Candice Held – Turning Scarves into Feminine Creations

Candice Held – Turning Scarves into Feminine Creations

Candice Held is an LA-based designer who creates one-of-a-kind pieces from recycled scarves.  She puts pieces together from hand-woven, hand-laundered scarves.  She defines the Candice woman as fun, feminine, vibrant, and liking to have a good time.  Her spring/summer collection is about the first bloom of spring when the flowers come out; and the heat of summer, which inspired her “hot air balloon” print.

This is the first time I’ve actually seen your collection on the runway.  I’ve seen pictures, but there’s nothing like seeing it in person.  This is really very ingenious what you’re doing.  Looks like scarves and bandanas?

Thank you, and yes.  What happened was I originally started the line exclusively with vintage scarves, and I just got so inspired from working with all the different prints and the silhouette that I put together with the scarves I really liked, and it really worked for a lot of different bodies.  But I found it was really difficult to keep finding scarves in good condition because everything is vintage.  It’s been through the rag houses. There are a lot of holes in the seams and things like that.  So I thought why not start doing my own prints, something really crisp and vivid and colorful that I can do on brand new silk that really pops.  And it’s been so fun for me. I’ve done a few now, andthis year is the first time I actually did two different prints for the collection in two different color waves, so four total options; and I’m really trying to flesh that out and build that into being the basis.  But it’s all inspired by…and it’s made to look like it’s still a scarf.

I like how you did that.  Your designs are also figure-flattering for women who aren’t a size 2 or 4.  How did you achieve that?

You know, I have to say it just kind of happened organically.  I was a professional dancer, so I just loved the female body; but there are also women in my family that are not a size 2 or 4, so I do also think about that.  But for some reason, just sculpting the pieces on the dress form when it got transferred onto real bodies, I found that it just happened to fit the curves where it should and cover up other areas by draping off of the hips so that it [masks the flaws], but then it shows a nice little slice of your lower back.  Most people have a beautiful lower back, a beautiful collarbone, and beautiful shoulders.  So it just seems to work out.  And then we have another style that’s a tunic wrap that many women can wear in many different ways, and it’s just the most versatile simple thing.  I think I really lucked out on this little idea that I had.

I wasn’t sure of the fabric, but it looked like it was cotton.

I also have cotton sundresses in the line, which are great.  Actually, the one that’s longer and that has a print on it was inspired after dishtowels.  So just like I work with scarves, the first one of those dresses was made when I was going on a trip to Mexico, and I just wanted something that would absorb and be breathable in the heat and be really cool and comfortable.   And I made the first one out of dishtowels.  We produced the line using that actual dishtowel line, and we found that production-wise it wasn’t so easy because there were already seams on the edge so we found dishtowel fabric.  And I thought here’s another opportunity for me to do my own prints and dyeing, and play with the colors, and all that kind of thing.  So it really evolved, but it was built off of dishtowels.  Great for LA in the summer, huh?

How long have you been designing?

I’ve kind of always been a clothes maker, and I used to design for my choreography when I was in college when I was a dancer.  But this time, about three and a half years .

Do you have any formal training as a designer, or is this something that you just innately have?

I took one costume class in college, but my grandmother and my great-grandmother are from Paris.  My grandmother learned to hand-sew at the house of Dior, and my family [attended] fashion shows in Paris.  So they both sewed my whole life and made outfits for me and my sister.  They taught me a lot of the basics.  And [through] trial and error, and taking night classes after I finished college, as well as learning pattern-making, draping, illustration, and business (just kind of a crash course), [those] evening classes filled in a lot of the gaps and gave me some technical training.  So I didn’t go to FIDM or anything, but I have been studying.

You obviously lived with it as a family, too.

Exactly, and I always have made my own stuff, like I’ve always been the pretty-in-pink go-to-the-thrift store and take stuff apart. . .make it fit my body.  I know some tailoring from doing that, just working on my own body.

Candice Held has been featured in several magazines, including Apparel News , Weddings & Honeymoons , and Hollywood Hills Magazine.  Candice Held designs have been featured on the Tyra Banks show, and Paris Hilton is a fan of her designs.  To learn more about Candice Held, visit her website www.candiceheld.com.

By Kaylene Peoples