She'll Take Manhattan
Trina Turk
By: Pamela Pekerman, Bag Guru

On December 6th, New York’s Meatpacking District was a buzz as its newest retail resident, Trina Turk, opened her doors for the first time. The launch party was a celebration of Trina Turk’s style and her vibrantly-retro store, designed by the world-renowned Jonathan Adler. In the midst of photographers snapping pictures of PYTs and fashion's elite munching on yummy hor`derves, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Trina to find out what her California-based brand has in store for us New Yorkers.

 

BagTrends: What makes your New York special?
Trina Turk: Well, the main thing about the store is that we collaborated with Jonathan Adler on the interior and I think it was a very good fit because of his color sense.

BT: Why go with Jonathan Adler?
TRINA: I saw what he had done at The Parker in Palm Springs and loved how it was very California. I thought he would be a good person to work with because he was a New Yorker who could blend the New York vibe with this kind of California idea.

BT: What directions did you give him?
TRINA: I told Jonathan I wanted this store to feel like hipster, 1970s, kind of crafty. And we threw ideas around and kind of came up with this concept of the shots of color and a lot of texture. I think it came out really well and we’re really excited.

BT: Why open a store in New York?
TRINA: We would get a number of emails from people in New York saying, “When are you going to open a store in New York?” I think that there’s definitely going to be a lot of women making a trip to the Meatpacking District.

BT: Where do you see the next Trina Turk store opening?
TRINA: You know, probably our next store will either be in Hawaii or in Orange County or maybe in Florida somewhere. We love Hawaii and it’s very inspirational to us, especially the surf culture and the Hawaiian prints. 

BT: For spring 2007, what will we be seeing from Trina Turk?
TRINA: (laughing) A lot of prints. We are known for our prints and for spring we’re doing some very, very large scale prints. A lot of prints with a mustard color which is something that’s kind of new for us. Our main groups for spring and summer are a Greek theme, a sexy Palm Springs theme, and a kind of disco-safari. And it’s all very saturated colors. 

BT: And your bags?
TRINA: For handbags we’re doing raffia, which is something that we’ve been doing for the past few seasons that is good for us. We did some macramé handbags with a really big, fat, kind of jute yarn which actually would be perfect in this store, but they’re not done yet.

BT: What is your personal style?
TRINA: I do wear a lot of black, like as much as I love color, I love to wear black. I love to wear vintage, and especially like when I’m in Palm Springs. That’s when I break out the really bright prints and the 1970’s vintage dresses and stuff like that. I mean honestly, I love fabric, and color, and prints, and so for me, it’s more about that than a complicated silhouette. I’m not really a frilly or fleshy kind of girl; I do more of the early 60’s vibe.