L’Amours founder Karyn Grupski-Estevez did it all. “My first job was at Morgane Le Fay, and I was in charge of the custom order department when I was about 15,” she said in a recent enthused interview. Zhong recalls New York mornings at the Tribeca space she shares with a salon. “Founder Liliana has her own factory and showroom in the back, which is rare. So it’s a great first job.” Grupski-Estevez also worked at Gap years”, when it was at its coolest), APC and Ralph Lauren Double RL worked. “I’ve worked in both big and small companies, and being able to make stuff in New York is really important to me.”
Blue cotton dress from L’Amours spring collection.
Vintage jacket and denim skirt from the L’Amours spring collection.
Launched just over two years ago, L’Amours brings together all of Grupski-Estevez’s experience into a small seasonal collection produced in New York. For spring, it’s all about figure-fitting cotton floral shift dresses, vintage-inspired tees and pencil skirts in dark raw-edged denim and railroad stripes made from leftover fabric she sources in Los Angeles. “I do like ’90’ French fashion,” she explains, but you can throw any image of ingénue out the window in no time; on a nearby mood board Above, the image of Audrey lights up the role in Twin Peaks, with Sherilyn Fenn playing Cigarette Occupied Prime location next to the instantly iconic face of Siouxsie Sioux. In fact, the name L’Amours comes from an old Brooklyn hardcore and heavy metal venue of the same name. “It actually predates me, but I went when 15 and it’s something that resonates forever in my head,” says the recalled a designer. The collection also includes vintage pieces that the designer has painstakingly patched and restored, from practical yet stylish quilted military jackets to cool vintage T-shirts from cult Japanese label Hysteric Glamor. She likes to “replenish vintage” when items can’t be improved upon. “I can’t make this jacket any better than it is,” she says, holding a cropped number in army green satin, “so I source them, and I fix them or clean them or whatever. It’s that kind of Thoughts.”
Selected fabrics from L’Amours Spring Collection.
The label is for online shopping, but the designer makes a pop-up In this city all year round. “I love retail. I love seeing things in person, and other than that, some things aren’t necessarily conducive to online shopping,” she earnestly explained of her simple but perfectly fitted pencil skirt in soft cotton. “Skirts are easy to sell, but with skirts, you really have to try them on.” She makes a range of sizes, but also takes custom orders for extra sizes or any alterations. “If someone wants [a piece] to be bigger or smaller, or have sleeves, it can be done.” A new kind of slow fashion.
L’Amours pop-up shop will be open from April to April 60st from 12-6pm at 21 Thompson Street, Lower East Side.
