La Roux Wears Natty Paint & The Process of Making a Custom Suit

Posted: April 29th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: EPIC!, Natty Fame | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

We were very excited to see Mickey O’Brien, the keyboardist of Grammy winning group La Roux, wear a Natty Paint custom suit at Coachella. We love dressing musicians and nothing is more satisfying than seeing your work worn on stage.

This collaboration was a long-term project that started this past winter, inspired by a photo I saw in Elle magazine.

Note that the inspiration was actually a JUMPSUIT! (Seems like we have a penchant for jumpsuits).

The process of creating a custom suit is quite the process, from sketching design, making muslin samples, fitting adjustments, and finally making the actual garment from fancy fabric. I ended up making a suit set of 1 jacket and 2 pant options (harem and wide leg trouser).

Here’s the sketch for the jacket. This was a take on the tuxedo look, with shiny details on the sleeves and shoulders as well as the lapel.

Here’s the sketch for the harem pants. I was really excited about the exposed zippers…

Next I started drafting the pattern for the jacket in paper.  The most important part for me was getting the body of the jacket to fit correctly, sleeves would come later.

Here is the first version of the jacket I did in muslin. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s going on with a pattern until you make a version of it out of fabric to check it. Here you can see the lapel is dipping in on the sides, something I was able to see and fix after making this sample.

And here’s a shot of the back…

Sometimes pattern pieces can look so weird! It’s like putting together a puzzle. This is the first draft of the lapel.

And finally once the patterns and fit were figured out, I got to cut out everything.  Look at all those suit pieces!

I had custom leather tags embroidered with gold metallic thread for Mickey.  A custom suit deserves a special garment label! BQ Sports in Greenpoint did such a great job. I 100% recommend them for any custom embroidery projects.

Here’s a photo of the finished jacket in my studio… The fabric is 100% silk, selected from Mood with the help of Kooan Kosuke, my favorite designer from Project Runway Season 10.

My favorite angle of the jacket is from the side. You can see how the bottom slopes up in the back.

Here’s a detail of the leg of the harem pants…

And here are some photos of Mickey in action at Coachella in the finished suit.

We’ll be seeing La Roux perform at the EDC festival in a few weeks, we’re sure there will be more photos to follow!

Natty Paint’s first Fashion’s Night Out in NYC

Posted: September 15th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Brooklyn Mayhem, EPIC!, Manhattan Mayhem, No WAY!, Steppin' Out | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Sorry to have disappeared under the radar for a bit, but we were occupied with packing, moving, unpacking, arranging, and rearranging! We are happy to report we are now based out of Brooklyn, NY!  And what great timing to move to NY, in the middle of Fashion Week. We took to the street last Friday for Fashion’s Night Out, and as if the stars were aligned, we ran into Tim Gunn of Project Runway exiting Kate Spade. Check out the pic!

We were hoping to reach him in time to gift him a Natty Paint neck tie, but alas, he turned the corner too quickly. Next time! Tim, if you’re reading this Natty Paint has a tie just for you!

Our next adventure involved stopping into ILORI on Spring St to check out the silkscreening demo they had in the window. Turns out the team were fellow Brooklyners!  Kayrock, of Kayrock Screenprinting, was silkscreening totes in the store window to give away with a sunglasses purchase. What a great idea to bring in people.

And then we headed back to Brooklyn for the tail end of a party hosted by Alter, a clothing boutique located in Greenpoint. They have a great logo, check it out:

Things are looking promising for NP in NYC!