Nick Verreos dishes on Style Week Orange County and 2013 fall trends

Nick Verreos dishes on Style Week Orange County and 2013 fall trends

On-air fashion correspondent and designer Nick Verreos returns this Saturday 9/28 to Irvine Spectrum Center to officially kick off Style Week Orange County. The Project Runway alum will play host and judge for the Cadillac: Couture Design Competition. We had a chance to catch up with the charming style expert to get his thoughts on fall trends and the scoop on his fabulous new dress line …

Q: What are you looking forward to at Style Week Orange County this year?

A: I am so happy to be back to host STYLEWEEKOC again this year. It is always such a great event and such an AMAZING visual to have the Giant Wheel as a backdrop to the runway show! I have attended and/or taken part in many fashion weeks that are held outdoors and I always say that Style Week OC is one of the BEST! I’m excited to show everyone some of the hottest fall trends available at Nordstrom, Macy’s and Max Studio, to name a few. But the highlight for me is always the Cadillac: Couture Design Competition. I love to see what the FIDM Students do with the Cadillac car parts and how they are able to creatively transform them into beautiful garments. It is such a genius concept and so fun! My favorite part is seeing the faces in the audience when I tell them that those fabulous “bejeweled shoulders” are actually headlights from a car!

Q: Is it fun playing the role of judge now for the Cadillac: Couture Design Competition as you watch other fashion design hopefuls tasked with creating looks using car parts? Does it give you Project Runway flashbacks?

A: Luckily my time on Project Runway is far enough in the past that I don’t get flashbacks anymore! I have also been fortunate enough to be part of the judging panel selecting each seasons’ designers for Project Runway for the last 10 seasons, so I feel like a “judging pro” now. And I’ll have to say that any of these contestants competing in the Cadillac Couture Design Competition could easily be a top contender on Project Runway.

Q: What trends are you looking forward to most for fall? 

A: There are so many great trends for fall this season and since I’ve been hard at work designing for my NV Nick Verreos Dress Line, I am up on all of them! My favorites are military influences in jackets, studded embellishments on EVERYTHING and leather or faux leather accents on everything from dresses to jacket sleeves. The “Moto Jacket” (modern take on the motorcycle jacket) is one I also love. The 90s decade is back and very on-trend for fall, but the sad thing is that I lived through all of that decade while the young girls who will be wearing the 90s styles were just born in that decade!

Q: What advice would you give to fashion design students today?

A: Stay true to yourself. Define and streamline your aesthetic and really cultivate and know exactly who your customer is and the designer that you want to be. That’s always a question I ask fashion students when looking at their collection and designs: Who is this for? Who is your woman or man? Nine times out of ten, they can’t answer that. Know who you are designing for; designs aren’t truly clothes/fashion until somebody is wearing them! My final advice is to take some business classes; it is so important to know how to run a company, sell the clothes and to know the “business” of fashion.

Thanks, Nick! Don’t miss out on the live runway competition on Saturday at Irvine Spectrum Center. Seating is open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. See you there!

(Visited 153 time, 1 visit today)

Filter by