Student Debuts New Line At Fashion Week

Trading in the beaten paths of Harvard Yard for a glamorous New York City catwalk, Lewis Albert Remele ’06 skipped the beginning of the semester last week to debut his new women’s collection at Fashion Week on Sunday.

The event, which was attended by fashion industry moguls including Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Linda Wells of Allure, showcased the fall 2006 line of the Lewis Albert Corporation.

While Remele’s collections have graced runways before, this was the first time he presented his own designs at Fashion Week, an annual event at which designers display their fall collections. Remele said that the show went off without a glitch.

“It’s such an amazing and drilling experience,” Remele said. “To have all the people in the industry you respect and look up to attend your show and see your clothing is really the most exhilarating part.”

As Remele explained the tweaking of details and perfection of designs that went into the last minutes of planning the event, he compared the preparation to a theater production.

“Backstage is all chaos and everyone is running around, pinning and steaming,” Remele said. “And then, the models turn the corner to walk and it’s lights flashing and beautiful models.”

Those who have been working for the Lewis Albert Corporation agreed that the event was a success.

“I saw the collection come to life, through fittings and the sketches, but it still stunned me to see it on the runway,” said the Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth R. Whitman ’06.

Vice-president of Marketing and Public Relations Adam P. Schneider ’07, who is also a Crimson editor, said that the show really displayed Remele’s abilities as a designer.

“It was very gratifying and confirmed that Lewis has so much talent and a vision for design and the creative process of fashion,” Schneider said.

Remele said that the designs, which use English and Italian wools and jewel-toned silks, were inspired by the Mitford sisters, a famous British family.

Through the show, Remele hopes to increase the exposure of his designs and gain more public recognition.

“For a first collection during Fashion Week, we really couldn’t ask for more,” Schneider said. “We’ve gotten a very good response from both press and buyers thus far and it will be exciting to see how that evolves in the next couple months.”

Back on campus, Remele will continue to seek publicity and customers for his designs, which are currently sold through trunk shows and at an upscale boutique in Minneapolis. This coming fall, he hopes to extend to more stores in various cities.

“We’ve got the ball rolling and as long as we keep our feet on the ground I think we can make small steps forward to become a successful business,” Whitman said.

While Remele had to miss the first part of shopping period to prepare for his show, he said that overall he has been able to balance his fashion career with his academic work.

“It’s been a challenge, but it’s just something I have to deal with,” Remele said. “As a senior, knowing the ropes of Harvard and how to get through classes and balance that makes it easier.”

Having experienced the spotlight of Fashion Week, Remele remains modest about his work in fashion.

“So many kids at Harvard are doing many extracurriculars and balancing a thousand things and it’s not that much different except, with my extracurricular, I have to go to New York,” Remele said.

Before Remele returned to Harvard, he was able to catch renowned designer Carolina Herrera’s collection, which he said gave him “that much more inspiration for how much further we have to go.”

-Staff writer Claire M. Guehenno can be reached at guehenno@fas.harvard.edu.