Ithaca native Titania Inglis knew it was time to switch from industrial design to fashion when her final project "was a suit of armor instead of a piece of furniture like everyone else's."
She hasn't looked back since, Inglis, who apprenticed under cult favorites like Camilla Staerk and Threeasfour before striking out on her own, is also conscious about incorporating sustainable materials and methods in her edgy, razor-sharp designs.
Indeed, an entire collection often springs from finding a perfect print or material. "I search far and wide to find high-quality organic and sustainably produced fabrics, and when I come across a fabric I truly love, I’ll buy it in quantity and use it as the basis for a future collection," she explains. "Everything else flows from that one key fabric -- the color palette, the silhouette, the details. I believe in using materials the way they want to be used, but at the same time pushing the boundaries of what that might be."
Consequently, Inglis' collections achieve a cohesiveness and structure that belies her "newcomer" status.
"My goal as a designer is to create clothes that are visually striking, but at the same time easy to wear," she says. "As far as I’m concerned, suffering for fashion is overrated." We couldn't agree more.
