Reba couture
Country star's fashion line blends comfort, style for career woman
By Lesley Kennedy
Move over Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani. You, too, P. Diddy. Because the latest singer/actor to enter the fashion game is a country-and-western star who cares as much about comfort as she does style, and that's something working women - not just teens - can get behind.
Reba McEntire's self-named line premiered at Dillard's stores this spring, and, coinciding with a Pepsi Center concert here, she will introduce the line to the public at the FlatIron Crossing store on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Popular music critic Mark Brown caught McEntire on the phone last week and asked her a few questions about the new Reba clothing line, which ranges in price from $48 to $289, and includes career- and sportswear.
McEntire says it's a collection she's happy to wear. "If I wouldn't wear these clothes, why would I want my name on them?" she said.
What made you decide to start a fashion line?
Reba: "I didn't. They came to me about it. A company named Dream Design went to Dillard's and said 'Would you like a clothing line in your store by Reba McEntire?' They said 'Yes we would.' So they came to me and I said 'Nope. Not interested.' They said 'Can we have a meeting?' I said 'All right, it wouldn't hurt to do that.'
"This was 2 1/2 years ago. We sat down and had a two-hour meeting. When they got through showing me all their fabrics and designs and samples of clothes they'd made up, I said 'Guys, honestly, I wouldn't wear a thing you showed me today, so thank you very much but I'm going to pass.'
"They said, 'Wait a minute, what can we do to make this thing work?' I said, 'I'll go home and tear out magazine pages and catalog pages and show you what I like and what I don't like and we can go from there.' I sent them a huge stack of pages and three months later we had another meeting. The clothes were better fabrics. They were not so busy prints. I absolutely loved what they were doing."
Who is the line geared toward?
Reba: "Career women. Working women. Women who want to wear clothes that are comfortable but stylish, that have great designs and fabrics that feel good to them. My philosophy is if you're comfortable about how you wear your clothes, you're not going to be worrying about them. You can do your job better. You have more confidence."
Will these show up on your TV show?
Reba: "Definitely. We did get two episodes where I'm wearing Reba clothes."
Have you always been interested in fashion?
Reba: "I've always had interest in fashion, but I grew up ignorant. I grew up wearing hand-me-downs and I had no idea what was right or wrong to wear.
"But being in the business for going on 30 years, I was working with stylists on television and movies and awards shows. I would watch and listen and learn and see what they did. You go spend time in theater; theater people have the coolest way of making something work. I learned from that, too."
CLICK HERE to discuss in our forum.
By Lesley Kennedy
Move over Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani. You, too, P. Diddy. Because the latest singer/actor to enter the fashion game is a country-and-western star who cares as much about comfort as she does style, and that's something working women - not just teens - can get behind.
Reba McEntire's self-named line premiered at Dillard's stores this spring, and, coinciding with a Pepsi Center concert here, she will introduce the line to the public at the FlatIron Crossing store on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Popular music critic Mark Brown caught McEntire on the phone last week and asked her a few questions about the new Reba clothing line, which ranges in price from $48 to $289, and includes career- and sportswear.
McEntire says it's a collection she's happy to wear. "If I wouldn't wear these clothes, why would I want my name on them?" she said.
What made you decide to start a fashion line?
Reba: "I didn't. They came to me about it. A company named Dream Design went to Dillard's and said 'Would you like a clothing line in your store by Reba McEntire?' They said 'Yes we would.' So they came to me and I said 'Nope. Not interested.' They said 'Can we have a meeting?' I said 'All right, it wouldn't hurt to do that.'
"This was 2 1/2 years ago. We sat down and had a two-hour meeting. When they got through showing me all their fabrics and designs and samples of clothes they'd made up, I said 'Guys, honestly, I wouldn't wear a thing you showed me today, so thank you very much but I'm going to pass.'
"They said, 'Wait a minute, what can we do to make this thing work?' I said, 'I'll go home and tear out magazine pages and catalog pages and show you what I like and what I don't like and we can go from there.' I sent them a huge stack of pages and three months later we had another meeting. The clothes were better fabrics. They were not so busy prints. I absolutely loved what they were doing."
Who is the line geared toward?
Reba: "Career women. Working women. Women who want to wear clothes that are comfortable but stylish, that have great designs and fabrics that feel good to them. My philosophy is if you're comfortable about how you wear your clothes, you're not going to be worrying about them. You can do your job better. You have more confidence."
Will these show up on your TV show?
Reba: "Definitely. We did get two episodes where I'm wearing Reba clothes."
Have you always been interested in fashion?
Reba: "I've always had interest in fashion, but I grew up ignorant. I grew up wearing hand-me-downs and I had no idea what was right or wrong to wear.
"But being in the business for going on 30 years, I was working with stylists on television and movies and awards shows. I would watch and listen and learn and see what they did. You go spend time in theater; theater people have the coolest way of making something work. I learned from that, too."
CLICK HERE to discuss in our forum.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home