One can only speculate as to what Elizabeth Worgan ’16, Skidmore College Class of ’16, would be doing today had she not seen at age 6 The Phantom Menace, the fourth film in the Star Wars saga.
So impressed was young Elizabeth by Queen Amidala’s royal wardrobe that she decided to devote her life to fashion. Which goes a long way toward explaining why in 2014 Worgan launched her new clothing company, AllStolen Apparel, with a Star Wars theme mixed with punk, hip hop, and biker culture. As second-place finishers in the 2015 Kenneth A. Freirich Business Plan Competition, Worgan and creative director David Florence, also a member of Skidmore’s Class of ’16, were awarded a $10,000 cash prize last April. They’ve used it to establish a compelling e-commerce web site launch their product line with three basic items: a baseball tee, a sweatshirt, and a tank top. Soon to come are hats, socks, underwear, and tees in more styles.
You can see Allstolen’s product line this Thursday, December 10 in Dystopia: The 2015 Element Fashion Show, a biannual showcase for Skidmore fashion designers starting at 7:30 p.m. at Skidmore’s Tang Museum. Tickets are free but must be reserved at the Case Center Information Desk on the Skidmore campus.
Early in their strategizing, Worgan and Florence surveyed Skidmore students on clothing needs and preferences. Their key discovery: The lives of American college students today are so hectic and fast-paced that they have time only for low-maintenance clothes they can just throw on – but they still want to look stylish and fashionable.
So here’s the solution, Worgan and Florence reasoned: comfortable and stylish streetwear, the “meeting place of casual and cool,” they call it.
“AllStolen’s line is for people who want to be comfortable but they don’t want to sacrifice fashion,” says Worgan. “They can wear tight-fitting sweatpants with a T-shirt, but the designs are so great and the angles of the silhouettes so sharp, they almost look luxurious.”
Both accomplished musicians, Worgan (guitar) and Florence (jazz saxophone) are keenly attuned to the influence of music on youth culture and fashion. “You can’t pull from punk or rock and roll without taking into account the way you dress,” says Worgan.
The same can be said for biker culture, which Florence brings to the AllStolen aesthetic, being a biker himself.
“People who wear our clothes are not 9 to 5 people,” he notes. “They’re the people who get out and do what they want and they go get it. That’s what the motorcycle symbolizes – ultimate freedom from everything.”
“And it just looks really cool, too,” he laughs.
A new installment of the Star Wars saga will be out soon, and Worgan of course is preparing accordingly. At this point, she prefers not to divulge the exact nature of the tie-in but she promises, “It’s going to be good.”
