It was a “White Haute” evening at the Couture Customs Showroom in Scottsdale Saturday night. A majority of the guests were dressed in white reiterating the hip holiday theme as DJ Demarkus Lewis spun beats to set the tone for the evening. Classic Ferrari’s and Maserati’s were on display while the attendees sipped on Belvedere and mingled with close friends, colleagues, and the elite of Scottsdale.
The entertainment officially began when Hip Hop violinist, Josh Vietti took over the stage (and our attention) with his classical spin-offs of today’s most popular hip-hop songs. Everything from “Empire State of Mind” to “Flashing Lights,” Vietti covered it all in a cutting-edge way.
Next up, Anna Vivette made us swoon with her entrancing operatic voice. Her talent brought this event to a completely new level by turning opera soprano into something rich sounding and surprisingly, modern. (Think Mariah Carey, but more classic than pop)
At last, previous Project Runway season 8 and Project Runway All Stars designer, Michael Costello, put on the monumental performance of the night. Appropriately naming his collection “Winter Wonderland,” Costello released a preview of what we should expect to see during New York Fashion Week in Spring 2014.
The audience was “oh-ing” and “ah’ing” at the elegant pure white gowns that resembled the sunlit sparkle of snow. The pop of red in the collection had everyone at the edge of their seats snapping photos at the jaw-dropping transition. This was nothing short of fabulous and magical combined.
Couture in the Suburbs got the opportunity to speak with the extremely personable designer about his collection from this evening and his aspirations for 2014.
Couture in the Suburbs with Michael Costello
Hi Michael, we saw your collection at Couture Customs last year (check out the story here) and we wanted to do a follow-up interview with you and find out where you will taking your collection next year.
Well, I am showing in New York in February at the Fashion Gallery Art Shows on February 8th at 8pm. It’s the closing show, which is going to be really fun. This is a mini preview, just for Scottsdale, of what I am doing. The collection is “Winter Wonderland.” I never really follow trends or try to make them. I just make dresses for my clients, things that my followers love, and things that I love.
Is there any particular inspiration behind this Winter Wonderland Collection that you displayed this evening? It’s a little different than what you usually do.
Kind of, I did a little departure from what I normally do, like the Grecian draping. Although, there are still elements of it there, I wanted to play with some classic silhouettes and you saw a lot of the higher necklines from me. Of course, you can’t wear a plunging gown in winter wonderland in February but you can play with the fantasy. Then there’s the red dress which is one of my favorites. It’s like a little 70’s disco Jack Frost number, it’s cute.
What made you decide red over any other color?
I don’t know, it just feels like when I think” Winter Wonderland”, I think Christmas. I think white for snow and red for Christmas so I thought the two would be so beautiful together. Another color that we are introducing into this particular collection is silver metallic, which is something that I never really do because I am such a gold lover. You always see gold metallic, it pops up here and there in different collections but I have never done silver metallics. I can’t wait for you to see the gowns that are currently being worked on.
And we are very excited about it. So what are your goals for this year? Is there anything you are really trying to go for other than the New York show in February?
For this year, I am really happy with everything I have accomplished. I think I have such strong faith in God and this year has definitely been the year in which so many doors were opened for me, so I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next year. I think we are looking into expansion. Maybe a larger showroom in New York, we have something existing already but we want one with a second floor.
So, I was reading in an article that one of the reasons why you made it so big is because you used Instagram to get a lot of your celebrity clients. Talk a little bit about that, that’s so cool!
It’s kind of insane what social media can do for your business. I mean, when I started Instagram we started out with 1,100 followers and then we started working with a few reality celebrities. One client in particular, Lilly Ghalichi, as soon as I started working with her so many other people started to follow. Jennifer Hudson called us and asked us for a dress, the singer Monica, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, we got some huge people. Even people like Selma Hayek and today, Lea Michelle just got some stuff for her music video. I know Christina Aguilera and definitely, Ashanti, but Ashanti, has been a client of mine for a little over ten years.
That’s just the power of Instagram, we post a picture and you never know who is going to like it. We get calls from different people all over the world. They want to shoot this, they want to wear that, and we get just as shocked as the followers do when they wear it. So its always such a thrill to post something that a celebrity is wearing.
Follow Michael Costello on Instagram! @MichaelCostello31
Since the year 2013 is wrapping up, what would you say was your “Wow” moment of 2013?
I think the popularity of the Instagram, really. That has to be the number one moment and just it crossing over from social media, to print, magazines, newspapers and making the cover of Women’s Wear Daily and Apparel News. Those were really big goals and I finally made a mark in the LA area, New York, and all over the world.
That’s awesome! Well, congratulations on an amazing show tonight! It looks like you had a great team with the hair and makeup… everything was perfect. It was put together very nicely.
Did you see how beautiful the hair and makeup turned out?
Yes! Was that your idea? Do you tell them what you want?
Yeah, that’s the only place I had inspiration for was the hair and makeup. I told Megan De Haan who did the hair, that I want crimped Jack Frost wispy bob-esque hair and she was like, “got it.”
Well, I saw your Instagram video of her and I followed her. Her work is amazing.
It’s really good. The makeup lady too, Pooja Mehta, she is incredible. Everything was good, such a successful show. I can’t wait to go on social media tomorrow and see everyone’s hashtags from the show like all the pictures because I have been back here for twelve hours.
Well congratulations, we are sure that 2014 is going to be even better. We hope you come back to Arizona soon because we love having you.
I will! We love coming here. We love doing shows here.
What made this event so spectacular was the fact that it was benefitting St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance, perfect timing to go along with the charitable holiday season. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to come out and support while giving kudos to one of our all-time favorite designers, Michael Costello.
A huge thank you to the woman behind the magic, Niki Woehler of Flavor Marketing, for including us on the guest list for this insanely fabulous event! XoXo
Story by: Skyler Scott
Photos by: Skyler Scott and Lindsay Viker
