We have such a treat for you today, dear Hadley Court readers! A sneak peek into the first photos of fashion designer *Cynthia Rowley for Hooker Furniture*’s new collection debuting at the upcoming Fall 2015 #HPMKT opening October 17th in High Point, North Carolina. As many of you know, Leslie Hendrix Wood is an official 2015 #HPMKT StyleSpotter and these sneak peek pictures she received of the collection caught her eye and she asked me to share them with you today.
Before we show you more of the gorgeous furniture you will see in today’s post, we’d like to share with you, first, the story about how Cynthia Rowley got her start.
The short story you will read below is inspiring to all young women everywhere like Leslie’s own college age daughter, Amy. Cynthia is a Mom to two daughters herself: Kit, now a freshman in high school and Gigi, now 10. Here is Cynthia and her family below, in a recent ad for J. Crew.
Ready for the story? Let me know if you got goosebumps reading this story like I did when I read it for the first time.
Cynthia was born in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and started out her career as a painter at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, then switched later to fashion design. She received her first big break into the world of fashion when she was on a train from Chicago to New York City and a woman asked her, “Who’s the designer of that jacket you’re wearing?” Cynthia replied, “I am.” The woman then asked her to be in her office Monday morning with the rest of her collection -except there was no collection! Cynthia borrowed $3000.00 from her grandmother, and sewed all weekend.
{ Cynthia Rowley on the right }
Then, she showed up. It turns out the woman was the buyer for Marshall Field’s, then and now one of Chicago’s preeminent fashion emporiums.
The buyer ordered it all.
The rest is history. Now, Cynthia is one of our country’s pre-eminent fashion designers, style icons, and licensing powerhouses with collections for Target, Staples, JC Penney and others, and she also has her own retail store fashion emporium, online and offline, in the USA and overseas.
She recently made history, again, by deciding to present her Fall 2015 Fashion Collection as an online only digital production, versus showing it offline at New York Fashion Week. It was the talk of the fashion press. You can see Cynthia’s digital fashion show in the link at the bottom of this post.
When, in the research I did for this post, I read that Cynthia chose her old girl scout sash, shown below, as her favorite item of clothing for the new book, *Worn Stories* by Emily Spivack, the way she handled her first big break into the fashion world then made perfect sense to me as the Girl Scout’s infamous motto is…
“Be Prepared.”
Now, Cynthia Rowley is making history again.
*Cynthia Rowley for Hooker Furniture* is the first time in the furniture industry that a major publicly traded furniture company like Hooker Furniture, [HOFT] has ever collaborated with a fashion designer for a collection.
This collection has been designed around three personas that perfectly describe Ms. Rowley herself: curious, pretty and sporty.
Today, dear readers, we present you with these collaged images from *Cynthia Rowley for Hooker Furniture* ‘s *Curious* collection alongside imagery from Ms. Rowley’s just released Spring 2016 Ready to Wear fashion show video.
Looking at these collages, can you see the crossover inspiration like we can?
What an exciting marriage of the best in fashion design with interiors!
And, before we close this post today, here are 5 things to know about Cynthia Rowley in case you are also going to High Point Market and/or ever have the opportunity to meet her:
1. She has a magnificent contemporary art collection.
2. She’s a big proponent of surf culture and loves to swim and surf with her family and friends.
3. She loves to visit exotic locales with her family. Her oldest daughter chronicled their trip to Kenya and Tanzania for Teen Vogue.
4. Her fashion favorite for this fall? Lace.
5. The legacy she wishes to leave behind? “Try something new.”
We leave you today with this quote from Cynthia Rowley’s wonderful, *must follow* Instagram account: http://instagram.com/cynthia_rowley
Congratulations, Hooker Furniture, on such a visionary move for our industry.
We think people everywhere who love Cynthia Rowley’s pretty, flirty, sporty fashion style will love owning a piece of her *Cynthia Rowley for Hooker Furniture* collection for their homes -sure to be a collectible in years to come!
Readers, tell us what YOU think. Do you agree? We’d love to know in the comments!
~~~
Leslie Carothers
for
Leslie Hendrix Wood
Founder, Editor in Chief
Hadley Court
Interior Designer
Leslie Hendrix Wood Interiors
Midland, Texas
~~~
Gracious Living. Timeless Design. Family Traditions.
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To see Cynthia Rowley’s Spring 2016 RTW digital fashion show, shot with drones, please click, here.
To see Cynthia Rowley’s groundbreaking *Digital Runway* Fall 2015 fashion show, please click, here.
To visit Hooker Furniture, please click here.
All images from www.hookerfurniture.com and www.cynthiarowley.com.
All collages created by Leslie Carothers
The post #HPMKT Sneak Peek! Fashion Designer Cynthia Rowley For Hooker Furniture! appeared first on Hadley Court.