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Jul 17, 2002/ FWD/ --- Putting a modern and mildly punk spin on a woman's somewhat-outdated
desire to buy a dress and the accessories to match, 22 year-old artist/fashion designer
Hayley Keenan of the Hayley Star label and 23 year-old jewelry designer Shahla Kareen have
joined creative forces to present and sell their vision of the complete outfit:
a highly-detailed, hand-painted, dreamy Lycra gown paired with one very bold earring,
made to match the frock.
Why only one earring? "Because," as Keenan explains from her home in L.A, "one is so
strong, two would look ridiculous."
Having worn each other's creations for years, the idea of combining them into a total look
to be sold together came naturally.
"I made this butterfly-print dress with an empire waist and a black bottom, and Shahla
was inspired by it and made an amazing earring to go with it," recounts Keenan of the
duo's first professional collaboration.
Both Keenan, who studied fashion at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in L.A,
and Kareen, who got her jewelry design stamp-of-approval when a buyer for Fred Segal's
noticed the self-made pieces she wore as she was shopping, insist on maintaining their
artistic integrity by hand-making all their designs themselves.
To date, they have six one-of-a-kind dress 'n' earring outfits ready-made and retailing
for $1000-$2000 at Decollage in New York.
But both Keenan (who has clothed Shakira, Jessica Biel, and Shannyn Sossamon)
and Kareen (who has be-jeweled Liv Tyler, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Sarah Jessica Parker
on "Sex & the City") prefer to privately custom-design the pieces for their clients.
"The look is so funky, it takes a certain person to pull it off," tells Keenan.
"I like using the person's favorite color, or a print they love, and making the dress on
them, and then the earring to match."
And what if someone wants the dress without the earring, or vice versa? Well, according
to Keenan, the look is so extraordinary that "it's just not gonna happen."
Clothes designed by Hayley Star
(Photo courtesy of Hayley Star-FWD)
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Jewelry designed by Shahla Kareen
(Photo courtesy of Shahla Kareen-FWD)
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Clothes designed by Hayley Star
(Photo courtesy of Hayley Star-FWD)
Jewelry designed by Shahla Kareen
(Photo courtesy of Shahla Kareen-FWD)
Clothes designed by Hayley Star
(Photo courtesy of Hayley Star-FWD)
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