THREADS Designer Spotlight: Ben Touchette and Lindsay Robinson

Paris, France is known to many as the city of lights.

After a study abroad trip to Paris this past summer, to apparel merchandising and design senior, Ben Touchette, the city means more than a cliché saying.

Paris not only inspired his designs for the upcoming THREADS fashion show but it helped Touchette find his confidence to design.

“I’ve always wanted to design back lacked the confidence to go for it,” Touchette said. “Going to Paris gave me that creative mindset, which the line is based on.”

But Touchette found more than just the confidence he needed to design, he also found his Threads co-designer, apparel merchandising and design senior Lindsay Robinson. While in Paris, Touchette and Robinson realized that they both had a similar design aesthetic, as well as fashion inspirations.

“We both spoke the same fashion language and started bouncing ideas off of each other and just went forward from there,” Touchette said.

Every designer has his or her own process and timeline for completing the line. However, this duo has been working on sketches together since this past summer.

Initially the pair held weekly meetings to compare, edit and critique sketches, which then proceed to working with muslin. Now it has moved forward to constructing separate pieces and bringing them all together.

“We complete most of our work at Lindsay’s house, it’s kind of like a mini sweat shop: sewing machine, serger and a dress form named Dita,” Touchette said. “Yes, it’s named after Dita Von Teese!”

The collection is more avant garde and couture with a focus on dresses, and an emphasis on textures rather than color.

Touchette is looking forward to finally seeing the end results of the ideas him and Robinson had in summer.