Over the last two weeks I’ve sort of helped dress movie stars for the indie film East Fifth Bliss, no big deal, and now there’s a print photo of Lucy Liu wearing one of the dresses from AuH2O in People Magazine! Even though it doesn’t say AuH2O anywhere on the page and no one else in the world knows the dress is from my store, hey, I know. Here’s a photo of the May 10-17 issue of People with Lucy Liu in the dress from AuH2O, page 162 and see the photo online here:
Oh, and also, East Fifth Bliss shot a scene outside my store with Scott Johnsen and Lucy Liu looking at necklaces in my display window and walking into my shop, so AuH2O will maybe even possibly be in the film, which is terrifying in a good way. In the best way.
And in other press news, AuH2O was on CNN again in the past few weeks, and the segment is now online on CNN’s blog here or watch below:
Thanks Robin Meade and the nice people at CNN! Two more press updates:
Eco-friendly NYC, a super neat blog with green news, vegan restaurant reviews and vegan recipes by Yvonne Wang, put up a post a few weeks ago about AuH2O: AuH2O Recycled Clothing and Earth Week Fashion Show. Yvonne brought some items to sell on consignment, and actually, most of her clothing has already sold! She writes:
What’s not to love about AuH2O and recycled clothing? I feel great knowing that I’m not dumping clothes into landfills, I get some extra pocket change from the stuff I sell, which in turn allows me to do some eco-friendly shopping for myself!
Next, C. Marchuska, an eco-fashion company and blog, interviewed me about my background, inspiration and views on eco-fashion. Read the whole interview on their blog: Interview with Kate Goldwater. Here’s my view on sustainability:
I’ve heard several definitions of sustainability, but my favorite one is “using the resources we have to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In other words, let’s not screw over our future grandchildren and let’s not screw over our planet. I think our environment is our playing field and we should try to preserve it with everything we do.
That’s probably enough AuH2O press for today. Enjoy the nice weather!
Remember when I pulled an April Fools joke and photoshopped Lady Gaga into my store? It seems I may have cried wolf, because since then I’ve had Alicia Silverstone, Lonneke Engle (a Dutch model) and Lucy Liu shopping at AuH2O. And not only Lucy Liu, but the cast and crew from the movie she’s filming in the East Village, “East Fifth Bliss”: Michael C. Hall, Brie Larson and Sarah Shahi, plus the writer and director, producer, art director and costume designer. And no one will believe me since I lied about Lady Gaga. Well, it’s true! I’velivetweetedtheentireexperiencemeetinganddressingthecasthere but in case you don’t follow me on twitter (twitter.com/kategoldwater) or facebook (facebook.com/kategoldwater), below is the story of my week and some photos.
Last week, Lucy Liu and Brie Larson stopped in (Brie is the daughter in “United States of Tara” and was recently in “Greenberg”) and did a little shopping. They were great customers, very friendly, and didn’t really want any photos taken. Understandable. I suppose movie stars want to be treated like normal people, so I did the best I could to not die over them. We talked about the movie they’re filming across the street from my shop, “East Fifth Bliss,” and I tried to remain calm when they complimented my store and insisted that the clothing from my shop would be perfect for their characters, and they’d show some of their purchases to the costume designer and director. Since we’d been talking about how I make some of the clothes, Lucy Liu asked if it’d be okay if I could alter some of the clothing she bought. Of course I can, that’s why my store is so special. But I said “I mean, I’m pretty busy though, I’ll have to see if I can find the time.”
Later, Brie Larson came back with another actor, Sarah Shahi, who played Carmen on “The L Word.” Both ladies bought a bunch of clothing and jewelry, and told me they had wardrobe fittings later and would hopefully work some of it into the film. Yes!
A few days later, Lucy Liu came back with some items she bought at AuH2O and asked me to alter them for her - make one skirt into a mini skirt, hem and take in a dress. She’s a tiny one. Here are some post-alteration photos:
This skirt was originally from Anthropologie and I was selling it on consignment
This dress was vintage and I hemmed it about six inches. See my twitpic for a larger photo
After I finished, the costume designer stopped in and thanked me for doing the alterations. She asked what I charged and I said any items bought at AuH2O could be altered for free, but that I’d really like a) a movie credit and b) movie set food. You know how you always see those tents with the delicious-looking catered food on the street outside a set and want some? Well I always have, and I finally had some, it lived up to my expectations. Also the costume designer said I’d most definitely get a movie credit!
Later that day, Lucy Liu came back, shopped around again, and asked if she could use my dressing room to change and get ready for the scene, to which I said “I’ll have to think about it.” Then Michael C. Hall came in too so he could get his hair and make-up done and the hair stylist, Tara Smith, didn’t have her hairspray on her but luckily she was in AuH2O which has EVERYTHING you would ever need in a movie set dressing room, so she borrowed mine. Then we got to talking about hair products and turns out she just launched a hair product line that I need, but it’s all sold out. It’s “tested on film stars not on animals” and so she’s my favorite person. Meanwhile, Lucy was getting mic’ed up and we were all just hanging, talking about normal things like whether or not it’s okay to buy a probably-stolen bike from the guy on the street selling it for $25 (Conclusion: it is. I didn’t steal the bike). I started to feel comfortable with them; the initial “Holy Shit this is Lucy Liu” shock subsided and I felt like I was hanging out with pals. And then they left the store and went out to film, Lucy wearing the AuH2O altered dress.
Here’s a photo from Jezebel that shows the dress in action:
Pretty exciting. A day later, the director, Michael Knowles, stopped in and thanked me for the dress and the alterations and again assured me I’d get a movie credit. He then told me the rest of their filming schedule and a little bit about the movie, how he got the idea for it, the significance of all the bars, restaurants, pizza places and streets they’re filming on, and it sounds like it’s going to be a seriously East Village movie. I, for one, can’t wait to see it. It’s one thing to have your clothes in a movie (not that I’d know, but still), and it’s another to have your clothes in what should be a really sweet movie. I think this is going to be a really sweet one. Over the next few days, the producer stopped in, the art director, the make-up artists, extras, the actors came back, and I kind of started to feel like I was kind of a part of it. Kind of. It was a nice feeling. Brie returned a few items they unfortunately couldn’t use in the movie, but told me she definitely was wearing a pink jumper she bought, so hey there hey. Two looks from AuH2O for sure, not bad.
Then, the location manager came by and told me how the actors liked my store, how comfortable they felt there, and I told them how flattered I was and how comfortable they made me feel, too. He asked if it would they be able to rent out my store overnight while they do some night shooting. Again, I said, “I’ll have to think about it.” No, of course I told him I was happy for them to use it, signed a contract, and over this weekend the actors used AuH2O as their dressing room in the middle of the night. But they used up all the toilet paper and didn’t replace it, and I think stole $20 from the register. Just kidding!
So, that was my week with the film cast and crew for “East Fifth Bliss.” Be sure to see it when it comes out, and sit through all the credits so you can see my name in it!
