Project runway

Three young fashion designers are hitting their stride

By DEIRDRE MENDOZA

Erin Fetherston, 25

Collection: Erin Fetherston

Not all American designers living in Paris can debut their eponymous couture collection on the Parisian runways, or make a short film with iconic fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth ("Wendybird," starring Kirsten Dunst). But for Erin Fetherston, the stars have aligned.

With a degree from UC Berkeley, Fetherston worked at New York fashion magazines before moving abroad to study at Parson's in 2003. With a chic atelier and a supportive fiance, she seems content with her expat status.

"Fashion is a more pervasive part of the culture here," she says. "It's a really good, creative environment where I can work without distractions."

Fetherston has expanded her distribution from one-of pieces to a base that includes stores such as Tracey Ross and Ron Herman in L.A. as well as New York's Kirna Zabete. In the works for spring: a traveling show of von Unwerth's photos, featuring lanky, ethereal creatures like Karen Elson, Sophie Flicker and Vanessa and Victoria Traina. "I have so many ideas for the brand," she says. "I'm just waiting to grow into them."

Rory Edelman, 24

Collection: Rory Beca

After honing her craft at fashion schools in London and Boston, and interning with vet costumer Debra McGuire ("Friends"), California native Rory Edelman nabbed a Venice studio and got down to business. Four seasons later, Rory Beca, a sensual collection of day and evening wear in silk and cashmere blends, has retailers on both coasts buzzing.

"These clothes work in New York, London or St. Tropez," Edelman says, phoning from a photo shoot. "My customer is a creative woman who likes to travel -- she can take the same tunic and wear it to the farmer's market or dress it up for an evening out."

With her star rising firmly and the help of a mother (Abra Edelman) who went from producing TV and films to producing her daughter's line, the young designer preps for write-ups in women's magazines as well as a slew of fall orders.

"In the beginning it would have been overwhelming," she says. "But now I really know what Rory Beca is all about."

Katya Revenko, 33

Collection: Desperately Different

"My fall/winter line is all about determination, will power and irresistible beauty," says Katya Revenko, a Toronto transplant whose Desperately Different collection took first prize at the (March 2006) Toronto Fashion Incubator New Labels show. "It's all wearable, if slightly avant-garde," she says.

The Ukraine-born designer graduated from a Kiev fashion school in 1995 and freelanced as a stylist for musicvideos before moving to Toronto in 2002. After just two seasons in business, she's now being touted as one of Canada's hottest designer exports. Experimenting with menswear fabrics, Revenko balances precision tailoring with playful proportion and silhouette. She's known to place waists, hemlines, collars and cuffs in unexpected places. DD is now carried across Canada and in lux retailer Holt Renfrew; based on interest from major U.S. retailers, Revenko is confident about an imminent Stateside debut.

Revenko's influences include some of her favorite directors: Almodovar, Lynch, Jarmusch and masters of Russian cinema. For fashion cues, she taps Joan of Arc, Marlene Dietrich and Catherine the Great.

"I have design in my genes," she says, noting that she's also been influenced by her arty grandmas -- a seamstress and a ceramist. "I didn't struggle in deciding what I wanted to do. It was predestined -- it had to be art."