One week before Valentine’s Day, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Overton Monroe’s founding partners, Annie Graziani and J.L. Johnson, for their first ever interview. Inside of their beautiful creative space, with dim lighting, a lush spread and a great bottle of wine on hand, PLUSHNYLON got the inside scoop. Here’s a brief glimpse of their journey…
PNM: Overton Monroe. Explain the name. Where did it come from?
OM (J.L.): Overton Monroe was actually my great grandfather’s name. His name was Monroe Overton, so I just reversed it. I actually never met him, but I spent A LOT of time with my great grandmother who was married to him and she talked about him all the time. She had her old Singer (machine) and she would show me little things on that, so when I was thinking about starting a fashion company with Annie, I just thought of that name as sort of a dedication to that legacy.
PNM: Okay, wow. It has a very elegant ring to it.
OM (J.L.): Yeah, you know I thought it does sound classy, but not too pretentious. It’s just like my family name so its just sorta serendipity.
PNM: Excellent. When was the vision of this company born?
OM (Annie): We first started talking about it three years ago. Jerry was working with me on the production side of Marc by Marc Jacobs. We’ve know each other for 10 years, so we thought if everyone else is doing it we should definitely be capable with the amount of education that we have, the design background that we have and the sewing that we know how to do. We put it on the shelf, but never forgot about it. On Oct 2, 2010, I received a text message from Jerry in Mississippi and we were each fed up with our situations. After tons of text messages in that same week, we decided to go for it. It just felt right.
PNM: Wow, that’s great. What made you decide on documenting each step on a blog?
OM (Annie): That was a suggestion that I actually had. My cousin’s very close friend’s brother works for Scripps Network. I’ve always had the idea of traveling and studying cultures in different countries and the history of fashion or in our world, the history of costume. Why people dress and wear makeup the way that they do. Is it out of necessity or what’s going on in the world at that time? So I’ve always wanted to do a reality show about that. My cousin’s friend asked her brother about how to start in that direction. Whether it happens or not is not our motivation behind the blog or business. His suggestion was to start by documenting something that you love about fashion. So it just aligned with what we’re doing in our business. Anyone that’s looking to start a business in the fashion industry can look at this. It can be a coaching tool or a training tool. We finally had the guts to do it and perhaps seeing our process will inspire someone else to go for it. You only live once and tomorrow is not promised.
PNM: What has been your biggest challenge since starting this process in October?
OM: (Laughter) Our challenges have been few and very manageable. Biggest challenge? Getting all the samples made in a short amount of time. All in all, it was not that painful. I think it’s because we both come from a theatre background. In theatre the show must go on. Our other biggest challenge is getting the product sold. Basically, the process that we’re going through today…getting a showroom onboard, trying to get some boutiques to pick us up. We definitely want to be in the majors.
PNM: What have you found to be your greatest strengths in this process?
OM: Our relationship. The energy and chemistry that we have because we read each other so well. So it’s definitely our communication and collaboration.
PNM: When you started the blog, what was your projected timeframe to have the company up and running?
OM (Annie): We wanted to launch by Fall 2011 Fashion Week. We were done with our samples three weeks prior to that and had our photoshoot, which was really needed. We knew it was going to be a span of 3 months from beginning to Market.
PNM: How long did it take to create the look of the line?
OM (J.L.): It didn’t take very long once we decided we wanted to do vintage inspired with a modern twist. I did my research and we did a throwback mixing in vintage hair and jewelry. It was a vision that we had and it all came together naturally.
PNM: How long did the actual sewing and production take?
OM (J.L.): About three weeks. I only had a dress form from Annie’s mother and measurements from girls I hadn’t seen before. It was a bit tricky doing the patterns, but I did it relatively quickly.
PNM: My grandmother, who was born in 1897, raised me so I grew up with women who pressed everything from their dresses, to their slips and even their undergarments. So in 2011, who is Overton Monroe’s target market?
OM (Annie): Our target customer is the woman who’s shopping at places like Bloomingdales, Saks or Barneys. They’re buying dresses that you’re wearing everyday to work or out in the evening and they’re a bit sheer. I’m the customer actually. I’m wearing these dresses to work and I can’t find a slip to put underneath, so right now I’m wearing my great grandmother’s or grandmother’s slip. They’re beautiful, perfect and exactly what I want to be wearing underneath there, but they’re outdated and the fit is not that great. I wear them anyways for sentimental reasons.
PNM: I do too. 
OM: I thought we could recreate that niche with a bit more embellished and fancy wearable product. The woman who is wearing it does so for a handful of reasons. It’s every chic woman today that’s wearing cutting edge design today that needs the class and elegance of a slip. Once she puts our product on with our detailing under that $2,000 garment it makes her stand out from the crowd. Also, we’re creating the new family heirloom. We’re starting that trend over again to bring women together.
PNM: With this being such a “thong” and “lycra” era, do you think women have lost pride in their appearance or in making an effort towards their appearance?
OM (Annie): I think they’re making more of an effort towards their appearance. I think that people are turning more towards the classier look. They want more style and I think that this line lends to that.
PNM: Is this a brand that you hope to show at Fashion Week one day?
OM: ABSOLUTELY!!! This is a brand that’s gonna go and go and go! Eventually we will be doing Ready-To-Wear and Evening. Our loose goal is to focus on slips and by our 3rd or 4th season we’re really getting into a Women’s Ready-To-Wear line keeping it tight and well tailored. A few years thereafter, we want to get into Menswear. So we have the vision, we know where we want to go and we want to do it within a reasonable timeframe…not bite off more than we can chew…baby steps.
Annie Graziani and J.L. Johnson
For more information please visit www.OvertonMonroe.com or www.OvertonMonroe.Blogspot.com.
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Tamara Figueroa is a Beauty/Fashion Contributor for PLUSHNYLON Magazine. She is also a New York City based makeup artist specializing in advertising, beauty, editorial, television and runway. Her work can be seen at www.TamaraMakeupArtistry.com
