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Had a chance to interview Designer & Owner of ONIKAI a Unique clothing line founded by Oni Auer about her love of fashion and the inspiration behind her new collection.

F: Thank you for taking the time to chat with me about your line?
O: Of course!

F: When did you first fall in love with fashion?  
O: I remember being 8 years old and putting on a white mod chenille dress that had gold brass chains across the neckline for a performance that I was singing in for the mayor of Baltimore.  Back then that’s how I paid bills. (laughs) I was obsessed with the detail of this dress that I had gotten at a thrift store for 99 cents and wanted to be part of whatever world included things like that dress.  I’m pretty sure that’s when I fell in love.

F: When did you realize you wanted to pursue Fashion as a career?
O: It’s always something my heart wanted to do but for what ever reason I let other realities in my life restrict me.  One day my senior year of high school I literally woke up and was just like “fuck it” this is going to happen, and I’m going to design school; I made up my mind and I found a way to do what I wanted to do.  At the time I had everything set in place to go to med school and be a dermatologist, before that I even considered Veterinary medicine.  I would have been a horrible doctor.

F: How did you get your line started?
O: About two years ago I launched a t-shirt line that was originally going to be a combo of urban and art.  The more I branched out and starting using my stuff in shoots and tv shows and on red carpets I realized that I wasn’t really utilizing my full potential as a designer; I wasn’t applying the talent that I used every day in the corp. design world to my own line.  And that’s pretty wack! (laughs) So I started doing cut n’ sew, having bigger fashion events, I started branching out more and more and slowly but surely the line is what it is today.  And even now, I know that this is only a small portion of what it can and will be.

F: What is the inspiration behind your new collection?
O: The new collection is inspired by the the idea that we all have a bad or more so mischievous persona; its sort of the light and dark of our personalities.  In the look book film the main character is being chased by her “dark” self and she comes to realize in the end that this dream land that her mischievous side is existing in is really reality.  It’s this idea that we can’t really hide from those dark parts of our selves… and I really think this idea is translated into the collection.  There are really airy and floaty romantic pieces that are in dramatic and strong colors and then there are more funky yet light and heavenly pieces that sort of show the more ready to wear side of the collection.

F: If you could use one word to describe your collection what would it be?
O:  Dreamy.

F: How do you feel your personal style relates to your collection?
O: My personal style doesn’t really inspire my collection; my collection is always inspired by an outside idea or aesthetic.  I would wear every single piece in my collection, but my day to day style just depends on how I’m feeling that day.  Sometimes my style is very basic, a dress with tights and heels and sometimes it’s very funky.  I do frequent my ONIKAI jumpers weekly though, can not get enough.

F: What can we expect next from you and your company?
O: Well the new line is coming out in March, along with the ONIKAI look book film (by WENDEL) that will be premiering for fashion week March 2nd!  I’m really excited and I cannot wait for people to see both the line and the film, so far both have exceeded my expectations.  I’ve been challenging my view points as a designer, I think it’s important  to be present within your creative community and have a strong opinion as a designer.  Designing clothing is no longer good enough, you have to give people a story behind the t-shirt, the dress, the outfit.  So that’s my main goal for 2012, giving people a story behind ONIKAI, and a reason to fall in love.

Yours truly, Oni Auer