Heidi Merrick: Designing Stylish Dresses With Function in Mind
Newcomer Heidi Merrick planned to launch her new collection for Resort 2007 but decided to test the production waters by first creating some Summer and Fall ’06 styles. Buyers responded well to her collection of functional, stylish dresses and placed orders immediately for the new line.
Los Angeles boutique Kate is among the first to carry the line. The owner of the chic boutique on Fairfax Avenue found Merrick on MySpace.com, where Merrick had created a page last spring to showcase her designs before launching her official Web site, www.HeidiMerrick.com.
Merrick was a former assistant to an editorial stylist. Her resumeacute; includes gigs at Self, Shape and Marie Claire magazines in New York, and she counts the current fashion editor of Lucky magazine as a close friend. She left New York, returned to her SoCal roots and settled in Los Angeles so she could be closer to family in Santa Barbara, where she grew up.
On her Web site, you’ll see the “About” page, where Merrick states: “I am a designer. My father is a designer. hellip;” Her father, Al Merrick, is a world-renowned surfboard shaper and the owner of Channel Island Surfboards.
She credits him as a major influence in her desire to be a great craftsman. The surf shop in Santa Barbara has always been a family business. Her mother made all the clothes when it first opened, and later she and Heidi did all the buying. Heidi considers her mom an “incredible seamstress.” When the two paired up to create Heidi’s wedding dress, Heidi knew that clothing design should be in her future.
She graduated from the fashion school at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College in December 2005. She won the Betty Baumgartner scholarship from the Textile Association of Los Angeles and started a business account with the money. As a surfer and Santa Barbara native, Merrick is inspired by resortwear. She’s conscious of fabric choices, with functionality and comfort being top priorities. Everything she makes has pockets. Her collection is neither too relaxed nor too dressy but rather a perfect dose of casual chic. “I love the lifestyle of resort towns,” said Merrick. “I like the idea of looking like you’re on vacation when you’re not.”
Highlights from the Summer line include the sexy, but not too sexy, strapless Paige dress in bamboo and camo prints or white, as well as the strapless Rosanna, which boasts a fuller skirt, in plaid, camo and houndstooth- check prints. For Fall, she chose creped wool and linen in solid black and aqua, and new camo and plaid prints. Merrick is very much into simplicity with clean lines and uncomplicated cuts. The Jenny and The Fenny styles break away from her strapless look of summer. The Morrison—with its sleeveless silhouette, plaid print and black sash belt—is adorable, without being too cute. For the upcoming Resort collection, Merrick is doing skinny pants under some of her frocks. It’s a look she’s always liked, and has worn herself, before it became a trend. Retail prices for the looks range from $400 to $500.
Merrick is now in production for Fall and will ship the new line on 9/15. It’s a big undertaking because she makes all the samples and patterns on her own. Even with two assistants, it’s a lot of work, Merrick said. For instance, she doesn’t always have time to spend two days a week shopping for fabric, but she wouldn’t trust the task to anyone else.
She aptly described her newest designs as “super avant-garde and gorgeous.” Buyers and consumers will likely describe them as irresistible. For more information, visit www.heidimerrick.com or call (323) 717-2153.
—Dena Smolek
