Two Weeks and Counting: Islands Of the World Fashion Week Update!

In Two Weeks: Nick Verreos Will Debut ''09 Spring Collection at Islands of The World Fashion Week--The Bahamas
Nick Verreos and David Paul, designers of NIKOLAKI, at W San Diego Fashion Show, Spring 2008

Less than two weeks (and counting) and I will be flying to The Bahamas to debut my Spring NIKOLAKI 2009 Collection, along with my partner, David Paul at the first ever Islands Of the World Fashion Week. The once-in-a-lifetime-event will showcase the designs of 39 designers from all over the world, including fellow Los Angeles designer Kevan Hall. The event will also honor Kenneth Cole, for his amazing contribution to the fashion world as well as to all that he has done for AIDS awareness. I will also be judging, so I am getting my Michael Kors/Nina Garcia judging cap on!Next week, I will divulge the Theme and Inspiration, but for now, I will just give you a "peek" via a sketch (see above) . Don't worry, there will be more where that came from...Heidi Klum in NIKOLAKI by Nick Verreos, David Paul

Actress Marlee Matlin in NIKOLAKI by Nick Verreos, David Paul, 2008 Academy Awards

I have dressed women as diverse as Supermodel Heidi Klum, Academy Award Winning Actress Marlee Matlin, and Kathy Griffin, so it would come as no surprise that my collection might have a "little bit" of "Red Carpet" in it, in terms of DIVA style.Comedianne Kathy Griffin in NIKOLAKI by Nick Verreos, Bravo A-List Awards

For the last 5 months, we have been working OVERTIME on creating an amazing collection: First, David and I spent weeks working on the designs of the collection and edited it down to the amount we wanted to show. Subsequently, after we decided on the designs, I draped EVERY SINGLE PIECE and did the patterns for it (not many designers can say that!), David had his executive "touch" on every muslin and every fitting and then our unbelievable seamstresses did their "magic"!
We have had 14 hour days of madness for the last three months especially--ordering fabric from India, Italy and Japan that has been late in arrival--or still has not arrived at all!! But that's "business as usual" for any designer. As Tim Gunn famously states: You have to "Make It Work". Let's just say we haven't slept much lately...
Stay tuned.
Click HERE for a video from the President of the Islands Of the World Fashion Week.

Debbie Matenopoulos wears Nick Verreos

Miss Greece!

I met the fabulous Debbie Matenopoulos, TV presenter and host of E! Entertainment's "The Daily 10" show, when she hosted the 2007 Los Angeles Fashion Awards. I was co-presenting the Inspiration Award to the executive producers of Project Runway, and was rushed backstage to prepare. Once back there, I also ran into my friend Decades Two owner and another fellow Greek, Christos Garkinos. I was introduced to Debbie by Christos and before you know it, we were having a major Greek Love Fest at the Orpheum Theater! We joked that we might as well be making Gyros and Souvlakis back there! Debbie started telling people that we would be handing complimentary Feta Cheese to everyone after the show was over!

The beautiful Debbie then told me how much she loved my designs and I told her how much I would love for her to wear one of my gowns for a "red carpet" event. We joked in Greek and then we were separated--I had to present the award and, well, she had to host the show, of course. Consequently, a week later, she was asked to host the 2007 Diversity Awards and her stylist asked if I could send over some gowns. To say that I was ecstatic to then find out that my "Miss Greece" had actually ended up wearing one of my designs to host the awards show is an understatement! She looked like a Goddess in my one shoulder, side-draped jersey gown.

It is a style, which I coincidentally titled "Athena" and featured in white for my recent W San Diego Spring 2008 Collection. To illustrate what a class act Debbie is, she sent me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers as a "Thank You". Most times, I am lucky if I get the dress back dry-cleaned from some people! Needless to say, the name of that style will now be changed to "Debbie" thank you very much.

Chicago Fun Times

Two weeks ago, I was invited to host the final Out Magazine and Basil Hayden sponsored event of its summer series of Chicago events, as I wrote earlier on this blog. To cap off their successful run in the "Windy City", Basil Hayden, maker of fine whiskey and bourbon, also asked me if I would design an original gown inspired by it's bottle. The gown would subsequently be auctioned off to benefit The Center at Halsted.

My visit was incredible, to say the least. First, being that it was the beginning of October, I expected Chicago to be its typical cold and windy self. Not! I arrived on the weekend of the Chicago Marathon and it was a balmy 85 degrees, thank you very much! I called my girlfriend Kelly Ryan O'Brien ahead to warn her of my whirlwind three-day trip to Chicago. She was the director of Chicago's branch of GenArt and a co-judge on the castings for Season 3 of Project Runway. Now, she is the marketing and public relations director for Michigan Avenue Magazine. She was so excited that I was coming that she was actually waited at my hotel lobby to greet me! I had barely taken out my credit card to put down for "incidentals" and she whisked my trench coat-wearing butt into her car to head to a VIP party Lucky Magazine was throwing to celebrate the launch of its November issue, which featured a whole section on Chicago's best stores. Once I arrived, it soon became photo and meet-and-greet mayhem, as Kelly escorted me through the party . I spent most of the time taking photos and doing various interviews and socializing with Chicago's fashionista that once we finally decided to leave, we went to get our Goodie Bags (which I heard had lots of fun stuff--they looked HEAVY!) and there were none! So we left empty handed. Lesson here is: Be tacky and get that Goodie Bag IMMEDIATELY, the minute you walk into the event, otherwise you'll end up like me.

Afterwards, we returned to my hotel, the fabulous James Hotel and I was treated to a scrumptious dinner and champagne at the JBar. I finally got to check out my room at the hotel and I just about screamed like a little girl who just got her first Barbie! The James Hotel's Marketing Manager, Joel Morales had upgraded me to one of their fabulous Loft Suites and I was in heaven! It was huge! With it's own projection room (to watch movies), a separate master bedroom, two flat screen TV's and more Kiehls products a gay man could ever use! Thanks Joel for "hooking me up". Too bad I didn't have anyone to enjoy it with me: I came stag on this trip unfortunately!

The next day was the event at the Center at Halsted. This brand new multi million dollar building is amazing, housing several floors, including an auditorium, and a huge gym to boot. It is there as a "refuge" of sorts, to give counseling, and educational as well as moral support to Chicago's LGBT community. For this final Basil Hayden event, the clients went all out, creating a very exclusive private party ambiance with orchid- accented tables , delicious hors d'oeuvres , a live DJ, and lots of free-flowing Basil Hayden cocktails for the guests to enjoy. I have several friends in Chicago, and I was happy to see them at the event. It's nice to see familiar faces when you are away from home (Thank you Bil, Anthony and Tony!) I also mingled with lots of my Chicago gays (and their beautiful girlfriends), lots of which professed their love of Project Runway and were very anxious to see the gown I had designed to benefit the Center.

After a bit of meet-and-greetin', the 250+ guests were led to the Center's auditorium , where the auction-and unveiling-of my original gown would occur. Erin put the gown on and it was a perfect fit! I never even had a fitting! A month prior to the event, I received her measurements, created a muslin sample of the gown, and had a fitting with a form I have that was close to her size (between a 4-6). My vision for the gown was a modern "Martha Washington", paying tribute to Basil Hayden's roots which go back to the late 1700's, when George Washington was President. I used the colors of the whiskey and the labels on the bottle (gold, copper and amber) and threw in some black for a bit of elegant mystery. The gown had over 30 yards of triple layered silk chiffon and featured a Duchesse Silk boned corset with a hand-beaded gold paillete over drape (the fabric alone cost me over $700!!) An obi-style tie knotted the empire section, like the final bow on a gift. This was my "gift" to the Center at Halsted and to the guests attending this final Out event of the season in Chicago.

Unfortunately, there was a last-minute glitch: About 30 minutes before the auction was about to begin, I realized that I had left the strappy heels that I brought all the way from Los Angeles in my hotel room! And I didn't like the closed-toe pointy ones the model had. I became a mini-Diva and had someone go to the hotel to fetch them. People around me said, "Oh Nick, the ones she has will be OK, don't worry..." I said "No, she can ONLY wear my gown with the shoes I created for it!" We were lucky that the James Hotel was a 10 minute drive from the event. The shoes arrived and everyone agreed how perfect these strappy heels were as opposed to what she would have worn.
As the auction began (with a starting bid of $250), I became nervous and doubtful that anyone would even bid for my gown. I felt like that kid in elementary school who was not getting picked for the vollyball game during recess! Needless to say, in a way, I got "picked". The gown went for almost $3000 !!! I thanked the winning bidder (seen in photo above) profusely and had my own Sally Field "You like me , you really like me" moment on stage.
It was a wonderful ending to a fabulous season of Basil Hayden and Out sponsored events in the Windy City and I was honored to have been part of it. I also heard through the grapevine that the winning bidder of the gown was going to donate it to the Center to have them display it. Well, my mascara almost started to run after that! (Just a note: I really don't wear mascara, even though I know you wont believe me!)

Fashion and The Beach

Just returned from my crazy week in San Diego where I showed a "preview" of my NIKOLAKI Resort/Spring 2008 Collection at an event at the W Hotel organized for me at their fabulous Beach Bar. As you know, I love telling a story and this was no exception.My collection was based on Cleopatra arriving in Rome to look for her Marc Antony, but in 2008! And these were the fabulous dresses she had in her Louis Vuitton trunks. Here are a couple of shots from the runway show, which went well: No models falling, no broken high heels, no ripped seams or broken zippers! The model in the aquamarine silk gown is , in fact, my sister Rita, former Survivor: Fiji contestant, who flew out, along with my whole family , from San Antonio, Texas .The press, media and guests I spoke to said that it was a complete success. They loved the show and the collection. From backstage ,I could see people's jaw dropping and could hear the "oohs and ahhs", which I guess is a good reaction.
Prior to Thursday night's show, I did several TV morning talk shows--NBC, FOX and local KUSI--promoting the event, fashion show and my "celebrity bartending".
For morning talk show interview on KUSI Click HERE and click HERE for my interview on FOX.

Nick on Work Out and in Star Magazine

If I can't dress Angelina Jolie... I'll dress her look-a-like trainer's client!

Several months back , I was thrilled when I got a phone call from a good friend of mine,Meaghan Murphy, who besides being a writer for "Star Magazine", also helped me out over a year ago in designing my nikolakidesign.com website (along with my good friend Mike Lucas who also helped with the graphics for the Top Chef Apron). We arranged a "trade" of sorts: I would design a gown for her, in return for her help on the site.

Over a year passed and our hectic schedules never meshed. Until now. She told me that she was going to be on the Bravo hit show, "Work Out" , where she would be trained by Erika, the sexy Angelina Jolie-look-a-like trainer from Jackie Warner's "Sky Lab" gym.

Erika was going to whip her into shape and give her the body worthy of a Nick Verreos gown, or so she felt. The "Work Out" cameras caught everything, from the consultation to the final fitting. Our first meeting debuted in this week's episode (see Clip above).

You can also read an article about Meaghan's journey to a new and improved body (with a photo of her in the final gown) in this week's (April 30th edition) "Star Magazine. Look out for a more in-depth posting on Bravotv.com about my experience designing for Meaghan and my "brief" apperance on the show.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I know it sounds selfish to say "Happy Birthday" to me, but "Happy Birthday to Me! There I said it! My mom always tells the story that I was supposed to be born on Valentine's Day, February 14th, and that her and my father were going to name me Valentino. Can you just imagine: Valentino Verreos? There is already the great Italian couturier, Valentino Garavani, and there could never be two Valentinos. Although "VV" could make a good insignia for purses and sunglasses I have to say!

According to my parents, there was a snow storm in St. Louis ,Missouri, where I was born and my dad was en route from Washington DC (he worked for the US State Department as a Diplomat) as soon as she went into labor. I was born a day early, on the 13th and not named Valentino. I was named after my Godfather (and Uncle) Nick. For the last year, he has had to deal with people calling him thinking they were talking to me, since we have the same name. Sorry Uncle Nick.

On a side note: We just received some fabulous photos of my designs, taken by Los Angeles-based photographer Mark Oberlin www.markoberlin.com. One of which, shows the model in one of my gunmetal-colored taffeta gowns with the Athenian Parthenon in the background. It could almost be an ad for NIKOLAKI! The other photo shows one of my striped silk taffeta wrap dresses that is sold at EMc2 in New York City. For my Birthday, I am giving you guys a sneak peak of the shoot . There are a lot more photos where this came from and I will post them in the future. Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day and make sure to hug and kiss someone you love!