According to her website, Debra Rodman's designs range from stop-and-stare sexy to rock & roll confident to buttoned-up-with-an-edge. Her collection of flirty dresses and sensual designs are a magnet for savvy sophisticates with worldwide fashion sensibilities and design DNA. Every piece is hand made in New York to capture the eye and imagination of her global girlie clients who appreciate fresh, alluring design and exceptional value. Debra's signature pinafores and girlie dresses introduced over the last two seasons have made fans of editors resulting in stellar press and a casting call of style icons visiting her Nolita boutique, too numerous to name. The Debra Rodman collection is created for women who are unapologetic in their joie de vivre and passionate in curating their own personal style. Ms. Rodman's hope is that the collection speaks all that she has learned: That feminine beauty should sacrifice nothing, that style enhances strength and that fashion exists to liberate. I recently caught up with the designer to talk about her inspirations, her Yogini line, and the little black dress that will last forever!

(l) Artist's Coat; (r) Global Girlie

Lisa Martinez: What were your design inspirations, themes, and influences for this collection?

Debra Rodman: International, bi-coastal, season-less. To create a look that is global and could go anywhere. I used core inspirations of femininity and sweetness, steeped in doses of compassion, individuality, personal strength and style'

LM: Tell me about the color story?

DR: I wanted to use strong colors - lots of beige, black and blue. 

LM: What are the fabrics?

DR: I used laces, polys, dotted Swiss, embroidered cottons, French cottons, silk jacquards and crinkled chiffons. I wanted to mix the soft fabrics with the sturdy fabrics to produce a hard and soft effect. My favorite dress from spring is the global girlie because it is very feminine; the strapless dress accents the body perfectly with bare shoulders, but [it's] very rugged because the fabric is so sturdy. It is the little black dress that will really last forever!

(l) Roma Girlie; (r) First Class Girlie

LM: We've seen a great play on proportions this season with more voluminous shapes, tell me about the silhouette.

DR: I wanted to use lots of soft and rounded edges to keep the looks feminine while at the same time using the strong colors and the sturdy fabrics. I wanted the shapes to be comfortable and give space around the body, offering soft, curvaceous looks that are somehow slimming at the same time.

LM: Your bio references a somewhat nomadic upbringing. Were your parents in the military or diplomats?

DR: My parents were business people. My dad is a self made man who took his wife and family wherever the opportunities were. He was a very old fashioned man with a strong work ethic and an enormous love for his family. We changed countries like some people change coats, so it became very important to me to keep my own identity and my own sense of style. I took bits and pieces of fashion from every country we lived in and made my own style.

(l) Great Expectations; (r) Thoroughbread Girlie

LM: How did you make the transition from poetry and film to designing?

DR: Yoga was the transition. As a literary agent, I didn't need clothes to wear to work because I worked out of my house most of the time. I needed a 'suit' for a more esoteric lifestyle, which included yoga. Yogini was then born out of the desire to create a more comfortable blue jean' I could practice yoga in them and still wear them out to lunch without feeling uncomfortable. My intention was to come up with clothing for people with individual and alternative lifestyles and people responded to what I was doing. I started by designing the simplest yoga pant and then added embellishments. I eventually got tired of just doing yoginis (pants) and started experimenting with other things and before I knew it, I launched debraRODMAN.

LM: Do you still practice Yoga?

DR: Yes, I do yoga! I have practiced for 30 years!

(l) Soho; (r) Cocktail Dress

LM: Tell me more about the debraRODMAN client? What is her lifestyle?

DR: Her lifestyle is busy, like my own. She loves traveling, shopping, art, design ' She loves being active and having fun. She is feminine but with an edge of rock n' roll.

LM: What is the price range?

DR: The dresses retail for around $300 and up and the coats can be just under $1,000.

(l) Waitress Girlie; (r) Florence

Debra Rodman's exquisite eye for design and imaginative fashion sense was shaped in the world's great capitals of culture and creativity: Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Geneva, London, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She has lived and traveled all over the globe. Debra spent her youth writing poetry and was sponsored by Allen Ginsburg, leading apostle of the Beat generation of poets, to appear at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in New York City, the premier forum for innovative poetry in the United States. She morphed from poet to rock & roll songwriter/performer, to riding shot gun to Dylan's Street Legal Tour, to co-authoring the book The Rolling Stones: Black and White Blues, to founding her own literary agency, Emerald, receiving one of the largest advances ever for the nonfiction book, 'Story' by Robert McKee, screenwriting guru, and world renowned lecturer. Her love of yoga and desire for a street wear look that encompassed both function and style, lead her to design the highly popular Yogini collection. Celebrities including Selma Blair, Zoe Saldana, Laura Prepon, Maggie Grace, Shannon Elizabeth and Tara Thompson have all worn her collection' Her collection will be also available in the Los Angeles area starting January 2007 at Blue, Aura, Planet Blue, Hillary Rush and Ron Herman.

(l) Heart Girlie; (r) Big Bow Dress

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