Impressively self-possessed for a 28-year-old in the throes of only her fifth season at New York Fashion Week, the daughter of ex-super agent and former Walt Disney Co. president Michael Ovitz has consistently debunked the spoiled-little-rich-girl conceit. Instead, she inspires comparison to her unstuffy designs — airy knits and easy sweaters that have been embraced by retailers, fashion editors and celebrity stylists since her launch four years ago.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” her father said at yesterday’s show, awash in velvet, fringe and the aforementioned faux fur. “She’s done amazing.”
Ovitz’s confidence in her brand is evident almost a year after transplanting her company from her hometown of Los Angeles and her dad’s Santa Monica, Calif., office space to modest TriBeCa digs in Manhattan. She has quadrupled her staff and shifted production from China to New York City’s Garment District in a bid to support the local economy.
She gets advice on growing her company from her father, Michael, an early investor and loving “business mentor,” but despite what one might assume, she isn’t bankrolled in solid gold.
“We are dealing with a budget,” she said while dishing on the model-casting process. “It’s like, no, you can’t pay $2,500 for a model for 10 minutes.”
J.Crew’s president and creative director Jenna Lyons, who mentored 15-year-old Ovitz when she interned at J.Crew, said Ovitz “hasn’t been handed millions of dollars” to launch her business.
“She’s had to work for it and go and stick it out and she’s had some tough times and she stayed with it,” Lyons gushed. “To watch her learn and grow, I don’t think I realized how much I adored her. I get really teary.”
“The bottom line is everyone’s always going to be curious or have preconceived notions,” Ovitz said of her family name. “It’s afforded me great opportunity. I feel very fortunate about it, but at the end of the day, my work has to make a statement and back it up and be legitimately good.”
Click here to read the entire article, All Eyes On Ovitz in The Daily.
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