Bright New World

Clothing designers are known to find their inspiration in curious places, and Alana May is no exception.

The designer said she heads to the paint section of The Home Depot to source colors for her eponymous collection of lively jersey tops. “Disney paint colors are the best swatches. They are young, bright and cute. Almost all of my clothes are Disney colors,” said May, who is expanding her focused line of sexy jersey tops and dresses into blazers and bottoms for Fall 2005.

The Los Angeles native started designing flirty camisoles and miniskirts and quietly selling them to Southern California boutiques such as Madison and Planet Blue as a creative outlet from unfulfilling jobs. Approximately two years later, May’s line is still small but growing; she releases only about 10 to 15 styles of tops per season in five different colors. She said she intends to keep the collection grounded in blousy camisoles, expanding with more styles of jersey tops and a few choice items, including skirts.

With comfort as her primary concern, May said she will soon venture into creating updated sweat suits, using black and gray fleece and gold Lurex-sprinkled French terry to form a ruffled-trim blazer with matching culottes and a skirt. Expanding her line into more fabrications and styles is one way that May said she is differentiating herself from other T-shirt lines. “There are so many jersey lines, so I really want to separate myself and have a tight line,” she noted.

Wholesale price points are $25 for a plain fitted tee, $40 for a twisted camisole with metallic braided trim, $75 for a mini-dress of the same style with metallic braided straps and $95 for the fleece blazer.

Most of May’s camisole designs have a similar shape, with thin straps, a low V-neck, a fitted bust and a loose flow throughout. From this foundation, she adds twists, ruching, braided straps or metallic novelty trim to differentiate the styles. These simple details, paired with vibrant colors, complete the cute California look that customers at Los Angeles retailers Satine and Yellow relish.

A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising’s textile design program, May draws on her schooling by incorporating original patterns, including a pastel animal print and an orange marble print. Though she plans to add more prints, her bestsellers remain the camisoles with striking paint-swatch colors.

For more information, contact Stacie Bass at (213) 705-9046. —R.C.