Lexy Silverstein: Welcome back to another episode of eLEXYfy: The Place for Fashion podcast. I am your host, Lexi Silverstein.
Today, I am joined by a super cool dude. We both go to FIDM, the fashion school in downtown LA, and he is currently a designer. What’s up, Cole?
Cole Moscaret: How are we doing, everybody?
Lexy: Well, thank you so much for joining us today. For those who don’t know you, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Debut
My name is Cole Moscaret. I’m from San Mateo, California, right outside San Francisco. I am in Debut currently, which is a three-month intensive program at FIDM that 10 kids get selected for, so that’s been my life for three months right now.
Lexy: That’s crazy! I’m gonna be honest, I don’t really know much about Debut. Like, I don’t know how the whole process works. So can you give us a little bit more info, like telling us where it leads. When you go to FIDM for Debut, is that the only thing that you do at FIDM, or do you…
Cole: I didn’t even know about it when I went to FIDM. I first joined FIDM after leaving Oregon. So I was at University of Oregon, wasn’t my favorite. I was studying business. I wanted to do something more hands-on. I wanted something where I felt like I could put my talents to use. And so I went searching and I found FIDM.
And I just wanted to do fashion design at first, but then as courses kept progressing, several of my teachers told me that you should look at Debut, you should check this out. So I gave it a quick glance. I said, why not, let’s just try it out. Shot for the interview, ended up getting in.
And what Debut is, is like I said earlier, it’s a three-quarter program where you build a collection, a 10-12 collection of something that… anything, anything that you want to do from an emotion that you have to what I’m doing based around my favorite category of films, based around everything that kind of an ode to everything that brought me into the fashion world. It’s based around World War II and a contemporary scene and spin on it, as well as kind of an ode to the companies that really got me into fashion design.
For example, G-Star RAW was one of my favorite companies. Well, actually take that back, I didn’t even know about the company until freshman year of college when my good friend in my dorm showed me a pair of pants.
I was like, “What the…? What is this?” Like, this is the coolest thing. Like, the way they were able to introduce pockets into the pants and like ways that were so discreet was so cool. I went from a window shopper to almost wanting to be the architect behind the construction of the pants.
So I think that was one of the first sparks that really drew me into the fashion scene. And yeah, and now I’m here and now I’m building my own collection.
Lexy: So cool.
Cole: It’s intense. It’s fun, though. You’ve got a very tight-knit group of people through three quarters of school.
Lexy: Yeah, that’s so cool. I mean, you know, but I work at FIDM as a social media intern, and every few weeks we go in and we’ll see your guys’ progress, take some photos.
And it’s just, it’s so interesting to see you guys at work and then also in the span of, I don’t even know when the first time we came to your class was, to whenever the next time we came.
Cole: Yeah, you saw the rough stuff.
Lexy: Yeah, we saw, like, just the beginning and now we’re really seeing it being built, so it’s just like, you guys are so talented. I don’t think I could ever deal with the things that you’re doing. I was so lost. I literally, we were observing your class, and I asked Cole the difference between what two of the sewing machines were. I was like, “I don’t know, I don’t know what you guys are doing here, this is crazy.”
Where does Debut lead?
Lexy: So that’s amazing. So after the three quarter Debut process, where does that lead? What do you do with your collection? I know that sometimes we have a show, a recording…
Cole: Yeah, we have, so the whole three quarters build up to one grand show at the end. It’s the Debut show. It’s where we get to air out all of our hard work, our sweat and tears that we put into the clothes, and it gets to walk a runway for stylists to look at, for companies to check out. It’s essentially a live portfolio that we get to express to the world, and from there, either you can present it to stylists across the whole entire world, you can have celebrities want to make an outfit for them, you could have several companies saying, “We really like your work, please come work for us.” So it’s honestly endless opportunities after you get in and you can create this live portfolio that gets displayed across the whole world. January 21st. So, and then August 18th is the live stream. Everyone, please tune in.
The Debut Fashion Show
Lexy: Yes, everyone please tune in. That’s so interesting. That’s so, so, so cool. I mean, I knew that we had a fashion show, and I remember even before I went to FIDM, we were invited as accepted students to come.
Cole: Yeah, it used to be a huge show. It used to be massive before COVID. They used to be so huge.
Lexy: It was huge. So that’s just like… hats off to FIDM for giving you guys the opportunity to do that and then like such a cool opportunity.
Yeah, but then big applause to you guys, because seriously, you guys should see the work that they do. It’s insane. We haven’t posted anything about it on FIDM yet because your work isn’t done yet. I know Nick Verreos has been posting about it, so
Cole: If you pop on his Instagram, I believe it’s @NickVerreos, you can see all the muslin samples and everything in their raw form. A lot of stuff has changed, but you got to see the silhouettes of what we’re working with.
Why did you choose FIDM?
Lexy: Yeah, so when you decided that you wanted to study fashion, why did you choose FIDM over other fashion schools?
I know that personally I was having a huge debate in my mind where I wanted to go.
Cole: It’s a great question. So, you know, like I said earlier, I was at University of Oregon. I graduated high school and I kind of didn’t really know what I wanted to do at first. So, I pursued the, you could say, traditional path. Wanted to go to a university, I wanted to go to a big university, I wanted that college experience that you see in movies and everything.
And so I went to University of Oregon, I did fraternity, I was in the business program, but, you know, I was looking for something that wasn’t there. And so I bounced from business to journalism advertising. And then after writing countless essays that I wanted to pull my hair out from, I was like, I’m going to the art school. And so at that point, I was like, hold on, let’s take a step back. If I really want to be in, like, the art school, but I don’t know what I want to do, let’s take a moment, let’s reconsider life, let’s figure out what I want to do, like, where do I see myself after college, because I kind of had this epiphany where I was going to graduate and I was just going to end up with a diploma and I would be lost in the world again and try to refind that whole path of like I was doing through Oregon. So, I left.
I started looking at different art schools because I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to create something that I could see across the platform of the world, that I could see actually in person, physically form, that people that almost has a contribution to people’s life, but I didn’t want it to be something kind of just I don’t know, I didn’t know what I was searching for, but that’s what I knew at the moment, that’s what I wanted. So, then I realized fashion design was something that was really cool and core to like my beliefs of design and everything because it’s wearable art. You know, like how cool is that? You’re going to make something that people get to wear in the streets and it assimilates them with different groups and everything. So, I was like, this is what I want to do.
From there, I was like, okay, what art schools, fashion design schools, are in San Francisco? So, I started checking those out. Not many of them required a portfolio. I was like, I want to go to one that feels like I have a hard chance of getting into, you know? I want something that feels like it’s prestigious. So, then I found FIDM. A good friend of mine who actually attended FIDM in San Francisco recommended it to me. And from there, I went through the whole process, got my portfolio all put together, put an application in, and then I got in, and from there the rest is history.
Lexy: That’s so cool. I feel like a lot of your journey has been like, like you were talking about doing all the essays that wanted to pull your hair out after. I think we were literally talking about how tedious Debut is and how like, you’re like, “I just, I want to like, pull my hair out. This is so…”
Cole: But it’s like, it’s a good feeling. It’s when I’m in that room and time kind of just dissipates, you know? It’s like six hours. I remember when I first looked at my schedule, because I was used to two-hour classes being the max at Oregon, then seeing my schedule saying a six-hour class, I was like, “This has to be a typo. Like, this, this can’t be true.” And I called my counselor up, I was like, “Hey, I think there’s a mistake on my, my on my classes. Like, it says I have six hours for a class.” She’s like, “Oh no, no, that’s, that’s true. That’s true.”
So now it feels like I need eight hours, I need 12 hours in the classroom. So it’s more of just enjoying what I’m doing, I guess you could say.
How did you first get into fashion?
Lexy: I love that. I’m a firm believer of, like, you know, we have one life, and that we should really use it well and we should really do what we truly love. So, I love that you’re doing that. How did you first really get into fashion? Why was this something that was just like after going to Oregon, you were like, “I want to go into the arts,” or was this something that maybe you loved way before that?
Cole: It was way before. I guess I was more of a window shopper of fashion earlier in my years, and my grandma, she had a whole room dedicated in her house to sewing and everything. So, when I was younger, my mom would drop me off there when she’d get annoyed with me, and she had to do stuff, and so I’d sit there and watch my grandma do all this different type of stuff and flip through all these catalogs she had. There was more just like wasting time and spending the summers and just going through all this different cool stuff. Like I said, I was a window shopper at the time of the scene. I loved looking at it. I loved the energy that it had around it, but I knew nothing about it.
Then as time progressed and I went through college, my mom wanted to stop buying me clothes because I would start drawing all over them and I’d start ripping them up because she thought I was wrecking them. In my mindset, I was making them original and something no one else had, and to me, that was like the coolest aspect. So, that was kind of that transitional phase of being a window shopper to wanting to be involved in the scene of it. And then from there, I wanted to be an architect in the industry where I could actually learn how to design the clothes, manipulate them, and that’s truly what led me, I have to say, to this journey I’m on right now.
Grandmothers
Lexy: That’s so cool. I swear to God, it’s always the grandmas.
Cole: It’s always the grandmas.
Lexy: I have talked to so many people on my podcast, and they’re like, “Oh, my grandma taught me how to sew.” My grandma taught me how to sew and my other grandma was a huge fashionista. We would spend all our time together at the mall shopping. I swear it’s always the grandmothers.
Cole: Yeah, it’s like both my grandma’s. On my dad’s side, she dropped off this collection of, like, five bins of buttons she’s collected over time and all these different knick-knacks.
Lexy: Oh my God.
Cole: It was really cool going through all this stuff. But yeah, it’s the grandmas. They have some special, some special gift.
Lexy: They really do.
What do you want to do after Debut?
Lexy: So after Debut, what’s the main goal? What do you want to be doing?
Cole: The main goal for me, I have to say, is I want to work for a company for about several years. I want to understand the market after I graduate. You know, like, I know how to create. I know how to do all this different stuff, but I don’t know how to source. I don’t know how to manufacture on a grand scale, you know, like, I want to learn. I want to be under a company that does this already, learn where they do it, learn how they do it, how they move smoothly, how they make it effortless. So when I can branch off into my own scene and do what I truly want to do with my work, I don’t run into too many hiccups. I want to work for a company that I can have a mentor essentially in the market and learn and then progress and bloom into my own company.
Lexy: That’s so smart. You handle things, I feel like, very maturely. That’s what I’m getting at.
Cole: It hasn’t always been like this. That’s not how I see it. It’s kind of most of the time I just wing it, and then it ends up somehow working out or it doesn’t, then I learn.
Lexy: Well, that’s good, a little bit of both, I think.
Cole: Exactly.
Lexy: My dog is staring at us with an evil eye right now, but no, just from what I’ve, I mean, that’s definitely good to approach both ways in life, a little bit of impromptu-ness with a little bit of structure.
But I just feel like, you know, a lot of us want to start a business, and I feel like that’s the common icebreaker question for the first class.
Cole: Yeah, I hear so many kids – they talk about how they want to start their own thing right after. It’s like, “I’m not, that’s totally cool. If you know how to do that, go for it.”
Lexy: That is what a lot of us are studying for.
Cole: Exactly. That’s the whole thing.
Lexy: I’m sure a lot of us will know how to.
Cole: Oh yeah, a lot of us will know how to, but I want to stay away from the hiccups that will stress me out. So, I think everyone has their own different paths. This is just what I want to do.
Lexy: I think that that’s a good game plan.
Cole: Thank you. I think so too.
Lexy: He’s like, “Let me put myself on the back.”
What will your collection look like?
Lexy: So, you know, we’ve talked a little bit about the inspiration behind your collection. Can you tell us maybe more of what it’s really going to look like? Just maybe describe it a little bit and then a little bit more about what drew you to this. I know you mentioned the other brands and just a bunch of things. Just talk more about your collection. I just want to hear all about it.
Cole: So, my collection, the whole idea of it is battling mother nature as well as being able to sustain a stylish sense to it. So, what I mean by that is, I want it to be a style where you can go out. Let’s say you want to go backpacking or hiking. This can work every single element that you’re going to deal with outside of walking the streets. You know, going to a fashion show.
But at the same time, let’s say you get that last-minute call like, “Hey, I need you to come back into the city. You’re needed here.” This is all you have. This is all you have to wear. It still works. It still can be stylish on the streets. It still can work.
It’s a full men’s collection. It resides more on the masculine side where it’s an ode to the 40s menswear as well as World War II in different styles. Because at that time, many of the designers for the different uniforms were big designers because they were drawn from different countries. They said, “We need this produced. We need something for our army, for our military. Can you help us design it?”
So, there was functionality. There was a lot of functionality built into these uniforms. So, that’s a lot of what I’m using as resources and inspiration from the World War II side is the functionality of where they built it and how they built it, as well as the ’40s menswear where it’s suits.
I have this really cool puffer sports coat that plays both with World War 2 and like the color palette as well as the dapperness of men’s suiting in the ’40s.
So, I can’t tell you too much. I can’t leak at all right now, but you’ll have to stay tuned.
Sustainable fashion
Lexy: That’s so interesting. I mean, everyone always says, you know, fashion isn’t revolutionary, it’s evolutionary, so I love that…
Cole: Exactly.
Lexy: …you can really see those different decades in your collection. A big thing that I’m noticing is I’m a big sustainable person and having functionality to an item, being able to wear things multiple ways in a billion different times, is sustainable.
Cole: It’s the best way to do it. The best way to do it. If you produce a quality product, it will last long. It’ll last a lifetime.
Lexy: Exactly. And then you’re just endlessly extending that end life of that garment because you’re just wearing it a thousand different ways, a thousand different times. So there’s no reason for you to get rid of it and to have it end up in a landfill. So, I appreciate that.
I think that the new luxury with sustainability included is like, obviously building things to last, but really building things to be worn.
Cole: Yeah, I was thinking about this question earlier and you know, like not even the question, I was thinking about sustainability and how we can make it a role in the future to come.
It’s, for some reason this analogy kept running through my head, like when you’re a little kid and screaming at someone, like when your parents scream at you, it never really changes much. It’s when they gradually try to bring you in and comfort you with it, you know? That’s what I want to do with my clothing, is in a sustainable way, produce stuff and source in a very ethical way, where the dye lots are not heavily acidic and everything, where they’re not polluting waterways, but then the product is still amazing.
And so, it’s learning how to gradually bring it into an industry that’s so heavily rooted in endless collections. I mean, in the fast fashion sense, they’ve what, released 12 collections a year on a mass scale. So, it’s learning how to gradually shift the industry to be more accepting of these different mindsets and creating stuff that’s more, you could say, has longevity. The product has a longevity to it.
Lexy: Exactly.
Cole: So, it’s learning the balance between it because you know people are creatures of habit, so we have to learn how to fit to their habits and everything. So, it’s a give and take relationship.
Embracing the slow fashion movement
Lexy: I love everything you just said. Couldn’t have said it better myself. I think that it’s kind of like embracing this, you know, slow fashion movement. We’re so used to fast fashion and we’re so used to having clothes come out so often throughout the year, but the thing is that we don’t need it at all.
I’m pretty sure I always forget the statistic and I say it in every podcast, but I’m pretty sure somewhere in like the 1950s we could have stopped making clothes and have had enough to last us to where we are now.
Cole: That’s crazy.
Lexy: We didn’t stop and then we made it faster and faster and faster. So in the past, I don’t even want to know how much waste has been created. I know another statistic, but I always forget actual numbers, but there is so much waste that has been created just in the past few years. So I love how brands and designers are really kind of pushing this slow fashion movement, creating things to last, creating less things that you can wear multiple times because I think that that’s so important.
And even if we could get that 12 releases a year down to 10 down to 8…
Cole: You know, we could do something like that. I think another really cool thing is how we’re learning ways to manage landfills and integrate them into fashion.
For example, water bottles and everything, how we can break it down into a compound of nylon and then re-thread it and everything and break down different fabrics and turn it back into another shoe, you know.
Those types of things are really useful, and as we progress as a society, I think we’ll learn more about this, because there’s a heavy desire across the board for everyone wanting this. I think the more it’s getting pushed, the more these big companies pursue it and put a budget towards it, and it’s a great thing.
Sustainability with Gen Z and millennials
Lexy: Yeah, especially with Gen Z and millennials. I mean, we all know we have the biggest buying power currently, and we’re also the two generations that are wanting to see our values and morals reflected in the brands that we shop.
Cole: 100%.
Lexy: So there’s been such a push for it, and now I think there’s two things that if a brand isn’t doing these two things, they’re just running themselves to the ground, and that’s not using social media and utilizing it to their full potential, and then sustainability, because if you make a promise and you’re being honest, you’re not greenwashing and you’re making goals to become more sustainable and by a certain year you’re planning on having these goals, you know, set, done, that’s plenty, that’s what I like to see.
It’s about the consumers and the way we shop and what we’re thinking before purchasing the item, like how many times we’ll wear it, what we’ll wear it with, or what we’ll wear it to, or buying it secondhand, or shopping more sustainably…
I really think that it’s a brand’s and a designer’s job to give consumers sustainable options, because if all brands were to only give consumers sustainable options, all consumers would have to shop sustainably.
Cole: Exactly.
Lexy: We’d be forced to in a good way, so I really think that it’s about the brands, but also it’s physically impossible for a human being to become fully sustainable overnight, so that’s just one person. A whole brand cannot become sustainable overnight, and I’m someone I think that the fashion industry, especially the sustainable fashion industry, can be a little judgmental in the sense of like if you post one day wearing maybe not the most sustainable thing, everyone will come for your entire existence. I am not like that, I think that it’s all about educating ourselves and others and just making efforts honestly.
Cole: 100%, you couldn’t have said it better.
Lexy: Thank you. I try. I do study this for a living, so I would hope I know a little bit about it.
What do you see for the future of fashion?
Lexy: So talking more broadly now about fashion, what kind of trends are you seeing overall, maybe in the near future, and what do you see for the future of fashion?
Cole: So, okay, I’d say for the future of fashion, we are currently in – I mean, you see the shows that are coming out now, it’s a lot of streetwear.
I was having a conversation with a couple of my buddies in Debut about this actually the other day. I kind of see the heavy streetwear that we’re involved in slowly fading out. I see people kind of wanting a classy style again, but at the same time casual. You know, COVID definitely added to that, where people feel comfortable in certain type of clothing.
But since we’re completely integrating ourselves back to society again, we need that silhouette that feels powerful. You know, I think there’s a power stance that’s going to come in to play again, where color palettes are going to be – you know, it’s hard to predict, you know, I’m terrible at this stuff, predicting, but I truly think in my mindset that there’s going to be a big change where people might want to be back in suits slightly. People will want to be comfortable, but at the same time, you know, they want something original.
So, it’s hard to predict, it’s hard to say what’s to come. Don’t quote me, don’t quote me on any of this. I could be completely wrong with everything I just said, but yeah, that’s how I feel. I think color palettes are going to be – let’s say… I personally fall in love with the neutral colors like nature and like a black tone or gray scale. But you know, every designer has their own feelings, and what consumers want to buy is all based on their emotions and where they feel like they can assimilate with different groups and different styles.
And so it’s really hard to come across a specific bubble and say, “This is what it’s going to be,” because it’s never clearly what it’s going to be, but there is a core to what it will be – I don’t know. Bottom line, I guess I don’t know.
Lexy: Well, I think that you’re right with the neutrals. I’ve been seeing that pattern a lot lately. I think there’s two reasons why that’s happening. After COVID, you know, it was a really dark time, and so everyone when things were starting to open up, we kind of gravitated more towards color and funky patterns. It’s also a reflection of the times, you know…
Cole: I saw a heavy ’70s arise.
Lexy: Yeah, because things that were happening in the government and in the world in the ’70s much reflected things that were happening in 2020, which is why we gravitated towards that style. And I think that it’s so interesting.
I could go on and on and on about why things in fashion happen the way that they do, but we were seeing a huge, you know, everyone gravitating towards the ’70s because it’s a reflection of the times, and that time in the government was reflecting the time that…
Cole: …We correlated so perfectly.
Lexy: Yeah, that and in the ’20s, 1920s. But I think that we’re seeing kind of everyone, you know, go back to being at their job all the time. So maybe, like you’re right, maybe suits are coming more into play because people want to be more dressed up. And then I think that we are – I think that there’s two reasons why we’re going back.
I think we said that, but the other one is we just experienced a lot of color. Now, I feel like we’re kind of like neutralizing, and the second one is sustainability. If you have a closet full of all neutrals, you can last through any trend.
Cole: You can switch it all up…
Lexy: …For the rest of your life. You could have a closet full of browns, whites, grays, and blacks and be set for your entire life.
Cole: You’ve seen that’s all I wear when I come into campus. I can wear the same pair of pants one week and then switch up a different shirt, and it looks like a brand new outfit.
Lexy: Exactly, exactly. So, you can wear something a thousand times, and I think that even though you don’t know, I think you were really on point with your trends.
Cole: Thank you.
Where can people find you and find more about your debut collection?
Lexy: Okay, well, where can people find you on social media and keep in touch or find out more about your debut collection?
Cole: Yeah, most definitely. So, I post a lot on Instagram. My Instagram is @colemoscaret. Hopefully, Lexi will tag it at the bottom, right here, right there, and that’s the main platform I primarily use. I need to get better at Twitter, I need to get better at all these different platforms, but Instagram is my go-to. So, if you want to keep up with me, that’s where you’ll find me.Lexy: Well, everyone, go follow Cole on Instagram, and while you’re at it, you can follow me on my socials. My TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are all at @LexySilverstein. That’s L-E-X-Y, Silver like the color S-T-E-I-N, and remember to make the ordinary extraordinary.
