| |
Fashion Diva:
Honey Matthews...
YOU WANTED TO KNOW
I like fashion and I try to look my best at all times, but when I hit the malls or visit trendy shops, I don’t always find clothes that I want to wear. I like to sport fashions that are urban and chic, sexy not hoochie, but for some reason I can never find outfits that capture that.
Until one day I logged into my myspace page and through a bunch of different searches, I landed on the Honey Matthews page. A friend told me about this up-and-coming fashion designer ages ago, but I always had the hardest time tracking her down. I clicked onto her visually stunning website and checked out her fashions. Damn, she designs clothes that I’d like to rock! I proceeded to send her an e-mail so that she could add me as a friend, which she did, and I followed it up by sending her another e-mail telling her that I was very interested in meeting with her to discuss her clothing line. She quickly agreed and I was happy to know that I was finally one step closer to meeting the infamous Honey Matthews.
Actually, I met Carolyn Thompson, the genius behind the label Honey Matthews. We met at her showroom and we proceeded to talk about her dream of becoming a world-famous designer. Even though she is a focused, determined young woman, she has a sense of humility and a shy quality that is quite refreshing.
I perused her sketchbooks and was lucky enough to check out some of her designs (yo Carolyn, that cute li’l lavender dress that you showed me has my name written all over it!). Her sketches had all of the qualities that I was looking for in clothing. They are cute, funky, and downright sexy!
Are you like me and looking for some hot new clothes for the summer? Let me introduce you to one of my fave new labels, Honey Matthews.
What is Honey Matthews?
It is a person and it is a clothing line. It is a person because it comes from me. Honey Matthews is me, ultimately. The clothing line is a part of me, but it’s something that I can share with everyone. It’s my passion, it’s my dream and it’s my calling.How did you come up with the name?
Actually, I came up with the name when I was like 17 or 18 years old, but I never put it into play. I was in high school, still trying to find myself. I thought of the name but didn’t think of the clothing line until I moved out from home and I was on my own. I was going through the phase of not really knowing who my friends were…I felt a little lost…I wasn’t really sure of who I was. That’s when I started thinking about this person that I wanted to become. Honey Matthews came back into my mind.Years before that I would draw, but I put down the pad and pen while I was on my own. I picked it back up shortly after and I started drawing amazing stuff! That’s when I put Honey Matthews onto the clothing line. I said I’m going to do a clothing line and I am going to call it Honey Matthews.
You put a name to the person that you wanted to become?
Yes, it was kinda like an alter ego.Who is Honey Matthews?
She’s focused, she’s on point, responsible, overcomes adversity, stylish, successful, independent, she’s unique…she’s somebody that you don’t forget about. This is the person that I totally want to be. I’m still trying to be Honey Matthews. I haven’t reached that person yet.How would you describe your line?
I like to call my clothing "Urban-Chic," to me my line is an example of my personal style. It’s a mixture of the urban culture, fashion forward trends, and hip hop glam.I'm inspired by chic and classy designs by Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Chloé by Stella McCartney. My statuesque Italy-inspired gowns are mixed in with funky and playful pieces that suit all sorts of occasions and locations; from a red carpet event, to a beach party in Miami, to club hopping in Toronto or Manhattan.
When did you know that you wanted to design clothes?
When I was younger around 14 or 15 years old, and I started going to Caribana. I went the first couple of times and I didn’t dress up…..I didn’t realize what it was really about. And then as I got older I saw that it was like a fashion show. So I said, “Okay, I’m going to start making my own clothes!” That’s when I started designing my own outfits to go. Girls would come up to me and say, “Girl, that’s hot!” and I would be like “really?!” People were noticing my clothes and that’s when I realized that I wanted to design.I also drew when I was in high school. I remember when semi-formal was coming up and the older girls were going and I would draw a picture of everyone that was going. I put them in these cute outfits and they were like, “Yeah, I wanna buy that!” None of them had money to buy it, but it was something that I showed people and they saw that I had talent.
How long have you been designing clothes?
I started Honey Matthews in 2004 when I was 20 years old. When I started the line I had met this group of girls. We kinda all came back together. I knew two of them from high school and I met two of them through one of the girls I started hanging out with. One day out of the blue I started designing and the outfits looked really nice. They totally encouraged me to pursue designing. They are pretty much the reason why I started designing.How do you promote your clothes?
I promote on my website and I do a lot of fashion shows. The last one was FusionIII. It is an annual fashion show. This year I was lucky enough to be apart of it and it was really good. I had a good feeling going into it a few days before the show, and it turned out really nice.I would also love to promote through catalogues. That’s something that I’m trying to work on. I would like to show my previous line and my new line in it.
How can we get your fashions?
I just retained a showroom space where I will be showcasing my line. It is open to buyers of retail stores. I still cater to individuals – they can e-mail me and get at me that way. I still do custom orders mainly because I’m trying to get myself organized and prepared to deal with a wholesale volume. I’m trying to focus on my line going into stores. Putting it on people.Are you a one woman show?
Pretty much it’s me. I have a team of models that model for me and promote the line for me. They are Honey Matthews exclusive models. They don’t model for anyone else. They are pretty much dedicated to Honey Matthews. They are my team.Do you cater to all sizes?
I do, actually on my website you’ll notice that I have a girl that isn’t the regular tiny, stick figure model, she’s voluptuous and curvaceous. And then I have girls that are tall, and then I have some that are average height. I try to show that I cater to people of different sizes. I show that by the fact that I do individual, custom orders. I make the outfit to YOUR body.Where would you like to take your fashions?
I definitely want to take it international. I want to show my line to everyone…in the States…Europe. I want to be in every store I can get into. I also want to become a role model for girls that feel lost. I was lost once and I made a lot of mistakes, but I made them when I was young. Right now I’m trying to get somewhere – I have dreams and goals that I’m working towards. I feel that if I made all of those mistakes and I see others making the same mistakes, I can help them out and motivate them to do something else. I’m trying to form a workshop for girls that want to model, but I want to encourage them to do other things.What designers do you like?
I love Donatella Versace! She’s chic. She designed these long dresses – very Vogue looking, very Italian. It gives you the feeling of Italy. I like Kimora Lee from Baby Phat. She has that urban flair in her clothes. Some of my clothes reflect that too. As far as male designers go, I love Sean John. It’s masculine, urban and chic. I also love Betsey Johnson.Do you have other interests outside of fashion?
I love Interior Design. Anything to do with designing and creating an image.What is your favourite trend right now?
As weird as it might seem, I like that whole skull print thing going on. It’s kinda weird, dangerous and punky. I also like that tight skinny jean look. Yeah, that’s hot! ¤ Michelle