SPEAKER_02 0:34

Welcome to the Better Two Podcast. I'm your host, Donna. Today we're going to do something a little different. Normally, the past couple of seasons we've focused on music and we focused on books, but today we're focusing on fashion. And the guest today is known as the King of Pants, Mr. Alvin Valley. We talk about fashion, of course. We talk about his roots and where he got started. And we talk about him dressing Kate Winslett, among others. So tune in. Hi Alvin. How are you doing today? Good, good. How are you? I'm doing well. You are known as the King of Pants, and we'll get to how you got that moniker. But I want to go back to, I mean, you're a fashion designer and you have your roots in architect architecture. But where I want to really start off with is before that, because did you always feel this need to delve into artistic creations, such as when you were a kid, were you designing clothes? Were you designing buildings? You know, were you were you building Legos or, you know, I know there was different all of the all of the above.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Okay. Yeah, like yeah, absolutely. You know, as a kid, I would win, uh honestly, I would win every competition creatively, whether it was, I mean, it was at some point I won like a poetry competition, I won a um a dance competition, I won a painting competition. So I was always creative. You know, I I had this pensioned need to be creative. And I think one of the things that back when I grew up, we had like all of these sort of uh uh little points of uh uh of schooling where they would do different things to push kids to you know come out of their shell and express themselves. And so I was lucky in the sense that I could get into a lot of things, and it was very difficult for me to hone down when I wanted to do what I wanted to do because I was so good in so many things. And you know, now that becomes an issue, right? Because I wasn't necessarily focused on like one thing. And so when I turned around 12, 11, 12, 13, I had someone who taught me how to make patterns and how to sew. So I started making clothes and I started, and I was too embarrassed to tell people that I was making my own clothes. So I would tell them, oh, I just came back from London and this is what I bought, you know, because London back in the day was accepted as being like avant-garde and sort of so people would go like, you know, like, oh my god, that's so cool, you know, rather than like, how ridiculous. You made your own clothes and like, you know, like and that's what you made, you know. But so it's funny if I said I made them, I would get ridiculed. But if I said I bought them in London, I would get like praise. So, you know, but then once I decided to go to college, I thought, well, you know what, maybe the realistic thing is for me to go into architecture because I did love architecture and I I used to design houses and draw houses for my mother and say to her, I'm gonna make you this house, you know, when I grow up. And, you know, it was that kind of a thing. So I had, I've always had uh an appreciation for architecture. And once I studied it, I realized that I wasn't the the day-to-day of an architect wasn't a thing I was I wanted to. I I understood a lifestyle and I understood what kind of lifestyle I wanted. And so I began reading a lot of biographies from designers and you know, Halston and Calvin Klein, and you know, a lot of these biographies I would just find at like uh, you know, the used bookstores. And I was like, that's what I want to be. So I dropped out of college, uh, third year of architecture, University of Miami, and I raised money and opened my own shop. And I opened my own shop with an atelier above it. So that's where the Alvin Valley comes from.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

It's funny you mentioned the whole London thing because I recently saw on Instagram uh it was a morning show over in England, and Vivianette Westwood was having a fashion show. And people were laughing at her. People were laughing at her designs. Isn't it great?

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah, and she's really like amazing. That's so genius, right? Because you you that's it's funny that you bring that up because that was exactly the same thing. Like they would ridicule me if they knew if I told them I made them. So then I was like, I'm not gonna tell them I made them, I'm just gonna tell them I came from London, you know, and uh because back in the 80s, remember back in the 80s, like it was punk scene going on, and everybody either wanted to be like, I mean, I don't know if you might be younger, much younger than me.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

So, you know, like I appreciate, I appreciate that. I appreciate that, but look, I am the girl who had double shoulder pads with broad shoulders. So I am an 80s girl. I graduated in 85. So yeah, I am an 80s girl all the way. I understand exactly what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, well, I mean, you were, and if you were plugged in with like London fashion, you were cool, you know, you were really so you know, I I at that time, I think I was in Florida. Like I had come, we'd come back back, we moved back to the US and and I was in Florida, and uh, you know, and I realized how like, you know, uh conservative the US was, you know, in you and everybody was sort of like bracketed into different categories, you know, like you either belong to like the punk group or you belong to the Metallica group or you belong to the preppy group or the sporty group, you know, and everything was so, you know, so segmented, you know, and I never experienced that. That was like a thing I experienced here in the US. And uh, but I was able to get into all these little groups in and out. I and I always say, it must be because I'm a poser, you know, I can get into the preppy group and then I can get out of that, and then I can go into the smoking area back then when we had smoking areas in high school, you know, and that was cool. If you had a smoking pass, you know, that was like a cool thing. I had fake smoking pass. My parents wouldn't let me smoke.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

So well, I think it's funny now that like Gen Z, I've seen videos recently of Gen Z like trying mad dog 2020 and and and things of that we were known for back in the day that you know I'm not gonna drink ever clear because I'm just gonna end up puking my guts up. But these kids are like, Yeah, let's try this. I can handle this. Mad Dog 2020, this sounds really good. Okay, if you're brave enough, go for it.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Yeah, exactly. I mean, but those were the days, and you know what? I feel and I don't know if you feel the same way, I feel so lucky to have had an uh a childhood in the 80s because there was so much information, and you could, you know, it's so funny how that's become so relevant in today's generation, you know, and how rich it was, and how you know, I mean, if you think of like, you know, I love when people forget like who Madonna was back then, like they forget, and people are like, Who's this old lady like singing? I'm like, you know, and it's just we take for granted all the all the the the incredible like music, and I was I loved music and I love style and I love watching awards, like music awards, because I wanted to see what the artists were gonna wear or what you know they were uh how they were expressing themselves. And and so I think the 80s was a very uh like really culturally rich, um, eventful place, you know, to have, you know, to be part of.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Well, like if you watch the MTV, if you watch the MTV Awards back then, you know, everybody was at the height of fashion. They were they were pushing the envelope, everybody had their own look, their own persona, and just like you were saying about the groups. And as we've gone on, sometimes when you see fashion shows, or not fashion shows, but award shows, the fashion isn't there anymore. It's just gonna play.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Everything's become so uh so produced and so um dystopian? Yeah, like it there's nothing like create, like there isn't like segments of costumes designer who will do a costume for uh an artist, right? Everybody wants to wear something off the runway, which is so boring, you know. Like it's great for like people who are, you know, clients and shoppers and people like, but like for an artist, like I mean, how amazing where all these rockers used to have like leather leather suits made by somebody who was famous just for that. They didn't, they weren't fashion designers, they're costume costumers. You know, they made costumes for for celebrities. I mean, Maripol, who did all the costumes for Madonna back in the day, now she's getting some sort of like, you know, recognition. But she was happy being, she didn't want to be a fashion designer, she wanted, you know, she made those costumes for like, you know, and so the um it's very uh it's very, very segmented, you know, like in and now everything's watered down because now you can wear anything. Uh first of all, people don't want to make the investments of like making something for themselves, right? Let people work harder to copy you rather than you know, just get something off the rack and that anybody else can can do.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

I mean, when you look when you were talking about designers, I mean, costume designers, you have Bob Mackey. I mean, Bob Mackey, some of the costumes he made that were so elaborate, but when you see it, you knew it. You knew that was Bob Mackey. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

And it was limited. And it was exclusively made by Bob Mackey, who you had a conversation with, and you could, and I actually have met Bob Mackey, and and you would have a meeting with him and an idea, and you would he would do something for you that was just yours, you know. Um, I mean, if you look at all the shares from the 70s and all that, I mean, those costumes are incredible. I'd love to just copy all of it and just put it down the runway. You know, just give it my own spin.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

And once you talked about with with creating that, Paulina Porskova just recently shared her wedding dress video and how she had it designed and how she went there with her ideas. And we don't necessarily see that anymore. And that's one thing you, you know, when I was doing my research on you, you were talking about when you came back to Miami, you want you couldn't really do off the rack because manufacturing wasn't there yet. Things were still in lockdown or moving from lockdown, but things had to catch up. So you brought this essence of creativity with your clients to create the experiment experimental vision that you had and shared with them. Was that more freeing than just your normal, you know, being Mr. Powell?

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Yeah, you know, you know what it is. I I have uh there's that word that I just embraced, and and it's something that I've always been able to do, which is to pivot, right? And I think that that's a really important thing for anybody, whether you're a creator, whether you're in business, whether is to figure out how to pivot. And I could not, you know, obviously we're locked down, we couldn't get factories to produce anything, I couldn't get any inventory. So I was able to get a a one of my tailors and pattern makers to just produce a line of suitings, you know, all based and design, uh based on on the different fits and different patterns and different colors. And I literally just went, you know, I just had I'm opening the doors, come in, but everything's made to order, you know, made to measure. So I and also I I feel like I needed to like reinvent myself in a way um to gain again the notoriety for which was what was I known for, which was tailoring and trousers and you know, so it wasn't something that I did on purpose. I I had to pivot into it because I couldn't get anyone to produce a line of of uh you know, just a production line of a collection. And so I became famous. I would have a line of people lined up to order, you know, suit, you know, custom-made suits. And it just became so it became so within a group of of clients, it became viral, you know, and so people would would say, oh my god, like, and they would come in and they would get one suit made, and then I would call them. I'm like, you're you know, come in for the first fitting because we've already put the suit to your measurements, and you know, we'd have to make a fitting, like one or two fittings after. And then when they would see the the they would see the first fitting, they're turned around. It's like, what are the colors do you have this? What can I make it in? So they would order another two or three more, like right then and there. So the fitting became the hook for clients to come back to the shop, you know, and so I still do it, I still do it now, and I do it on purpose because I want to see that that client a few more times. If if you're just selling them something, they'll buy it from you and then they leave for six months. You don't see them for another six months, you know. But now when you have a fitting, you they gotta come back because they paid for that. And so they they come back for the fitting, and it's another way to see them again twice, you know, within a season and sell them again, you know. So so that came out of need. It came out of like it came out of need of not having uh not having to get uh a real production line, you know, uh during COVID.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Well, and I was gonna say, I think the pivot, I think part of the art of pivoting for you too, would be the fact that you did have so many facets growing up uh in your creativity. You had all these avenues that you could explore. So when you think about it, as a child, if you are writing poetry and then you're doing drawings and then you're doing this, you're constantly pivoting, you're constantly creating. And I think that's one thing going back to us being of that age, you know, I would be allowed to bring one Barbie doll and one dress with me to go somewhere. And we'd be stuck at my aunt's house for hours, and my mom's like, I'm like, can I have an, you know, can I have an app? She's like, why? I'm like, so I can make Barbie a dress. And so I would take a paper towel and make a dress. And that's the thing. We had to be creative to keep us from being bored. And that is that goes back to that being able to have that childhood before technology came out. Yes, we have Merlin and Simon, but that's not the same thing. We still had to be creative. Yes, exactly. And I I think that's an a it's a gift for you because you're able to multitask. You're able to say, okay, how do I make this work for me now? Because this is where I'm at and this is the limitation. What made you decide to leave New York?

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Well, when uh COVID happened, I um I opened a shop in the Hamptons first, and that was a huge success. I was able to reconnect with clients and get new clients. Um and then once the fall began, like October of 2020, a lot of the people were saying, Well, what are you gonna do for the winter? And and they were like, We're moving to Palm Beach. So I called uh I called someone in Palm Beach. I said, Find me a store, you know. And I had a client that came in here and said to me, Oh, by the way, you know what? I have a spot for you in Palm Beach. Nobody ever nobody ever succeeds in this place. It's always like someone goes in, three months later, they're out. Like it's just a very like, you know, not the perfect spot, but only you can make that work, you know, because everyone will come to you. And I was like, okay, fine, you know. And uh I ended up renting the space for like nothing, and it just became a huge success. And it lasted for almost five years, you know. And um, and so again, pivot, right? I realized clients were not gonna be in New York, they were gonna stay, they were leaving to Florida. There was a huge exodus of real clients moving to Florida, and I just said, well, let's follow them and you know, see where that goes. Because I was gonna stay here when the whole everyone's gonna be dead, you know. Right. So that's another part of pivot. And it was also part of uh, you know, embracing how to reinvent yourself as well, you know? And so um I that that is how I sort of became um more independent and able to open my own stores, and also um in Palm Beach, there's a culture. There's like a it's one of these funny places we're just talking about Louisiana, you know, or New Orleans, and how New Orleans has a culture. Palm Beach has a culture as well, and it's very specific. There is a Palm Beach costume, there is a way that people dress in Palm Beach, it's very Palm Beach. You you cannot wear the same clothes that you wear in Palm Beach, what uh outside of Palm Beach. It's just like not, not even in the Hamptons, in the same people. And so I was able to reconnect with that culture and with that customer. So that became very, you know, it became, you know, uh a moment where people understood that they could relate to what I was doing because I was dealing with these sort of like high-end clients, you know, very specific clients. And so that kind of took its own life form. And so I've been able to, you know, like what I said to you when I was in high school, I could go into the punk rock and hang out with them, and then I would go into like that's what I've sort of done through my career is to like reinvent myself with different groups of people so they can attach to me and they can they can connect with what I'm doing, and not just be specifically just for one type of you know, fashion group, but for many types. So that that kind of grew from that.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

So yes, we're jumping all over, but that's always how it is with me. So the fact is when you were back in, you know, you you opened the store in 95, the first one, you you went to school, you dropped out, you opened your store, and then uh Kathy Hilton comes into play when you decide to move to New York.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

So I yeah, so I um I moved to New York in I moved to New York in '99. Okay. So I opened my first shop in Florida in '95. Then I moved to New York in '99. And uh in 2000, I redesigned my I designed the new, the new collection. And we um I was in New York and I told my business partner at the time, uh Richard Rosenthal, who's no longer uh working with me, but I we're saying we still stay in touch. And uh I said to him, we're gonna do this collection, but we're only gonna show it in LA. And he was like, What do you mean? Like we're in New York, let's offer it to all the stores in New York. I'm like, no, no, no, because they said we got to make this like easy and quick and fast. We're gonna go to LA because LA, the buyers in LA will buy something that they like. Like they don't need where in New York, the buyers will buy something that they heard about or they read about in Vogue magazine. Or so you have to have a lot of uh press before you get the orders. While in LA, you could just go to market, and people would say it, the buyers see it, they like it, they buy it, they buy it right right away. So we were able to get all these orders, and uh our first delivery was August, exactly like today, August uh 31st, 2020 uh 2001. And we shipped all of the orders to LA, and September 11 happened a week later. And so everyone that had sold to New York buyers, they a lot of them went out of business, people that I knew that you know were just selling in New York. And um, meanwhile, we had like an enormous amount of orders, reorders like by the time the electricity came back, which was like a Friday after uh September 11th, we had like a hundred calls from stores like wanting to reorder. So they're like, Your pants, I'm so sorry what you're going through, but we need more pants. And that's where I'm known for as the king of pants because it kind of came from that band. So I became to I I became sort of known around the group of people who knew Kathy Hilton, and they went to her and they said, you know, Alvin Valley wants to do a fashion show. Would you help help them? And so she reached out and she came to my to my studio and she said, Alvin, I'll sponsor your fashion show. We'll have it at the Walter Astoria in the Starlight Ballroom, which was a huge space. She said, with one condition that you put my two girls in the show. So it was like great. And back then they were like the hottest girls, you know, they were like the intervals, you know, 2001, 2000. Well, this was like 2002, 2003. So that's kind of how I got to know the Hilton's because we collaborated a lot. We were, I was dressing them for a lot of events and in Hollywood when they decided to move back to California. And obviously, Kathy Hilton has been a huge supporter to this day. We still collaborate in a lot of things. You know, you you I tend not to, I tend not to forget for those people that have been there for me. And I'm always defending her, you know, because a lot of people have like a misconstrued idea of Kathy Hilton or just the Hilton's in general. I'm like, to me, they've been the most generous people, you know, out there.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

So well, that's the thing. I mean, the media portrays people as one image, and that's not necessarily who they are. I mean, it that happens a lot with famous people. You don't see who they really are because there's this persona they have to put up, they have to put out wall up walls, so no. Nobody recognizes or can get closer to them to take take advantage.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Yes, exactly. But that happens with everybody, even with myself, you know, or even with like, you know, something you just gotta keep moving, you know, and say you gotta put your blinders on and just keep moving. So you know, and we and as as human beings, we always judge people. So you know. So who dubbed you the king of pants? So uh that was the New York Times who wrote an article. And um I was known for the pants for a long time before that. And uh at some point, I think uh um I think the the New York Post had written an article and they interviewed um oh my god, now I'm like blanking out. They interviewed um uh oh my god from Titanic. Now I'm blanking out. Kate Winslet. Kate Winslet. She's gonna kill me. Anyways, she interviewed Kate Winslet, and they just happened to be at my studio, and uh, and it was not pre-planned or anything. They had were running late, and I had an appointment with her. She was coming in for fittings for first order, and um she and she had sought me, she had she was looking for me for like for quite a while. And so she finally placed an order and she was coming in for fittings, and um she the the they were coming the the interviewer was coming late, and I said to I called her, I said, listen, I have an issue. I have someone who's running late and they want to interview me, but they're probably gonna, you know, overlap with you. And so she said, No, don't worry about it. I'll even give them a quote if you want me to. And so she's the one that actually like named me the Lord of the Pants, you know, and then it went to like CNN, NBC, and it just became like a big media thing, you know. Um, but because back then the Lord of the Rings, I guess, was like a big thing. So like Lord of the Pants, maybe and maybe the what was the other one? The uh the um uh I our Irish dance, uh, dance troupe. Uh oh I don't know. Yes, and yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. Lord of the dance. The Lord of the Dance. So that was going on, and so so then that happened. Then eventually the New York Times interviewed me, and they're like, No, you're the king of the pants. You're a king of pants, you're not the lord. So that became an entity, and I I kind of went with it because I'm like, well, that's kind of genius, you know, because I don't have to explain to anybody what I'm good at. No.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Which, you know, I have to ask, you you you put your clothing line, but you also use moments of architecture in them. So how do you combine the two to create your designs?

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Um well, it's actually built into the into the design. So for example, our the the my trousers have an in have a construction inside that molds the body from the inside. It's almost like if you think of uh, you know, spanks, right? Like they do their own thing, but it's more engineered, it's not just a fabric, you know, spanx is just a fabric cut and sewn and whatever. But and so I put a lot of the engineering and the structure inside the the pattern of the of the pants. So people feel like they're wearing something completely different, you know, and they've the body looks contorts in a different way. And the posture, you know, it gives pa posture everything and like you know, just controls it. And um now I'm doing it in the jeans where the pattern itself has a push-up, you know, pattern. So and people are like, a push-up, like a bra. I'm like, yeah, exactly. Like a bra. You know, I mean, an engineer is who invented the bra. It wasn't like uh, you know, a lingerie maker, you know. So so, you know, the um the the whole idea is always present in one way or another. Some some things are a little bit more uh, you know, when you see the inside of a pan, you see like, okay, this is very different. I wonder what this does, you know. And sometimes in the jeans, you don't see it, you know, it's until you put them on that you feel it. So that's basically what I try to bring into. But also, if you look at the coats, if you look at the construction of the coats, if you look at the construction of the shoes, everything has a a bit of an engineering factor in it. Because it's not about just looking good in the clothes, it's looking great and feeling amazing and empowering people like something is happening that didn't happen before, you know. Otherwise, we're just the same product that everybody else is making.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Well, I I saw one of your lives a little bit the other day, and you were talking about how you take, you know, you've taken menswear and designed it for women, but and the only reason I say menswear because it's not really menswear, but you've taken the the textures, the fabric, those things, and made it for women. And then the men have now come back and said, Well, wait, aren't you designing men's clothes?

unknown 27:04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

I'm confusing everybody, right? Hey, in the 80s, you know, women wore wore suit and ties actually.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

You have no idea how many deals I have on the table and offered on the table to do a men's line. We have so many. Um, and we are trying to get there, uh, you know, because a lot of, you know, it's been going on for the last two years, but um, the uh we get that all the time. It's incredible how like menswear professionals, people who are in the menswear, are after me. And they they're just like offering me whatever I I can to get into the that side of the business, which would be an amazing, uh, you know, it will be a natural fit because I am working with menswear mills already. You know, I do work with menswear fabrics. Um, but um the and that's what men can relate to when they see their wives wearing a suit. They're like, wait, that's menswear, you know, they recognize it right away. Because, you know, there's a there's the softness that women's wear has, which menswear don't don't have. You know, there's like a wooliness that is gone from women's pants or jackets. There's a, you know, everything's made to feel like much softer and drapier. And so I don't necessarily need drapier in my clothes. I need structure, you know? So, because structure is really what really molds the body. And so, yeah, like I am inspired, I've always been inspired by menswear. I've always loved doing menswear. Also, the construction in menswear suitings and pants is very different than women's. Women's construction is meant to be thrown out, you know, once they don't fit you. A man can wear a pair of pants for like 10, 20 years and 20 pounds of difference, right? Because they're made to be taken in, take it out, take it in, take it out, you know. Women's clothing are not meant to do that. They're meant to be like, oh, the waistband is one piece of waistband, so there's no inside construction that you could let it out, you know. So a lot of those things I never understood. And I get that the manufacturer's idea is that clothing can um just be, you know, just thrown out, you know, and buy a new pair of pants once they don't faint you. And I don't believe that concept at all for women.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Well, and I think we've seen a lot of, you know, if you look at the videos in India and stuff of all the clothes that just go over there because they're not they're not being used, they're just being thrown away, and there's just piles and piles of fabric and clothes that are just being wasted. And it's funny because I have some t-shirts that I bought 20 years ago, and they're thick, and you can hold them up to a light and you can't see through them. And I've been somewhere and a t-shirt is on display and you can see the rack underneath them. So the quality has gone down so much. It's just like, where's the quality that we used to have? And and yeah, what you're saying is women's clothes have always been kind of like, oh, well, you can't wear that anymore, move on.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

And this is our bodies change, our bodies change just like men's bodies. Correct. And that's why I say like menswear suitings, well-made men's wear suitings, are meant to be worn for 20 years and you know, and 20 pounds. Like what I said, you know, you could do go up 20 pounds, you could go down 20 pounds, like you know, you can still fit into them because there will always be a tailor who can take them in, you know. Meanwhile, women's haven't had they women haven't really had that kind of tailoring psych psychology where they can take, and that's why today I can talk to clients that have been our clients for 30 years, and they have pants that are 25 years old. And they're like, I still wear them because you know, and I I didn't believe that because I would get that all the time. But one time I went to someone's dinner, uh dinner party, and she said, I have your pants, and I was like, What? I'm like, Yes, come to my closet. And she pulled me into her closet in the middle of dinner, and literally she had like 15 pairs of trousers that look like I just shipped them to her a week before, and they were 25 years old. Wow, you know, 20 to 25. You know, but then I'd also get angry. I'm like, okay, you need to stop wearing these and buy new ones to catch 22.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Well, I mean, and that that goes back to everything in our society now has become that way. Used to be able to you make you have quality, your appliances had quality, they would last for years, and then now it's like, oh, it's three years old. Sorry, bye. Your warranty's over. Goodbye. Um, it's crazy though.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

That is so true for appliances and also iPhones. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

And one thing, you know, one of my favorite pieces that I had in the late 80s was I had gone to a garage sale and somebody was clearing out her husband's suits. Just a suit coat and the vest. And I had I got a vet I got the suit coat and the vest, and the suit coat was huge on me. It kind of looked like, you know, the whole talking heads, David Byrne, big jacket. But the vest, I could it had a nice little sizing in the back where you could tighten it at the at the waist. So the vest worked beautifully. Yeah. And that's the thing. It's like men, like you said, men's clothes are allowed to change. Correct. But women, you don't.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Yeah, you don't have that same. Even dresses, it's crazy. Like a lot of dresses out there, they're just made to be worn by one size. You know, and that's it. If you can't fit into it, then buy another one.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

And we went from one size fits all to one size fits most.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Okay. If you say something like that. Well, I was reading the other day an article about a company, I think it's called a Brandy Melville. Is that what it what it is? I don't know if you've heard of them. No. So yeah, they even had like, there's even like a documentary about them, like on HBO or something. And and but they're now their size, their their shink is one size. They've always been one size, always. But now the next thing is they're non-returnable and non-refundable and no dressing rooms. You have to look that up. You need to cover that one because I think that's something you can dig into and really and really come come up with a story in there. But it's a big become a big thing. It's called Brandy Melville. I think that's what I could have it wrong, but it is Brandy Melville. And um, yeah, so now they've gotten rid of the dressing rooms completely. And I think now there's not, I think there's like a no-return policy or something like that. And they're hugely successful. I'm telling you, like there's probably 200 stores around the world.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

But but here's the thing it goes back to something you were saying earlier about word of mouth. It's like if I tell you this pin is the best thing ever, it's gonna sell. It's like the pet rock, the pet rock is the prime example of that. The pet rock was a rock and a box. They were everywhere, and they were selling for $20, $20 a box, you know, $20 a rock. Come on, it was nothing. But I told you it's the best thing ever, therefore, and and that's the irony of like the Stanley Cups and the the Starbucks little bear. Everybody lines up to have them, but eventually they all end up at Goodwill.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Yeah, exactly. And that's what you don't want to have. You you don't want to, that's not my thing. I mean, there's a lot of people who've made a fortune making things that last five years or whatever, you know, big a trendy thing. I mean, when I look at lines at a store or I look at lines that, you know, I it it's not that's not for me. That's not something that I strive for. I don't strive to have a line outside the door, you know, because A, they're picking up one thing, you know, and uh it's just not, it's not, you know, and so when you have that kind of momentum that grows so fast and you make that quick buck, it just dissipates after that, afterwards, you know, and you don't hear about it.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

No, and and that's the thing, it's like what you're what you're doing is quality, and quality leads to loyalty.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Correct. And I have done things that did not uh that have the test of time. You know, I've had things where gee with like uh, you know, this beautiful fabric, it was amazing, and it just disintegrated, right? And it was just this beautiful fabric, and I was able to do so many things with it, and it became so trendy and so not trendy because I I'm not trendy, but you know, I was able to do beautiful things that sold really quickly. And then the next thing I knew was like it was just disintegrating, like the seams were disintegrating when they washed it or they, you know, yeah, because it was such a paper thin, like it was like onion skin fabric, but it was so beautiful that everyone that would grab it and touch it and and people to this day they still talk about it because it was a beautiful one one wear dress with with a little matching cardigan, but it was amazing, and you know, you could only be 20 years old to wear it because it was so thin, you know. But um, but you know, I've had those moments where, oh my God, like I thought I did something amazing and I gave it all the quality was, but the fabric wasn't at the level that you know I wanted it to be, you know, and so you can have those things and you know, and you apologize for it or you know, or whatever, but or or you don't hear it, but I knew that that those dresses were disintegrating, you know. Um, and you know, there's a lot of things that there's there's things that you do, and you know, as soon as I catch it, I just remove them. I just I don't even want to sell them on sale because I it's not at my level. And I just take the loot the loss and just move on, you know? And so uh yeah, I've done that as well, you know.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Have you ever thought, I mean, I've seen bigger name brands, uh Juicy Couture, things of that nature, that end up selling, selling the company, and then they become mass market. And I don't think people realize that it's no longer the same designers, that it's suddenly just this mass production thing that is made somewhere else and it's there's not the quality. Would you ever do something like that if you ever we I I did that?

SPEAKER_00 37:24

So we I I actually been down that road before, and you know, it took me a while to buy back the brand, you know, the name because they destroyed it and it became obsolete. It was nowhere. I gave them a company that was in 240 stores worldwide in 2007, and when I got it back in 2012, it was in no stores. And it was because they had taken the production um and sent it to China, you know, which they had in their other business, they had success, but they were a different price point. So they sent it to China and uh, you know, stores were like, we don't want this. This is not the the Alvin Valley that we want it uh to carry in our stores. Um and so I think that it happens all the time. A lot of brands buy you, buy a lot of companies buy a brand because they like what they're doing, but then they want to change it all because it's all about like squeezing the penny out. So there's no real, uh there's no emotional connection to the the product and to the designer and what that was all about. And this was someone who bought it because the wife was a big fan of the brand. And so, and and he was in manufacturing and he had like a billion-dollar company, you know, and so um it's so you know that happens. And the first time I did jeans, which actually we launched them with uh Paris Hilton, was uh also we got it into amazing distribution in Japan and and also in the US and all the best stores. And someone came in and bought the brand, they bought the segment of the denim, and it was called Valley Jeans by Alvin Valley. And within a season, it was destroyed, you know. So it happens, and um this time around, I'm I'm excited that I'm able to control every single facet of the of the process. If I don't like it, it doesn't go in. I don't, I'm not forced to doing something I don't want to do. Um, I don't uh produce something that is not up to par to what I what I feel. And you know, the difference between myself and a lot of designers or a lot of brands is that I meet the clients, I'm in front of them when they're trying them on. So, how embarrassing for me for something to be horrible in front of me, right? Like you know, so I think that that is the mentality that one as a designer and as a creator and also as an entrepreneur, a business owner should be thinking when they have that in front of the client. So if it's in front of, and I always tell people, take it because, and I'm the one selling it. It's not my salesperson selling it to you, it's me because I I believe that it's something you need and it looks amazing on you. And I so I can't produce something that disintegrates in front of me. How embarrassing is that, right? Because my clients, they don't care, they're way richer than me are than I am, and they will tell me to my face like this is crap. You know, I mean, I've had uh clients that walked into a dressing room that was uh I had a client that comes in with a dog and sheds crazily and left all this hair in the dressing room, and I guess nobody cleaned it right away. And this client came into the dressing room, she's like, This dressing room is disgusting. She bought tons of stuff. She told me the dressing room was disgusting, you know, but it's like, but that's who I'm dealing with. People who tell me exactly what they feel, you know, and so you I think once you you if you take responsibility that the product is going to be what it's going to be, and that you're gonna have your clients throwing out in front of you, that product is gonna be amazing. It has to be, you know? And so that's my two cents of that.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

It's the it's the adage of quality over quantity. You know, you have to have the the quality there. So out of all your celebrity clients, who was your favorite to work with?

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Uh my favorite, believe it or not, is actually Kate Winslet, which we were just talking about. She um is just an authentic person. She likes what she likes, she pays, which a lot of celebrities don't pay. And she'll say, like, give me a discount, but like I'll pay. Like, I don't need any free clothes, like Alvin. I don't need anything free. I can afford it. She's almost like, she's almost like, you know, like uh insulted if you say, Oh, I can give that, I'll give that to you. Um, but she's great because she understands quality, but also she's a woman that has like a real body. So when something for me, when something looks impeccable on her, like you know that I've done my job. Yeah. Because she feels like a gazillion bucks, and she feels thin, and she feels, you know, whether she's curvy or not curvy, because I think she goes up and down like on her weight and stuff like that, which everybody does, you know, every real woman does that, you know? And um, but I take pride that she's not the Nicole Kidman or the Penelope Cruz or the, you know, or the Cameron Diaz, all these girls who I had dressed before. You know, it's always good to see that a woman with a regular body looks amazing in anything that I do. And so I think she's one of my favorite, not only in her attitude. I mean, I think she quit smoking, but she used to smoke like tons. She was like, Can you open a window? I need to smoke. I need to see. And she curses like a sailor. So she would be on the phone cursing and like, you know, yelling at people, like, fuck off, you know, like, you know, and uh, but she's fun and she's great and she's gracious and uh she's beautiful. So yeah, she's like uh she's definitely one of my favorite um people that I've dressed. I've also dressed like people that are like obscure, that I loved uh Laura Branigan. I don't know if you remember her. Yeah, you remember her? Yeah, so Laura Branagan was another one that I love. She would come in and shop and get, you know, tail uh fitted as well. Um Farah Fawcett was another one that was a big fan. She would buy tons of pants, like by the bulk. Um, you know, she was another one and she's also uh passed away. Uh, you know, there's a lot of these uh women that knew how to shop and they have that pedigree of shoppers, you know, that we don't. Have anymore because now, if you look at a lot of celebrities today, or you know, first of all, if you look at reality TV, which is like a huge segment in our culture, you know, especially entertainment, everyone is badly dressed because they're so cheap that all they want is free stuff. I know people that were, I knew them before they became celebrity, like uh re reality celebrities who were actually authentic shoppers that dress so much better. And once they went on to reality TV, they're like, I'm not spending any money on clothes. Like, you know, I could wear, and they're wearing like cheap clothes, like cheap, ugly, free, and you can tell when it's a free garment, you know? And so it's funny how like that has happened. And you know, obviously, all the best dressed women on red carpets, they're they're wearing borrowed clothing.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

So a lot of the times I don't even go after them because my clients don't care what celebrities wear, they care what their neighbor is wearing, their billionaire neighbor next door, you know, but not their uh they don't care what a celebrity wears, you know, it's become less relevant today.

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Well, and I think, you know, looking at your pedigree of celebrities, I mean you had Gwyneth Paltro, Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Reese Witherspoon, Zoe Zadana, Cher, Celine Dion, and Madonna.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

That is, well, Madonna is a funny story because we uh she ordered like five trousers not too long ago, and you know, they she gave her delivery address, which is in Upper Upper East Side, Manhattan. And every assistant of mine were like, I'll go and deliver it. I'm like, why are you so excited? She's not gonna open the door. It'll be an assistant opening the door and saying thank you. Okay. But um, exactly. But um, yeah, no, a lot of those women, believe it or not, I mean, Sharon Stone is great, she's incredible, she wears a suit and a pants like really, really well. I think people relate, I think a lot of my clients relate to her. Um you know, uh, Zoe Zelda is beautiful. She's I've worked with her so many times. She actually was on my uh on uh uh on my runway. She did uh the closing runway part of my show. And she and this is like, you know, so she's someone who really is very generous. Um uh who else? I forgot who else. Oh, Cher. She would buy in by the bulk and just like she loved the pants, especially when I did leather pants. Um, she was incredible. Um, so yeah, so there's been a lot of a lot of those celebrities that have been, you know, great fans and supporters.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

Well, and the thing is, it also is a testament to that what you were saying about body shapes in women. I mean, J Jennifer Lopez's pants are gonna be definitely different than someone like Zoe's because their body shapes are completely different. And that's a testament to make it work.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

Absolutely. And I think that um, but that's where that's where the engineering and the fit comes into play, right? That you could dress two different body body types and be able to be to both the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Exactly. So that's it's a it's a testament to tour your to your designs because not everybody's gonna be able to pull that off.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

Well, you know, there were times though that I, you know, I would I would like people wouldn't, you know, oh my god, I'm here for the pants. I would here for the pants. And yeah, I would see them like, oh, perfect. Like, you know, and I knew they were how they would walk out, you know. But there were times where someone would come in and I'm like, oh my god, this is the person that's not gonna fit her, like, you know, like literally like this is the one. This is the one that's gonna say, no, this doesn't work for me. And they would walk out and they would look amazing. And I would be like, oh my God, it's almost like I dodged a bullet, you know, kind of uh, you know, because yes, of course, there's insecurity that that there might be someone that is not gonna be able to look great in the pants. And uh, but I will tell you, like, people will come into the store and now the jeans is a hot thing and everyone's buying jeans. Rarely do we have someone who walks out without buying them at any size, you know? And so um, so yeah, so it that's that's something I'm very proud of, and I feel very lucky to have great partners to work with that sort of uh, you know, translation in the sizes and in the fit, you know, because it's not just me coming up with that idea, it's about having someone to put it into production and to actually get it done. So, you know, and there's a lot of tricks that people don't know that I do in production, which makes the sizing work differently for different people, you know, and so that's like like what you would call the secret saws, you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:52

Well, and that's the one thing about women's clothing that if you're buying off the rack, you can go to one store and the size we'll say a size eight is this way, and you can go to a different store and that size eight is not gonna fit you because Well, that's like a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

That's a big it's called vanity sizing, that's a big thing, and I try not to do that at all because um I have a lot of clients that will come in and they will say, Oh, I'm this size, and I will I look at them and I won't correct them, you know, because that's just not my my style. And I'll say, here, this will fit you. And I'll give her what I think really is her size. And if it's a little bit bigger, great, right? Because, like, oh my god, no, give me a smaller one. Perfect. That's a great sort of feeling you want to have, like, oh, I can, you know, so I'd rather give you like a bigger size and you say to them, like, no, Alvin, I'm actually, I need another size smaller because I think that's too big. And so, but a lot of women have misconception because of vanity sizing of what their true size are, you know. I also use European sizing, which throws people off, which then American women are the one of the only women in the world that are really picky about sizing. And they and generally they're like, I'm a size zero, I'm not a two, I'm a size. Generally, it's the girls are like minuscule that are like, oh, there's no way I'm a four. I've always been a zero. You know, like that, you know, it's like usually those girls that complain. But um, but women are very picky in the US if they feel that the size is not what is in their brain, you know, they just won't take it. So our European size has kind of taken that away because people are like, oh, I don't know what size that is, you know. Oh, it's your size, you know, and then they're like, okay, perfect. You know, they don't argue. But um, yeah, I I feel a lot of uh damage has been done by a lot of manufacturers, a lot of brands that create these, like, you know, women who are like a size six, but they put a size zero on their tag, or you know, and so it it just it creates a misconception on who they are, and so women are kind of like baffled, like what size am I really?

SPEAKER_02 51:03

I had a friend who used to rip out the tag in all of her clothes. Well, that's smart. In fact, I have I ran across that the only reason this is very timely for me is because I was going through some clothes to get rid of to and I ran across this lovely red blazer with black velvet, you know, very dated, but still. And I'm looking at what size it is, and there's no tag. I'm like, uh-huh, okay. So I mean, some people because of that whole stigma with it, sometimes that's what people do. They will cut the tag out because that dare I say it's denial, you know. Of course, the excuse is it was rubbing my neck.

unknown 51:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

Even your pants? Even the pants, I don't think so. Yeah, yeah. But um, is there anything that we have not talked about that you would like to add?

SPEAKER_00 51:58

Oh my god, we can go on for hours and hours. I mean, I don't I don't think you you have the time for it.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

Oh, I have time, but I mean, if you want to continue a little longer, we can. I just I know you're from a store and I didn't want to monopolize your day.

SPEAKER_00 52:11

No one's bothered us so far. I have a big note. I had someone knocking on the door, three people knocking on the door, and I have a big sign. I'm like, I won't be back until one o'clock, but they can see me talking to you. There is a shop around the corner, though, that is uh known for not letting in people into the store. Okay. That is like that is hilarious. They all come back here running, like, oh my god, I went to that store around the corner, and she's looking at me going, like, nope, you can't come in. Like, people after people, she just rejects them from let coming into the store. And so I I guess she's just judging from outside and like this woman's not here to shop.

SPEAKER_02 52:51

You're just here to browse. Yeah, I'm gonna I I I would normally I would not do this. Normally I don't interview fashion designers. The white, is that a coat back there? The white fuzzy thing?

SPEAKER_00 53:02

Oh, this one, this one?

SPEAKER_02 53:03

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 53:06

It's Mongolian.

SPEAKER_02 53:07

Oh, that's fabulous.

SPEAKER_00 53:09

It's really, really light, it's perfect for aspid.

SPEAKER_02 53:12

That is that's fun and fabulous.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

Yeah, this is one of our uh best-selling coats right now.

SPEAKER_02 53:18

I can see why.

SPEAKER_00 53:19

It's dramatic, you know. I don't really do dramatic clothing, I don't design too much. I I try I design I try to be as sober as possible for people to feel you know pure and elegant. And but sometimes you need like a coat that just makes, you know, well, the thing behind you that's black and white, that doesn't look, I mean, everything else looks kind of, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:40

Everything else looks kind of sedate. And that's another one that looks kind of, yeah. That's a Jackie Collins, Joan Collins type.

SPEAKER_00 53:49

The leopard. Leopard is the new basic. Oh, I love leopard. I do. It's like leopard. And I love combining leopard with other types of animal prints, you know, leopard and zebra, and like, you know, but um, yeah, that's uh this is this is a great coat. It's been um it's my second time that I cut it, and it just sells out like crazy. And people come in, they see a woman, and they're like, Who's this at Alvin Valley? They come in, they're like, I saw I was at dinner last night, and I saw this woman wearing. So that's like a coat that brings in people, uh word of mouth. And then uh these are great too. These are the Wellington coats, which is like our best-selling coat. Nice, very nice, you know, with like lamb skin and uh detail leather and cashmere. So it's a little, you know, that's more our look. That's more of our the Alvin Valley sort of sedate look.

SPEAKER_02 54:39

Nice, and I mean it's it's okay to be sedate. I mean, the thing is though, it's not totally sedate because you have color, and that's something that we have gotten away from. I mean, the 80s were colorful, the 70s were colorful, 60s, 90s, even. And as we've gone through the 2000s, we've gotten more monochrome and just yeah, yeah, it's very it's very cookie-cutter.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

Yeah, there's no personality anymore in styling whatsoever. No, and I can't go ahead. No, I it's just the it's just the culture that we're in, and obviously everybody wants the same thing, you know. I mean, this whole idea with like birkenbags and like you know, the same birken bags that everybody has to have. So everyone has them, whether they're fake, cheap, or whatever, they they have them. And so, you know, and it's just the whole perpetuity of of selling and buying the same thing over and over and over to the point that if you can't get it, you just buy a dupe. So, you know, I I try to stay away from that. Our client, my clients kind of like don't go into that, they're a little bit more sophisticated. But, you know, once in a while you'll get somebody who's like, oh, like that's too much for me, or you know, and so you have to reinvent them a little bit. And that's what that's what people come here for. They come in because they want to keep be who they are, but they want to be pushed a little bit to have just that one thing that someone is gonna say, What is that? You know, but without taking away your personality, without taking your own image, you know, you don't want to wear something that just no one remembers you at all, but they remember the coat.

SPEAKER_02 56:16

It it goes back to what you were saying about making your own clothes back in the day. We we are lacking individuality. Everybody wants to be wants to conform. Um, yes, I you know, I mean, everybody knows I have a wig. I went through cancer, and my biggest fear was losing losing my hair. And yes, I lost my hair and it came back except for the front. So it's like just to to humor myself, I put the wig on. But the thing is, part of me is sitting here going, I didn't look bad, bald.

SPEAKER_00 56:48

Yeah. Well, you know, some people pull it off really well, like doing the bald look, you know, and then people love it. You know, I've I saw like there was like a uh, I don't know who it is, maybe you know she's a black celebrity and she's bald. And oh the one in Wicked. Is that her? Well, she's not bald. Is she oh, she is bald, right? She's very much it's very thin. Yeah, she's bald. Yeah. I never know is she, but no, but I think it's somebody else, it's not her. But they pull it off because you know, I think they feel like a little bit more confident, and also they've always had a conversation about hair, much more than white girls, you know. So I think that, but the the great thing about it, just so you know, wigs are at the all-time high, like all-time high, and not for people who've had cancer. I mean, it's just I was watching the new show that Nicole Kidman is uh is on now called Lioness. I was on it. Yeah, what you're talking about, yeah. And I mean, she's wearing wigs in every episode, and it's just like, and I can tell because I mean I've been around women long enough to know like the wig, right? But she's wearing so many wigs, like I don't even know what her hair looks like, you know. So it's just it's kind of crazy. Wigs have become such a big thing for a lot of uh, you know, it's just become an accessory now, you know, because people don't want to damage their hair. It's too much drying, there's too much iron curling their hair or whatever. So I mean, I think wigs are like, you know, whether you're wearing a fall or you're wearing a wig, or you know, it's a it's a a thing now.

SPEAKER_02 58:22

Well, Joan Collins, I mean, and and the wigs come and go, that's the thing. Wigs will have their heyday and then they kind of fade out. And you know, now it's like, well, I have eyebrows. Before I didn't have any eyebrows either. That was really, I look, I I I jokingly said it looked like a human thumb. But so it's like if I go bald now, it's not a big deal. And yes, wigs are great. And and Joan Collins, back in her dynasty days, back to Joan Collins again. Um, you never saw Alexis's real hair. That were they were all wigs because she said the damage from the lights on set were incredibly harsh. And going back to Nicole Kidman, her recent Vogue magazine, she doesn't even look like her. A lot of people were like, is this Joanna Lumley? Because I think it was for British Vogue. And so Joanna, yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 59:09

She does look like Joanna Lumley from AppFab. Yes, which I love, you know. Of course. But people, I mean, do people age? Mm-hmm. Yes, you know, and Joanna Lumley was a beautiful woman when she was young, you know, probably even more beautiful than than Nicole Kidman.

SPEAKER_01 59:26

Yeah.

unknown 59:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:27

You know, and so I mean, yeah, that that's funny that you but that now with AI and all the retouch and everything, you know, that it's just you don't know what you don't know what you're seeing is real or not.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

And it it's nice that's it's nice that we've had this conversation with somebody in an authentic way. And that's the thing, authenticity is one of the most important key components, that empathy and what is real is gonna end up taking us further than anything AI is ever gonna offer us.

SPEAKER_00 59:56

Yeah. Oh, totally.

SPEAKER_02 59:58

So I know I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

But I love that you're wearing wigs, though. I mean, have you do you only have one?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:04

I got multiple. This is the one I use the most. And the funny thing is, going through cancer the whole time, I never I wore it on one podcast, and the this guest comes on and he's got a mask. They were it was a band, and they had two guys, and one of them was wearing this mask. And I'm like, if there's a time for me to go bald on the podcast, this would be it. So that was the day I went bald, and I I didn't a lot of the podcast. It was more that my hair has come back that just the bald spot. It's okay for a man to have that bald spot, but a woman, yeah, yeah. So it it's one of those things where it's like, I wear it now just mainly on the podcast. If I'm out in public, I'm whatever, you know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:45

Well, whatever makes you comfortable, yeah. You know, I feel like you're you're you know, I've gained so much weight, like it goes back to, you know, I've gained so much weight in the last two years. I mean, I'm talking about like 40 pounds, like 40 pounds heavier. Well, now a little bit like 32 or whatever, because I'm losing it, but um, but nothing diminishes me. I'm not, it's not in my head. Like, you know, I mean, it's in my head when I put my clothes on, and I'm like, I cannot shop again. Like, I'm not buying, like, you know, and actually it's more about financial situation than it is about like gaining weight. It's like, no, I I don't, I'm not gonna buy more pants. I need to lose this weight. And so, you know, I I am so I'm happy. I don't think that I'm like, oh my god, you're fat. You're like, and I'm sure people some people say, like, oh, he has gained weight. But I don't live, I don't live in that, and that's what you're saying. It's like you can't live in a world where you're thinking less of yourself because you're not who you used to be. Right. You know what I'm saying? You have to embrace the new, the new you. And if you've lost your hair and it's come back, it might come back fully, it might come back even more. Because some people the hair comes back and it's like thicker than it was before. Or, you know, when it came back, it is.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:00

And the thing is, and the thing is, I'm I'm I know it's a th, I know it's a thyroid issue. I know it's these other issues. I also know that my grandfather was bald and my mom had thin hair, so I know it's hereditary. So it's like it's all these things, and you just you have to accept it. And and I have to say, like the celebrities that we were seeing that had dad bods and and and showing the real self before the whole Olympic craze. We were seeing people age, and that's that's the reality of things. You know, Pam, Pamela, Pamela Anderson, I mean, she went from the glamour gal to being a real woman. Yes. And and not, and I love glamour, I love Marilyn Monroe. I, you know, I I love that that whole aesthetic. But being an older person now, it's like I also like seeing people real.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:51

Well, it's funny because with Pamela Anderson, it, you know, I don't even know if it was a gimmick or if it wasn't, but it worked, whatever it was, whether it inspired her to not wear the makeup. And she was trying to make a statement out of that, right? Because I mean, she's always been like a PETA supporter, and you know, uh, and and I just think that she and she was against like products that you know did animal testing and and all that. And so, but Pamela Anderson now is much more beautiful than she ever was like 30 years ago, you know, and she's beautiful and she feels you feel like she has some substance, right? Uh she's grown into that. And now I don't mind seeing her with makeup like you can't put some makeup on if you want to, because she's a beautiful woman, you know. So, you know, I I now I'm like, okay, now you're not wearing makeup. Like, okay, you got you can put it back on. Like it's fine, even if you go a little bit, but who am I? Right. Like, you know, like I'm nobody to her, like she doesn't care. You know, she's gonna do what she wants to do. And I think that's the the world that we need to enter is the world where women can claim their own voices and claim their own opinions and how they want to see themselves and not how men should perceive them or how other women should perceive them, right? Because women live with a constant weight on their head about how they're being perceived, whether they're walking in, whether they're a mother or they're a working mother, am I a good mother? You know, women have this really big heavy weight on them that that sort of needs to be sh it needs to go away, you know, because men don't have that. Men don't think, oh, like, you know, I work really hard, am I gonna be a bad dad? Or, you know, they don't they don't feel that, you know, that that heaviness in in their lives, you know, and I think it's something that we need to say, okay, is this a product of culture or is it self-imposed? Because I always try to build women up. For me, my job has always been about building women, right? I I make clothes to build them, to make them feel better. Not because I they're horrible looking and I want them to look better, you know. Yeah, I want them to look better, but I already get women who are in shape, right? So they they love my jeans because it shows their body, you know, it's not baggy jeans that now all these young girls are wearing. You know, this is these are the mothers. So so for me, it's always about lifting women up and making them feel good. Whenever if I'm in front of them, I always get this comment like, oh my God, you always make me feel so good. I know you always make me feel like amazing when I see you, you know? And that's important. You know, it's an important thing that we need to embrace. And like you're saying with the wig, like that wig is not gonna change who you are. You know, am I gonna be shocked because you're like, for the first time, I see you without a wig? Probably I'll be like, oh my god, that's not how I remember you, right? But it doesn't matter, it's not about me. It's not, you know, and so I feel like a lot of women, especially, and you're not the first person I know that's gone through chemo and that a lot, you know, a lot of women have gone through that, like more than more than I care to even like know, you know, and so a lot of um the whole idea is that you're getting better and that you're getting. healthier and that you're coming back to who you who you are now you know that's all that matters you know at the end of the day not what anybody thinks not what I think not what anybody you know and so I I love the fact that you're like well he's got a a mask on I'm gonna take off my wig take off your wig whenever you want whether somebody looks incredible you might be even making more of a statement if it's somebody that's like you know totally posh and polish and you know um so yeah no I think you need to do like you need to do you you need to be who you are and you need to be authentic and that's what at the end of the day is like if you're if you run into someone that doesn't make you feel good cut it off.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:38

Oh yeah I mean and and that's and to go back to your to to go to your point I think that women from the time we are little kids especially my generation we were taught okay you need to look a certain way you need to act a certain way my mouth used to get me in trouble when I was a kid um my mom would send me with to school with frilly little lace socks and my hair all curled and everything and she said by the time I came home my socks were black because I was playing I didn't want to be this yeah and and the funny thing is yes I went through my whole glamour girl high heels short skirt phase two. I went through all of that and what I've learned by being almost 60 years old is the fact that I have to be me and I have to accept me and all my flaws. And I think that comes with age because as you were saying we are told by so many other people outside of us as women well you didn't do that right you you could have done that better. You should have you shouldn't be wearing that I mean back in my biggest day I would wear a push-up bra and a halter dress and my friends would walk behind me because I was always busty to watch other women gawk and jaws drop yeah I had no problem I ignore I didn't even know it I had my my hair was blonde I I thought my shit didn't stink you know we all had that moment truthfully most likely I wasn't all that but in my mind I thought I was and that's the thing we it's it's our confidence level that matters and that's that's really where all of us should work on like on how we feel confidently you know I I've never felt like I was you know when I was younger and gay I was really cute and I but all my friends were hot guys muscly and ripped and I was just cute I had like long hair but I would get I would always meet like the guys that were like hey you want to go to Europe with me I'll fly you out and I'm like yeah let's go and then my friends they were all getting like they were getting hooked they were getting 10 guys at a time hooking up but they were all like nobody you know they were just you know and so again it goes back to quantity versus quality and so I would get the quality guys that you know spotted me and they're like hey what's going on but I would get one.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:56

I mean well they would get 10 but they were like you know random guys you know and so it's it's all about how do you weigh how do you measure uh what makes you feel good does it is it by the quantity of guys who are telling you how hot you look or is it because there's this one person that you're able to like fall in love with and have like a real thing with or you know so you know you're constantly measuring yourself with that you know and a lot of women say to me like oh my god like you know Alvin like I'm going to this party but you don't understand this girl's gonna be there and she's always on like who cares like it you know it doesn't matter like you have to be you you can't be competing with all the other women or make it feel like make you feel like other women are better looking than you are or you know so it's all about bringing back everyone into their own body into their own selves and their own brain you know I mean I'm looking at you you're a beautiful woman you look stunning you're still beautiful you have beautiful high cheekbones you have beautiful lips beautiful eyes and so for me it's like what how do you how do you show that right focus on like what you have and not like what everybody else is it has or doesn't have or and then whether it's a wig or it's not a wig I mean yeah you could do have fun well with a wig I I have other ones and this is the one I'm most comfortable in but you know the the thing too is I want to say when you were when you were going through your you know meeting these guys with your longer hair and everything the times were different because now when you look at like social media and you have these guys that are like hey I'm gonna take a hammer to my face so I get better cheekbones.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:39

And I know that it it's somebody's pulling the strings and paying people to say things like this.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:44

But it's just like why are we doing so ridiculous you know it's the adage of well if Tommy jumps off a bridge are you gonna follow him and we've become such that it's but it's also part of what the culture now has become we now see I see girls who are 25 year old that have done so much crap to themselves that they look like they're 38. You know they look like they're 45. So it's funny how like you know suddenly you know we now judge those girls for doing so much right to themselves because they gave in to the oh my God I need to do all this you know injections I need to get Botox I need to get fillers I need to get my nose done three times not once but three times you know so when is enough so most of it is in their heads it they're not reacting to what their their brain is already like distorted of their own vision. So a lot of it is just psychological. So these people that you see they're like you know it's a sad situation because on top of that they don't look wealthy they don't look they look worse they look like they're just crazy people I mean I interviewed a kid who he was in Australia and he he wanted to have that perfect Facebook profile picture.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:07

This was years ago when he did this and so he kept losing weight and working out and he still did not achieve that he didn't it didn't change it it didn't change anything for him so he climbed on a roof of a shopping mall over in Australia and jumped and he is paralyzed that's from the waist down and so he has now made it up made an a mission to talk to teens about their image and their body and he has gotten stronger he still can't walk he's still wheelchair bound but he's made strides but it was all because as you were saying the psychology of I want to have what everybody else has I want to be popular.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:52

Correct and that's yeah it's that it's that but that's where we that's where we're at you know but anyway okay well I love this I was gonna say I thank you for your talk about I I thank you for your time and um is there anything you want to add real quick before I say goodbye no I think we covered it all.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:13

Okay you know well thank you for um yeah thank you so much being able to talk to Alvin a fashion designer was kind of I don't want to say a dream but it was kind of one of those things where it was amazing for me because of the sheer fact that during the 80s I had the subscription to Vogue Mademoiselle uh allure uh all the fashion magazines Bazaar Harper's Bazaar L I was looking at them for inspiration and wanting to pursue that and I did get to do some modeling and I'm I'm happy I did but fashion was everything it wasn't that I was going out buying designer clothes kind of like Alvin I was design I was creating my own outfits taking what I could find especially like from thrift stores and creating the pieces that I wanted which we've talked about a little bit before that you know my ideas of fashion would lead my mother to sit there and say I had some issues and I needed to go get checked out um because you know she didn't see my vision and when I went to the mental health hospital to be be checked out as she would say which was just basically sitting down taking tests and discussing something with a therapist the therapist looks at me and that's the attire I'm wearing and says well you're creative and your mother doesn't understand that you know I'm just paraphrasing real quick but the fact is my that's what I was I was creating my own fashion I was creating an image of who I wanted to be you know there was a time in my life from say 1986 to 1989 that I went from being a redhead to dyeing my hair black to dyeing my hair blonde to having this whole life experience of changing and evolving my I don't want to say like Madonna but in my own little Madonna way. I changed who I was because I wanted to experiment with my looks I wanted to you know I I often laugh at me dyeing my hair black and wearing all black clothes you know nowadays it would have been considered goth back then it was just like well I don't want anybody to look at me. The problem with that is when you decide to do something that is not the norm i.e black hair black clothes um nobody's gonna not look because you don't fit in you don't have the bow slapped in the back of your hair you don't have the overpermed hair you don't have the pastels on you're wearing solid black so you're like a big neon sign without neon of course going hi look at me so it kind of backfired and that takes hindsight that takes being an adult and yeah I guess my mom had a reason to be a little upset but that's not what upset her. It wasn't the black clothes and the black hair it was when I was doing my retro ode to the 1950s uh with the big hat and gloves and little pocket person taking those pieces and and doing the vintage thing I was into Marilyn Monroe common sense would have said hey I'm trying to emulate but no so the even even my shorts were kind of hot pants but the thing about it is I was comfortable owning that I was comfortable being me and she didn't see that so which goes back to the conversation that we were having of being comfortable I mean if you've tuned in the podcast before you've seen me in multiple stages you've seen me with the wig you've seen me bald and you've seen me with the the the the solar panel as some people you know uh the men used to say that a bald spot on their head was a solar the solar panel for their sex machine. Yeah okay whatever but the fact of the matter is you have to be comfortable for you and and the one thing Alvin and I didn't talk about I mean I've looked at you can go back to the very first parts of the the podcast and yes I'm a little chunky but then you see me lose weight my face thins out and I I was proud of myself after my husband died I lost weight and then I've gained some of it back. I haven't gained it all back but I've gained some of it back but I also have to give myself grace and I think that also is another part of that conversation of when when do we as women give ourselves grace and we don't because you know when I look at what I've been through and this isn't I'm not martyring myself but when I look at what I've been through the since not even since my husband passed we'll just say from 2024 to now and during that time I had to help had to pack up a house I lost friendships I moved I got cancer I lost some more friendships and now I'm here and here is a place where it's like well do I want to continue doing the podcast do I want to keep writing because AI is trying to take over everything I do. Do I feel strong enough to do this? I'm never gonna have the life I used to have and it it's like you have to come to terms with all of those things. And the biggest thing about that and my friends have reminded me of this is that you have to allow yourself some grace and we don't do that. Especially if you're single and you're an older woman and you don't have kids because then especially in certain realms of society now what is your worth what do you offer what is your value and the truth is I'm a human being and I have a story to tell and I have value but we're often made to feel that we don't especially when a woman hits a certain age and I am more vocal now that I am getting closer to 60 because I don't feel like I'm 60 I I sit there and and wonder when did that happen? I remember being 30 I remember being 20. When the hell did 60 happen I'm not there yet but it's certainly knocking on the door and all I can do is keep going. And that's all any of us can do is keep going and try to take those moments that make you feel good. So if going to Alvin's store and he hands you something and you're like that's not the right size let him make you feel good. Let him treat you like you should be treated because the one thing that we need to learn is to treat people to build them up to make them happy. And and I have to say I've been in a lot of different industries and and people can come for me for this but I've seen book drama lately I have seen drama where you know we're gonna build everybody up in the metaphysical realm because I used to be part of that and what happens is we don't build anybody up the it becomes clickish and we be and it becomes this really just petty bullshit and the fact of the matter is there's too much bullshit going on that we need to quit jumping on bandwagons and going okay this is the greatest thing ever or okay do you see what she's doing we need to take her down why because she got a book deal because she got a movie deal because their their metaphysical business is doing better than yours what is the point of that what is the point of tearing other people down we need to start building up everybody. We need to start trying to make people feel better and we need to try to start getting along more because all the hate and all the darkness in the world is just gonna rip us apart. So if going over to Alvin's store makes you feel wonderful and you can get that custom tailored pair of pants or jeans or that fabulous jacket by all means do so because he's going to work with you personally and that that is a gift in itself because you have somebody that actually is going to give a damn about what you're putting on your body and how good it's gonna make you look it's not the sales clerk that's at the the l the whatever store you choose going oh do you need a bigger size? Okay This is somebody going yeah okay I'm gonna make this work for you and you're gonna look fabulous when it's all said and done. So Alvin was an interesting interview and I had fun doing it and I hope you enjoyed listening to it. And on that note I'd like to thank FastSusie for the intro and outro music. I'd like to thank you guys of course for tuning in and I'd like to thank Alvin and whatever you're listening morning noon or night know that it means a lot. It really does and yeah I'm I'm being honest I'm about to hit 250 episodes and I'm not sure if I want to continue. And I know I've had taken breaks before but I'm not sure where I'm at with it. So time will tell that episode is in November and so we'll see if that's gonna be the last episode or if we're gonna continue on. But anyway I thank you for listening and I hope you have a wonderful day. And I'll catch you next time guys bye