Getting Down with Tucker Prints

Starting points for the designs include photos from Africa and thoughts of dessert.

The designer in an awesome sweater jacket from her fall collection.

There is nothing subtle about the prints that Gaby Basora creates for her line, Tucker. But the designer manages to give every pop of color and in-your-face pattern a certain glossy sophistication and a burst of playfulness—a combination that translates to full-blown confidence for anyone who slips into one of her trademark blouses or flowy maxis. Here’s a look at how she does it.


“This print is called Tea Sponge Cake. The fall collection was inspired by Sarah Moon’s photographs—she’s an amazing French photographer. Even though she has these very bright backdrops in many of her photographs, there’s also a somber quietness to her work. Fall is largely inspired by that, but there were also times when it was very frivolous—like when you look at a print and think, ‘That looks like sponge cake.’”


“I walked past a jewelry store in Paris where they had this necklace made of a bunch of shells. I took a picture for my friend who’s a jewelry designer. When I looked at the pictures from that trip, I thought those shells would make a beautiful print. I played around with it on the computer, and the Smiling Fan print is a processed version of that.”


“My sister was living in Kenya for six months, studying and working. She brought me back all these little mementos and pieces of fabric she found. This print was taken from a picture she took of the ground, marks in dirt.”


“We wanted to do polka dots, but there’s something unexpected and whimsical about Tucker—if we’re going to do a polka dot, then we’re doing it slightly differently. We gave it a little bit more flexibility with the shadow element, which adds another color.”

Gaby used a super-cool print to trim the silk tank she made for us—check it out here.

Of a Kind

7 Rising Stars of New York Fashion Week - NY Fashion Week at Refinery29.com

The fall/winter 2010 collection from Max Osterweis’s Suno is pretty fantastic. So bold and cheery!  Just what the dreariest months of the year need. There is an obvious African influence—the designer collected Kenyan kangas for ten years before launching his line—but the clothes don’t look like they practically have a one-season expiration date sewn into the tag.  Other influences Osterweis sites for this collection, besides East African fabrics: late sixties American interiors, Klimt, and Darjeeling Limited-esque world travels.