middle East; and the North Pole.
In those years, during my travels, I also published a book, “Colors of The Vanishing Tribes.” I took photographs of tribes around the world, documenting indigenous people who have inspired me — and hence the Donna Karan collections — over the years. It was an exciting and memorable time of my career.
TS: What are Celia and Brando into?
BY: My kids, of course, wear my clothes. Celia loves to mix my pieces in her own way. She is inspired by Audrey Hepburn, and while I am a bit of a chic hippy, she is just chic!
My daughter is very lucky to have an entire studio as her closet — an extremely large closet with new collections to choose from every six months.
Celia has a big influence on the collection, so clothes are constantly being designed for her. I wouldn’t ever say she is a fashionista … she just has great fashion style within her. She basically grew up in design rooms.
My fall 2014 collection was filled with amazing, new double-breasted coats; that came from her wishes.
Brando, on the other hand, has his own fashion point of view, strictly revolving around soccer. He has the largest collection of soccer jerseys from around the world.
I design soccer pants for him constantly because that is all he will wear on the bottom. In a way, he is a soccer fashionista!
TS: Does Celia want to follow in your footsteps?
BY: She loves fashion; however, she has an incredible voice and is an extremely talented actress. She is very clear that she wants to sing and act, and have children fairly early in life. She is amazing with little kids!
TS: How did you and your husband meet?
BY: We met at my very close friend, Amy Sacco’s, nightclub, Lot 61. My husband was a fashion photographer (and now he has moved into photography relating to social initiatives, marketing, and online strategies. He is also the founder of www.citizenbrooklyn.com — an online magazine catering to the new youth). He had photographed Jade Jagger for her jewelry line, and the party was at Lot 61. I would say it was definitely for me, love at first sight.
We were both traveling a lot at that time, so it took months for us to even have a first dinner together.
TS: Who is your favorite designer?
BY: I would say the designer I always loved the most is Jean Paul Gaultier. Karl Lagerfeld is someone I respect tremendously. This industry is such a young industry, yet Karl is quite old, and manages to put on the most influential collection and show, ever. The direction he took for Chanel is so clever and cutting-edge.
TS: What’s family time like?
BY: We rarely get to just hang out. We leave the city quite often, but when we can, we love to bike ride on the river; eat between Bar Pitti, Taka Taka, and Lupe’s, and hang out with friends.
TS: Please tell our readers about your inspiring work as founder of Fashion Fights for Children’s Rights.
BY: I have worked with a range of children’s charities, from Solving Kids Cancer, for which I am one of the hosts of the annual benefit for the past five years, my daughter is the junior ambassador, to being on the board of Innocence in Danger (protecting children against trafficking and sexual abuse), to hosting events, raising money, and producing charity T-shirts for End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, Reach Out To Asia, Nest Foundation, Free Arts, and Fair Fund, amongst others.
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Bonnie Young’s fall 2014 line of children’s wear can be found at Barneys, New York; boutique stores including Mon Petit in Brooklyn; and her store in Aspen, Colo. For more, visit bonnieyoung.com.
