Warren Steven Scott Is the Designer Behind Everyone’s Favourite Earrings
Designer Warren Steven Scott began making vibrant assertion earrings again in 2018 and offered them in a Toronto boutique earlier than pivoting and launching his e-commerce web site. During the pandemic, the equipment actually took off, and have been worn by trend editors, celebrities and politicians alike. Scott has since forayed into clothes and eyewear, with a current collaboration for New Look. Here, he tells CB how he made it occur.
I grew up in Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island. It was the ’90s, so Fashion File and FashionTv have been all the time on. I used to be fascinated by these fashions strolling down the runway in otherworldly seems to be. I ended up finding out basic sciences at school, however after my second yr, I advised my mother and father I needed to strive trend design. They have been excited for me, and my mother even helped me discover a bridal seamstress on Craigslist to show me the best way to sew. I utilized to trend faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University (previously Ryerson). I made a pleated hourglass gown, however as a result of I used to be a newbie, I lower the material alongside the weft for the grain line, so the stretch was vertical slightly than crossways. Despite this error, I nonetheless managed to get in.
I’m a member of the Nlaka’pamux nation, and my band sponsored my research. After I graduated in 2014, I did two internships with Toronto designers—Comrags and Jeremy Laing—which is how I discovered about operating a trend label. Independent designers put on all of the hats, so that you want a variety of expertise, from stitching to managing provide chains.
In 2018, I used to be working retail at Comrags and excited about what I ought to do subsequent. I noticed an announcement in regards to the first-ever Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto. My band pitched in to purchase me my first stitching machine, a computerized Juki. My debut assortment, Sissy, included floral silk attire and high-collar prairie blouses. I wanted equipment to go together with them, so I created a sequence of outsized earrings utilizing motifs from my Nlaka’pamux and Sts’ailes roots—ovoids, feathers, crescents and trigons. Indigenous jewelry is historically beaded or made with silver and turquoise. I appreciated the thought of rendering conventional shapes in an surprising synthetic materials: brightly colored acrylic (which additionally occurs to be pretty reasonably priced). I had the shapes laser-cut, and I assembled the earrings by hand in my condo.
After that present, I couldn’t afford to provide a full assortment, however I did have the capital to make 30 pairs of the earrings, which I displayed at a pop-up inside Comrags. They offered out in a single weekend, which made me assume I may make a viable business out of the earrings alone. I created an e-commerce web site, shot a lookbook and rented area in a shared studio in Toronto’s west finish. I biked the deliveries to the submit workplace myself and offered about 1,000 pairs in 2019.
The earrings caught on through the pandemic, when folks have been actually making an effort to help Canadian and BIPOC companies. My shoppers would acknowledge earrings on one another—as soon as, it even occurred on a patio in Florence, Italy. And then Vogue, Cosmo and New York journal coated them. People would tag me to let me know that celebrities like Reservation Dogs’ Devery Jacobs or the comic Benny Drama had worn them. That’s how the earrings took off: by means of phrase of mouth.
Last yr, I moved into a much bigger studio and produced a small run of garments and artwork that I referred to as Cedar in Sec-he Sky. Sec-he is the normal title for Palm Springs—it’s on Cahuilla territory, the place I went mountain climbing in 2021. Palm Springs is aesthetically frozen within the ’50s, and I combined the retro colors and silhouettes of that period with the thought of cedar. On a few of the attire I used ruching, which imitates the weave of cedar baskets—and weaving is a talent that has been handed down in my household for generations. But the material is up to date: polyester in luxe shades of purple, pink and blue.
Recently, the founders of New Look in Montreal requested if I’d prefer to design a line of eyewear. We launched in October of 2022 with 19 retro-inspired frames. I needed to supply a bunch of sizes and colors in order that anybody can discover themselves in a pair. Each one is tipped with a vibrant pop of color and named after somebody who performed a job in my success. That sense of non-public connection motivates every part I do. About 20 North American retailers carry my line, but it surely’s nonetheless a small operation. My studio assistant handles the earring manufacturing, and I nonetheless do all the stitching, a lot of it on the computerized Juki machine my band helped me purchase years in the past. I’ve by no means raised the costs of the earrings—they’re all below $100—as a result of I would like them to stay accessible. I like being the native place across the nook. Maybe that’s what a sustainable trend model might be.
Five issues he loves
Scott’s important sources of inspiration
Under the Influence
“I listen to this podcast, hosted by Terry O’Reilly, while drafting and sewing in the studio.”
Mexico City
“It’s on my list of places to travel for 2023. I’d like to try a jewellery or cooking class while I’m there.”
A silk shirt
“I love the idea of throwing on a special-occasion blouse with jeans to go to the grocery store or even under an apron to cook.”
Jann Arden
“The 25th anniversary of Arden’s Happy? has me listening to the new acoustic version of ‘Ode to a Friend’ on repeat.”
The work of Audie Murray
“Murray, a Metis artist from Saskatchewan, adorns everyday objects like toilet paper rolls, socks and teabags with glass beads as a way to question what is held sacred.”
