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LONDON FASHION WEEK... FASHION INTRO 101. I discovered fashion when I was about 14 or 15. I was a really awkward teenager. I was gay in a small town, I had shoulder-length black hair with bleached-blond strips in the front, and I would wear a dog collar with a big tie-dyed Bob Marley shirt and wide-leg JNCO jeans. My first boyfriend, Neil, was really into fashion and [designers such as] Jean Paul Gaultier. He introduced me to those things, and I began to understand style a bit more and the power that style has. A CUT ABOVE. I'm thankful for everything that El Centro has given me. Teachers, like Michael Anthony, were wonderful and taught me so much about pattern cutting. That may sound boring, but that's actually the nitty-gritty of the industry. They teach it at a very high standard. When I graduated, I could cut a design and have it almost right in a single day, whereas other people needed three or four. A STAR IS BORN. In my final year at El Centro, I entered my graduate collection into Career Day, the Fashion Group International of Dallas annual competi- tion. I won the Best of Show award and the Paris American Academy Couture Award, which was a scholarship [to study] in London and Paris. This was the first time I'd actually flown. Before, I had only been to Oklahoma … once. I went from a small-town country boy having never traveled, to London and Paris. That opportunity opened my eyes to creative possibility. JAN'S JEWEL. When I returned from Europe, I was distraught because I'd seen so much opportunity and I felt like it had been taken away from me. Jan Strimple, who I met right after Career Day in 2003, was a muse of mine and had so many gigantic rings. I told her I would create the biggest ring in her jewelry wardrobe, so I made a beautiful, theatrical thing that covered half the top of her hand; it had goose feathers coming out of one side and freshwater pearls. She wore it into Stanley Korshak one day, and they asked, "Who makes that? We love it." Jan called me and said, "Korshak wants to see your line." I didn't have a line, so she told me I had better make one. At the time, I was living downtown at 1900 Elm and working at Buffalo Exchange. That was how I survived. It was a very humble beginning but helped sustain me creatively. RETURNING TO LONDON. I fell in love with European culture when I first came to London. When I moved back to Dallas to work on my jewelry label, I knew that I needed to be in Europe. El Centro gave me the confidence to apply to Central Saint Martins. It was a funny little transition period, because American educa- tion works in a very scheduled format. At Saint Martins, there was no schedule. I struggled with it at first, but that lack of structure taught me inde- pendence. I learned to self-direct, to self-critique, to know when I could play or when I had to buckle down and manage my time. That's why I think Saint Martins has produced the caliber of alumni that they have. We were free to do whatever the hell we wanted to, and we had to make it work. LAUNCHING THE LABEL. There's a competition in France called ANDAM — it's the one Margiela won in 1989 that launched his career. Judges have been Nicole Phelps, Pierre Bergé and François-Henri Pinault. ANDAM was fa- miliar with Matthew's 2010 masters collection that he and I worked on. [We didn't have a label yet], but they said, "We think you have a great design sensibil- ity, and we want you to compete. You have a chance of winning 300,000 euros and mentor- ship for five years by LVMH." We had the brand concept, built around the shirt that I had been thinking about for quite a few years. We didn't win ANDAM, but we won something that proved to be better: NewGen, a three- year British initiative that has supported people like Mary Katrantzou and Christopher Kane. They don't give you money, but they provide the connections. A SHIRT STAPLE. The shirt is the Palmer//Harding USP (Unique Selling Proposi- tion). Mark Holgate of American Vogue affectionately calls us "the shirt boys" when he comes to our shows. Eighty percent of our product is white shirts or black shirts. When we started, we only had 17 women's shirts to choose from. Now we have about the same, but we also have trousers, skirts, dresses, outer- wear. Surprisingly, I hate using cotton — probably because I have used it for so many years. We always use white cotton poplin, and we are starting to introduce a lot more silk. It has a more relaxed feel. We've really enjoyed texture the past few seasons and are becoming known for applying embroidery. TATTERED BEAUTY. This is the strongest season we have done so far. It's feminine and emotional, but not necessarily girly or frilly or playful. We were looking at the idea of beauty in change. We all get older — why can't we embrace the beauty in change rather than try to elevate the beauty in one specific period of time? We looked at a very common source of inspi- ration: flowers and [their] tran- sition. When a flower is a bud, it's just as beau- tiful as when its petals begin to fall. When you first buy a shirt or trousers, the raw edges are clean, but the more you wear them, the edges start to become a little more threadbare or tattered. Not in a grungy way, but in a matter-of-fact, romantic way. ON WORKING WITH JAN STRIMPLE AND SUSAN POSNICK. Whenever we have a crisis of confidence, Matthew and I call Jan. Most of the salmon and petal pink in this collection is because she said, "You need something to lift the collection. Try an orchid color." When I had dinner with Jan and Susan in Dallas last April, I asked Susan to do the makeup for the runway show because her products are about celebrating the woman beneath the makeup. When Susan said she was coming [to London], Jan came. It's like having two mothers taking care of you and filling you with confidence. Susan completely understood our point of view, and Jan was wonderful training the models. Our stylist, Carmen Borgonovo, who was a fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar UK and editor-at-large for Elle Acces- sories U.S., said, "Wow, I've never met a professional like Jan." Our mentors here really clicked with the people I have in my life in Dallas. GIVING BACK FASHIONABLY. This past September, Matthew and I became associate lecturers at Saint Martins. It's nice to give back to a school that has given so much to you. It keeps us surrounded by creative individuals and gives us an opportunity to discuss our work and our point of view to a captive audience. It ends up being like therapy — therapy you get paid for! Palmer//Harding is available exclusively in Dallas at the Betty Reiter boutique. STYLE DNA PALMER EVI T his past September, the haunting 15th-century undercroft beneath the chapel of Lincoln's Inn in Holborn, London, set the scene for the Palmer//Harding runway show, resplendent with ethereal looks from the label's Spring/Summer 2015 collection. It was also a Dallas reunion as designer Levi Palmer, event production savant and former supermodel extraordinaire Jan Strimple and Susan Posnick, founder of her eponymous cosmetics company, created a formidable trio. Levi, a native of Belton, Texas, moved to Dallas in 2001 to pursue fashion and majored in womenswear at El Centro College. A superb graduate collection won him a ticket to Europe, where he earned a degree from the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London. In the years that followed, Levi and partner Matthew Harding combined talents to launch their label, Palmer//Harding, in 2011. Linden Wilson chats with Levi Palmer from his London design studio. Palmer// Harding Spring/ Summer 2015 Levi Palmer Palmer// Harding Spring/ Summer 2015 Susan Posnick's natural, dewy glow for the show Susan Posnick gets Jan Strimple runway ready. Jan Strimple walks the Palmer//Harding runway. F R O M B E L T O N , T E X A S , T O