ADVERTISEMENT

    Kelli Martin Showing New Designs on Friday

    Columbus native and “Project Runway” alum Kelli Martin on Friday will host a preview of 20 new winter looks for her clothing line Anti.Label.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    The event, called the Anti.Label Rock and Roll Fashion Show, kicks off at 8 p.m. at What the Rock?!, located at 1194 N. High St. Martin launched Anti.Label in 1999 while she was a 19-year-old student at Los Angeles’s Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.

    “With my first designs, I was paying homage to what I was into at the time: late 70s punk,” Martin says. “Everything was mega tattered, patched, studded, zipped, and strapped! Although my clothing was deconstructed, I always tried to maintain a solid foundation for the garment, primarily to separate me from the average DIY-er. Today, I have mashed together my love of high fashion and street style to create a more wearable, yet not watered down, version of the originals.”

    In the following interview, Martin discusses the make-believe love child who inspired some of her latest pieces, where you can buy them, and the “awesome, nice people” who got her to stage a show in the Short North.


    Melanie McIntyre: What inspired the new looks featured in your Rock and Roll Fashion Show?

    Kelli Martin: The show is in two parts because I can never decide between pretty and ugly. I have to do both, always.

    For the first mini collection, I pulled a lot of my colorways from the movie “Mad Max.” Everything is dirty tans, gray, black, slate blue, and cream. I was inspired by Anti.Label, circa 1999, to create a few “higher end” tattered pieces.

    The second collection was initially inspired by the idea of Jerry Lee Lewis and Brian Setzer having a baby! I just really wanted to make a royal blue sequin tuxedo jacket. From that spawned a black, cream, royal blue, and silver collection consisting of silk, wool, tweed, and brocades. It is a little more on the fancy side, but still dark and wearable.

    MM: What can show attendees expect to see on the runway?

    KM: My primary focus was supposed to be on dresses and coats. However, I have a little bit of everything.


    MM: How long did you work on the collection, from conception to production?

    KM: I have been toying around with ideas for a new collection for some time now because I took off a couple years to “refresh” after Project Runway. The “grungy” collection was initiated about two months ago, although pieces are still being finished up. The second collection I had in my mind, but literally just started sewing two weeks ago!

    MM: When and where will these pieces be available for purchase?

    KM: I typically sell all of my samples on Etsy. I am slowly building more couture pieces for [Anti-Label.com], as well as some garments that I have multiples of, such as screened Ts. I plan to have everything posted before the end of November at Etsy.com/shop/AntiLabel.

    MM: Why host your show at What the Rock?!

    KM: Mike [Renner] and Heather [Ziegler] asked me if I would be interested and I said yes! I met them when I had Black Market and they were always such awesome, nice people! I also tend to want all or nothing, so I figured this would be a laid-back, more personal setting to show some of my new collection− kind of like a glorified trunk show.

    Like Anti.Label on Facebook.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Subscribe

    More to Explore:

    First Look: Alex Vinash NY Opens in Short North

    After three plus years of sitting empty, the storefront...

    Eco-Chic at the Nexus of Style and Wage Justice

    HER Denim, a minority- and female-owned social enterprise led...

    The Top 10 Fashion/Apparel Stores of 2023

    If you're looking for fashion, there's a lot of...

    Columbus Fashion Alliance Plans to Open Innovation Hub Downtown

    Yohannan "Yogi" Terrell wants nothing more than for Columbus to live up to its potential as a fashion hub.
    Melanie McIntyre
    Melanie McIntyrehttps://www.themetropreneur.com/columbus/
    Melanie McIntyre is a featured freelance writer for Columbus Underground who also writes about fashion, style and pop culture on her blog, Thoroughly Modern Melly. Melanie is an Ohio State University graduate, lives in the Short North, and enjoys reading and running.
    ADVERTISEMENT