HIGH COTTON
Houston designer Paola Contreras creates effortless style
Paola Contreras is so obsessed with silk she wears it nearly every day.
The soft, luxurious fabric drapes like nothing else and hides many flaws for the body conscious, said Contreras, owner of Inclán Studio, a luxury casualwear brand that specializes in silk garments. It just feels so good, she said.
But with the rising costs of silk in a pandemic-stressed world that’s focused on ultracasual clothes, Contreras made a tough business decision to shift her brand from all silk to cotton. The cost of silk has increased from $14 a yard to $20 or higher, while cotton is about $5 to $7 a yard. And the move also has cut production time in half, since silk’s softness makes it more of a challenge to cut and sew.
“We pride ourselves at being a seasonless silk brand, but with the cost of silk and because we’re made in the U.S., we had to look at other fabric options that are affordable and also fit our look.”
This fall, Contreras will deliver her first cotton collection to some 50 stores in Texas, Florida and Georgia, including Houston’s Cotton Club. Business is holding steady. Only three stores stopped carrying her line as a result of the pandemic, she said, and that’s been a blessing. Contreras is planning a fashion shoot for her spring collection in New Orleans this month. While silk pieces ranged from $300-$500; her cotton line prices will start at $200.
Contreras never imagined she could make a living as fashion designer.
Her grandfather moved the family from Mexico City to Houston, and Contreras is the first in her family born in the United States.
She grew up playing soccer and was the “girliest girl” on the team, she said. Contreras attended a sports boarding school in Florida to play soccer and went on to study international business and Spanish at Merrimack College in Boston.
After graduating, she returned to Houston and worked in her father’s company. She enrolled in the Art Institute of Houston with the idea of opening her own boutique.
“I fell in love with fashion designing. I love the process of creating clothes,” she said.
Contreras joined Paty Inc., a 64-year-old Houston infant and children’s wear company, where she worked a patternmaker and designer. She launched Inclán, named after her grandmother, in a Sugar Land office strip center two years later.
“I want women to wear comfortable clothing but still feel elevated,” said Contreras, who is married to Sam Katz, who works in real estate. The couple has a 10-month-old son, Behr.
Now Inclán Studio and showroom is located on Fannin, across from the new Ion building. Contreras serves as creative director, while fellow Art Institute classmate Clarence Lee is the brand’s designer. She also has a sales representative and several seamstresses.
“We’ve been really shocked that business has been good,” said Lee, who also creates designs for Magpies & Peacocks, a Houston-based nonprofit that specializes in upcycling and redesigning pieces from reclaimed materials diverted from landfills. Inclán Studio and Magpies & Peacocks also collaborated on a collection.
Contreras said being a fashion designer in Houston has its perks. The competition is not as great as in New York, and that translates to lower overall costs. But Houston still doesn’t get the respect it deserves, she said.
“We feel underappreciated and underestimated sometimes because there is a stereotype of Houston as solely an oil and gas town,” Contreras said.
Lee agreed, adding, “I think it’s really assuring when you see Houston designers like Kenneth Nicholson receive a CFDA award.”
Nicholson, a menswear designer, recently received the American Emerging Designer of the Year award by Council of Fashion Designers of American, one of five U.S. designers selected for the honor. He’s known for his gender-bending menswear, with celebrity clients such as Houston Ballet’s Harper Watters.
More than anything, the pandemic has taught Contreras about being resilient, she said.
“I’ve learned how much I can take. I can take a lot, and I keep going.”