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The Pant's the Thing
Written by Tanya Jensen
Photos by Jennifer Graylock-FWD
Jan 5,2002 /FWD/ --- "Everyone gets confused," says Stacey Bendet, co-founder of the seemingly
misnamed pants label alice and olivia. But the explanation is really quite simple, even touching.
"We named the company after our mothers - my mother is Olivia and Rebecca's is Alice - because of
their support with our designs and the launch of the company," she explains.
The idea behind the new line is simple, too, and bound to touch home with any woman who's ever
had a dressing room meltdown. Tired of constantly having to tailor their clothes so they would
fit just so, Bendet and best friend Rebecca Winn decided to start making their own. They started
with the most troublesome garments, pants, and set about making the perfect pair.
"The first samples we made were awful," remembers Bendet. "It took trial and error to get the fit
right. We wanted to do basic cuts with interesting interior fabrics. Although they are more
expensive and harder to work with, the choice is so much better."
Soon friends and family were plying them with orders, and the two UPenn grads decided to form a
company. But it wasn't until after their successful 'just pants' show in October 2001 that things
really took off.
Blessed with some rather fabulous connections - Winn is formerly of Gray Advertising and
Bendet ran Byappointmentonly.com, a web development site - the show, held at a flower and candle
bedecked Russian Tea Room, was quite a spectacle.
Slacks painted by artists Lulu de Kwiatkowski, Peter Beard, Maurizio Zuluaga and Molly McNealy
were auctioned by Benjamen Dollar of Sotheby's. But the pants were truly center stage - sort of.
"The models were topless and wore just a pair of the pants. Everyone seemed to love it," recalls
Winn. "The buyers were really excited by the designs."
"We have been very fortunate in that we were offered a lot of sound business advice from some of
my previous clients like Andrew Rosen from Theory, who has a been great advisor," Bendet explains.
"We listen carefully but also remember to keep our own perspective."
Keeping to that personal perspective means using only top quality French, Belgian and Italian
interior fabrics and creating styles and patterns that are uniquely alice and olivia.
"The stripe is really our signature design," Winn points out. "They look funky and cool, you
can wear them anywhere and we do great colors. Although at the moment we are working on expanding
the print patterns we work with.
The inside of the waistband of the pants have a contrasting fabric and antique buttons which
is a luxurious detail that customers seem to appreciate."
alice and olivia can currently be found at Fred Segal, Tracey Ross and Lisa Kline in L.A. and
will soon be on sale at Scoop, Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman in New York.
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