Q&A With Designer Trina Turk

Turk’s pieces are vibrant, luxurious, yet easy going. Beyond just fashion, the line also includes swimwear, accessories, and home goods too, with an impressive range of 11 new collections each year.

We caught up with LA-based designer, who is opening a new boutique at Scottsdale Fashion Square next month, to chat about her love for fashion design and all things Trina Turk.

WILL YOU HAVE THE SAME GOODS AS YOUR OTHER BOUTIQUES OR WILL IT BE SPECIFICALLY TAILORED TO SCOTTSDALE?
Each one of our stores has an assortment that’s tailored to the location. We will offer a similar selection to what we offer in Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE DESIGN PROCESS?
The part that is most interesting to me is actually working on the print, the color and the selection of textiles that we use. Each delivery you want to select colors and prints and fabrications that all work together and can work back and forth. So the fabric is actually the fun part for me, and the styling as well. But my real passion is the fabric.

Photo by Jonathan Skow

WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION FOR SELECTING THESE FABRICS?
We work with fabric companies from all over the world: France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, India, China, Japan. We regularly see what the fabric companies are doing and a lot of the inspiration does come from fabric, but you know, we could also be inspired by a museum exhibit— anything could spark inspiration.

HOW DO YOU REFUEL YOUR CREATIVE ENERGY?
I don’t have the luxury of being able to go on an inspiration trip for every collection because we do 11 collections per year, so it’s really about being in touch with what’s going on in the world and especially in the art world, the design world and keeping your eyes open.

Living in Los Angeles, there’s a lot going on and I think that just being here and being out in the city provides lots of inspiration.

Photo by Jonathan Skow

HOW FAR IN ADVANCE ARE YOU WORKING ON THESE COLLECTIONS?
It’s about a year. Right now we’re finishing up what will be in the stores next February and March and we are working on other collections that come after that up until what will be in the store July of 2019.

We’re always working on multiple collections at the same time; one thing is in production and another thing is in fabric development and another thing, you know, we’re just starting to think about what the fabrics will be. It is very fast paced.

Photo by Jonathan Skow

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR TOP PICKS FROM THE SUMMER COLLECTION?
Right now we are loving the color yellow; it’s been doing very well for us both as a solid and in prints. We have a lace fabrication that has a scalloped fringe on it and we have a cotton-slub fabric that we do trousers and dresses in that has a nice surface texture.

Cross-hatch chambray is a fabrication that’s been doing great for us. It’s a linen-blend chambray that has a surface texture to it and we wash it down and it’s very kind of soft, drapey and easy for summer.

One thing that’s new on the floor is a bandana print inspiration, we’ve been doing a lot of scarf print inspirations that have sort of striped borders and it’s something that we do that maybe differentiates us a little bit because we can do these kind of complicated placed prints where the print is designed specifically for the garment that it’s being made into.

CAN YOU GIVE US A LITTLE PREVIEW ABOUT THE FALL COLLECTION?
Fall for Trina Turk is not heavy, we like to keep it bright and keep the optimistic vibe that is part of our brand identity. So there’s definitely color, the color just gets a little bit deeper.

The fabrications are still light so you can wear them in fall and beyond. Fall actually hits the floor in July, August and September, which are pretty much the hottest months of the year across the country. We’ve started approaching it as much more of a “wear now” concept. We’re keeping the weights of the fabric light so that you could wear it right then.