Rachel Comey
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Rachel Comey is an American independent
fashion design Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and plac ...
er based in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. She is the founder of Rachel Comey, a clothing, shoes, and accessories brand known for its "intellectual, arts-and-crafts aesthetic."


Early life

Comey was born outside of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1994, she graduated from the University of Vermont, where she focused on Asian studies, printmaking, and sculpture.


Career and brand

After college, Comey worked at an art gallery in Vermont and designed a line of novelty underwear. In 1997, she moved to New York, where she worked as a freelance production assistant and later as a design consultant at
Theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...
. During that time she began making costumes for her then-boyfriend
Eugene Hutz Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...
's band,
Gogol Bordello Gogol Bordello is an American punk rock band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 by musicians from all over the world and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Ro ...
. In 2001, after her designs caught the eye of a stylist friend, Comey was commissioned to make two hand-painted shirts for musician
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
. She charged him $100 per shirt. Soon after, Comey was fired from Theory for performing outside work. In September 2001, Comey presented her first menswear collection. In 2004, Comey expanded her brand to include womenswear. Of her Spring-Summer 2004 ready-to-wear collection, ''Vogue'' published, "The overall mood was pure summer, and the collection full of confident, easy clothes for cool customers with discerning eyes." In 2009, Comey was inducted into Council of Fashion Designers of America. Her clothes have been worn by celebrities and artists including Miranda July, Rashida Jones, Lady Gaga and more.


Fashion shows

Comey's first official fashion show took place in September 2001, days before
9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
, near her studio in Tribeca. The ad-hoc, menswear-only show was held on the street and featured models including
Waris Ahluwalia Waris Singh Ahluwalia (Hindi: वारिस सिंह अहलूवालिया, Punjabi: ਵਾਰਿਸ ਸਿੰਘ ਆਹਲੂਵਾਲੀਆ, born 1974) is an Indian-American designer and actor based in New York City. His compan ...
and Devendra Banhart. To present her Spring-Summer 2014 ready-to-wear collection, Comey hosted a sit-down dinner at
Pioneer Works Pioneer Works is a non-profit cultural center in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Red Hook, New York City. The center builds community through the arts and sciences to create an open and inspired world. It encourages radical thinking across disciplines by provi ...
in Red Hook, Brooklyn featuring a performance by Justin Vivian Bond. Thus began a series of untraditional presentations taking place at venues including Hauser Wirth & Schimmel in Los Angeles, CA. To celebrate the brand's fifteenth anniversary in 2016, Comey presented her Spring-Summer 2017 ready-to-wear collection on the sidewalk of Crosby Street in New York City, a nod to her first-ever fashion show in 2001. In addition to choosing unconventional venues, Comey is also known for casting unconventional models in her fashion shows. For her Spring-Summer 2016 ready-to-wear show, Comey included "artists, eccentrics, dancers, and businesswomen" in addition to professional models.


Unisex line

In March 2017, Comey introduced a line of
unisex Unisex is an adjective indicating something is not sex-specific, i.e. is suitable for any type of sex. The term can also mean gender-blindness or gender neutrality. The term 'unisex' was coined as a neologism in the 1960s and was used fairly inf ...
clothing — "because clothes are for everyone."


Pop culture

In 2002, Comey appeared in a documentary short about
Gogol Bordello Gogol Bordello is an American punk rock band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 by musicians from all over the world and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Ro ...
. In 2014, Comey played herself in the "Rachel" episode of the web series ''
High Maintenance ''High Maintenance'' is an American Anthology series, anthology comedy-drama television show, television and web series, web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair (actor), Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The ...
''.


Personal life

Comey lives with her husband, Sean Carmody, and two children in New York's SoHo neighborhood.


References


External links


Rachel Comey
official website
Rachel Comey
on Instagram *
Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 i ...
's "Unstyled" Podcast
Episode: Rachel Comey

Rachel Comey
Vogue Patterns {{DEFAULTSORT:Comey, Rachel Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American fashion businesspeople American fashion designers American women fashion designers Artists from Hartford, Connecticut University of Vermont alumni 21st-century American women