Girl Is Poison: Indie Designer Crush: Indiscretions

Indiscretions: Do you dare?
By Lux

I have known Mara, owner and designer of Indiscretions, for so long I couldn’t tell you how we began our online friendship. However, I’m no less glad that Mara is still around when so many other DIY designers that launched clothing labels around the same time have gone by the wayside. Indiscretions, and now Haute Indiscretion, continues to be a source of inspiration for me as a designer as well as for others in the DIY community.

This one is my favorite!

At first glance, many wannabe fashionistas probably would not know what to think of Mara’s funky and eclectic style. They may even shun it as being too “out there” or “off the wall” without seeing it’s true value. They might take her self-described, tongue-in-cheek approach to fashion as a sign that she is not a serious designer. Those who do would be dead wrong. There is a method to her madness, so to speak. Indiscretions as a clothing line is as unique as it is possible to get. Most of her pieces are OOAK (one of a kind) and as you can probably tell from the photos below you will not find clothes like this anywhere else. Even the fashion forward clotheshorses of Japan couldn’t dream up the garments that Mara does. It’s this kind of out of the box thinking that makes Mara such an inspiration in a sea of look alike t-shirt surgeons. She manages to keep a DIY aesthetic without doing what everyone else is doing. With an MA in Costume Studies/Decorative Arts from NYU as well as a BFA in Jewelry/Metalsmithing and Art History she definitely isn’t doing what everyone else is doing; she’s in a league all her own.

Mara’s studies at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art have helped hone her skills in garment construction and pattern making, as any seamstress knows, this is not so simple a task. Her experience there also taught her a lot about textiles which, unfortunately too few indie designers know too little about. Her travels around the world have supplied her with ample inspiration as well as the rare materials she uses to bring her vision to life. As can be seen from her distinctive designs, Mara loves to experiment and does so frequently. A woman after my own heart! In addition to sewing and designing, she has also painted and even blown glass. This desire to work in different mediums adds another layer of interest to her designs. In addition to these other artistic pursuits and running her own business, Mara is a fixture in her local fashion and art scene. She has several fashion shows and collaborations with models and photographers under her belt.

Mara, who is based in New Mexico, is married and a proud parent of two. She has always had the aspiration to create an (in her own words) “unusual and unforgettable” clothing line. Not only has she succeeded but she continues to push the envelope and to challenge the rest of us to make our most out of the ordinary ideas a reality. Much like the heads of the major fashion design houses, she is so filled with creative energy that she would probably not be happy making the same garment over and over again. One day she may just have a team of worker bees to do that for her…