NYLON - September 2008 - (Page 88) INSPIRED BY ’60S ICON PENELOPE TREE, FRANK TELL LL BRINGS HIS DRAMATIC CREATIONS TO THE MASSES. BY KATIE HINTZ. PHOTOGRAPHED BY ISA WIPFLI POP QUIZ GRADE 1 WE ASKED THE PEOPLE BEHIND ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A FIFTH GRADER? TO MAKE US A LITTLE QUIZ OF OUR OWN. HOW DO YOU MEASURE UP? SHOW AND TELL 1. What man is on the front of the U.S. 20 dollar bill? 2. A heptagon is a shape with how many sides? 3. If you add equal amounts of red and blue paint, what color paint do you get? GRADE 2 4. Which color absorbs the most light? 5. Inca civilizations were concentrated on what continent? 6. Which is the longer: one kilometer or one mile? GRADE 3 7. True or false: A turtle is an amphibian. 8. The cerebrum is the biggest part of what organ in your body? 9. In the Northern Hemisphere, in what month is the autumnal equinox? GRADE 4 10. In the equation 6 divided by 2 13. What is the greatest common equals 3, which number represents factor of 2 and 3? the dividend? 14. What is the world’s secondlargest country in terms of land 11. What is the lowest prime area? number? 12. How long is one regular term for a U.S. Representative? 15. True or False: “Carefully,” “easily” and “barely” are examples of adjectives. GRADE 5 88 stylist: stella greenspan. makeup: martin wieser at myr jan inc for m.a.c cosmetics. model: anais at trump. dress by frank tell, tights by wolford, earrings and necklace by toujours toi by nina egli. Designer Frank Tell’s story is something of an haute fair te airy te fairy i tale. Born in Barcelona to a family dominated by women, he was dreaming of making clothes by the time he was as eight. After enrolling in an embroidery class—which he claims many boys at his Catholic school did—he began to n to whip up miniature gowns for his dolls, which he did for for o the next four years with little inkling that what he was doing oing could ever become a career. “I didn’t know that fashion designers existed then. I just thought it was fun,” the 21year-old explains from his New York showroom. “I wanted to be a doctor like my dad.” On the wings of that more practical dream, he left Spain by himself at the age of 12 and enrolled in a military boarding school in Carlsbad, California. But once he was accepted to a pre-med program at the University of San Diego, his creative yearnings kicked in again.“I thought it should be about me, and not just about pleasing my mom,” he says. “I didn’t make it to the first class!” Instead, he was off to New York, where he scored internships at As Four and Sue Stemp. “When I first moved here, I said, ‘Before I’m 21, I will have my own collection.’ Everyone thought that I was crazy, but I was confident,” says the pint-size designer who is a bit shy talking about himself. “Then one day I had some extra money and thought, maybe I should do a show for fashion week. So I started making a few dresses.” His debut collection (which he showed for Spring ’08 at the age of 20) drew inspiration from Georgia O’Keefe and icons Josephine Baker and Louise Brooks, resulting in drop-waist flapper dresses with petal-like skirts. But Tell maintains that he didn’t hit his stride until this fall. “I’m really proud of this one. This is me,” he says, running his hand over a rack of his sculptural all black, white, and silver offerings, including Courrèges-inspired colorblock dresses, collared frocks in flashy silver laurex with Swarovski crystal buttons, and shaggy coats made of Mongolian wool. In his mind, it’s what Penelope Tree would wear today. With rave reviews of his Fall ’08 collection, things look like they might be turning out pretty well for Tell. Just don’t tell him that. “I wake up terrified sometimes,” he says, “But I’m having a good time.” 1. Andrew Jackson 2. Seven 3. Purple 4. Black 5. South America 6. One Mile 7. False 8. Brain 9. September 10. Six 11. Two 12. Two years 13. One 14. Canada 15. False (adverbs)
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