Tiffhonee: A Room of One's Own

Like most up-and-coming designers, Tiffanie Peters has a dream that one day all of the fashion world will know her name. But for now, the San Francisco-based designer is content with taking the necessary small steps to break into the business.

Peters, who earned a degree in fashion at Brooks College in Long Beach, Calif., prior to stints at Richard Tyler and Jessica McClintock, debuted her new urban label, Tiffhonee, at the POOL show at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas last February. The most difficult part about being a new designer is making the initial pitch to potential buyers, she said.

“It’s undone chic,” Peters said, adding that her low-maintenance approach to fashion is geared toward specialty stores. Peters is hoping that once one boutique catches on to her concept others will follow.

Her Summer/Fall collection is called Indian Summer, and it boasts a variety of prints and solids. The collection is divided into three groups: T-shirts, skirts and accessories.

Peters’ brand of casual street attire for women is just as fashionable as it is edgy. A sleeveless raglan keyhole shirt with bamboo print, ribbed cotton boat-neck shirt with Afro-flower print and baby-rib halter top with poppy print are just a few of the styles in the T-shirt group. The skirt group includes rayon/polyester slim skirts with side slit and full skirts that come in rust pin stripe, mint polka-dot and kimono floral prints. Each skirt has Chinese frog closures. Wholesale price points for the collection start at $26.

Asian influences are featured throughout the collection, according to Peters.

“[Asian details] are something I’ve become interested in ever since I moved to San Francisco and started visiting Chinatown,” explained Peters.

One piece in her collection is a handpainted profile of a woman with an Afro decorated with Chinese cherry blossoms. “That’s my interpretation of an urban goddess,” explained Peters. Peters said her hand-painted shirts are easy to wash because the permanent textile paint doesn’t bleed.

With deliveries for May 15 and June 30, the designer is busy working out of her Sunset District studio, spending a few hours each night and most of her weekends putting the final touches on her latest collection for next Spring. Her work area consists of a medium-sized wooden desk and a Juki sewing machine, which is situated close to a bay window that boasts a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean.

When she’s not cranking away at her sewing machine, Peters works part-time as a customer service agent for a jewelry company.

Peters said her design philosophy is to think big.

"I've heard success stories about young designers who never went to fashion school and it amazes me to see how brilliant some of their designs are,” she said. “But regardless of your background, every designer pays their dues.”

For more information about Tiffhonee, call (415) 504-6113. —Claudia Figueroa