NYFW: Venexiana Spring 2012

By: Tiffany Olson

I love to see bold, fun, looks on the runway - Kati Stern is known to deliver just this, and she certainly did with this collection! The energy at this show was probably the best of any show I saw this season. It made me wish I had a black tie event coming up!!

I had the pleasure of interviewing the Venexiana designer, Kati Stern, backstage before the show. Here’s what she had to say!!

CupcakeMAG: What was your inspiration for this collection?

Kati Stern: Always, always my fabrics. I go and I look for… beautiful. What I find is beautiful. And then I start designing. It’s the fabric, it’s the texture, it’s the color.

CupcakeMAG: What era influences you the most?

Kati Stern: That’s a tough question, because I have a great interest in the 17^th and 18^th century. And a lot of my inspiration comes from there. But at the same time, the 20s and the 30s are definitely an inspiration as well. But what I do is take it and turn it into contemporary – I don’t try to do a costume look. But it’s difficult to take something that I feel so strongly about and then dissect it basically.

CupcakeMAG: If I had to tell cupcakeMAG readers to buy one piece from this collection, what would it be? The one piece they NEED that will just go anywhere!

Kati Stern: Ah! Oh my god. I’ll tell you something, you will see many pieces that will go anywhere. I’m trying to find the one….. (scans the racks of dresses)… I just want you to see this one. (Finds gorgeous dress pictured below.) This is a dress which is satin, and it’s handmade. All the embroidered pieces are hand attached – every pieces of this is handmade inside and out, even the zipper. So, this is a cocktail dress, that you can take anywhere... I’m not saying you can have breakfast in it. You can go in the afternoon, and follow it up in the evening… so that’s one … but you’ll see many variations on the runway.

CupcakeMAG: You seem so calm!

Kati Stern: I am completely! Because anything that can go crazy did already – at this point… a broken zipper? We’ll deal with it!

Don’t you love her? She was so sweet and sincere and her designs are just out of this world. If you're looking to make a statement, these are the dresses for you!

Also, the makeup for this show was by Becca, and was absolutely gorgeous!! Here is a close up of one of the models' makeup. Those eyes!! I die! So pretty! I chatted with some of the Becca girls backstage while they were glamming up the models, and their work is absolutely amazing!

Overall, I loved the Venexiana show and can't wait to see these looks on a red carpet!!