At Housing Works, Designers Thom Browne and Rachel Roy Insist They're Already Planning Fall 2012

The holidays season that is upon us offers very little respite for designers who, despite showing their Spring 2012 collections just two months ago, are already hard at work on collections that won’t hit stores until late next year. We caught up with Thom Browne and Rachel Roy at Housing Works’ annual Fashion For Action event, which benefits low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS, and both designers shed some light on just how far ahead they work on their collections.

Roy told us, “For my designer line I am just getting started on the resort process. It’s the fun part -- thinking about what it should be and how should it feel. I am also getting in pre-fall samples, so we are finalizing those. And then I am right in the middle of working on Fall 2012."

The resort collection that Roy has just started working on won’t hit stores until November 2012.

As for the hectic fashion calendar, Roy said, “It’s a lot quicker than I would like for it to be. But I think that if we didn’t have the calendar, we -- and by we I mean we as designers -- would never finish a collection. It’s the kind of thing where you can always see little things that you would like to change. It just comes with the territory. If I didn’t want to have a brand that I sold to stores that would be one thing, and then I really could curate it like art. But having that calendar allows for my business."

Browne told us, “I am in the middle of four collections for Fall 2012.” Those four collections include lines for Brooks Brothers, Moncler and his eponymous men’s and women’s lines. He added, “The fashion calendar is what it is. Being able to do what I do is a luxury. And I love doing it. But it’s definitely not always so easy. I just love putting collections together and doing my shows. It’s the business of fashion that’s the challenge.”

Browne, this year’s Honorary Chair for Fashion For Action, first got involved, he said, “initially through my association with Brooks Brothers. Also just because I respect so much what they [Housing Works] do so its so nice to give back." 

Roy, one of evening's Co-Chairs, echoed Browne's sentiment. “I will do whatever is asked of me. Literally, how can you not? I can’t even stress that enough. We are so blessed," she said. "I’m blessed that I can work in a field that I love working in. That I can wear whatever I want. That I have a place to call home. For me, this makes me appreciate what I have.”

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