Haus of style
When a New York client needed a garment for a garden-party-themed fundraiser, she asked Julie and Jason Alkire how they might topple the call for traditional, “Alice in Wonderland”-inspired attire. The husband-and-wife designers behind Haus Alkire, who specialize in custom-made womenswear from their Tribeca home/atelier, worked with her to conceive a floor-length gown from a photograph Jason took in Central Park. The result was a dark and moody silhouette of branches and florals that led media to name the client — a tech titan’s wife — one of the event’s best dressed. The Alkires met at the University of Houston and were married here before relocating to New York in 2003, where they eventually used their separate career experience in art, digital printing and fashion to launch Haus Alkire a decade later. The brand has since earned high-profile distinctions, including CFDA’s Fashion Incubator award. Julie, 45, learned to sew from her seamstress grandmother at age 12. She says the couple prefers to use fabrics that hold their shape — Italian four-ply crepe silk, double-faced organic cotton from Japan, a waterproof cashmere — for their architectural silhouettes and proprietary Claire Danes textiles has taken and notice, prints. along with Ayesha Curry. “You admire their style; there is some connection when you meet them,” Julie said of their private clients, who gravitate toward prints like the one using Jason’s photographs of dried flowers at varying elevations atop the Swiss Alps. Or, this spring’s RGB print dress, which caught the attention of Women’s Wear Daily for its pattern of Pantone color chips with the numeric formula of red + green + blue beneath each that Jason, 47, calls “a wearable color The chart.” brand has traditional retail relationships with Barneys New York and Forty Five Ten, but the Alkires are most passionate about their direct-to-consumer model that takes them around the country for private consultations and events — a recent trunk show at Found in Houston was a homecoming, of sorts. Next, they’ll expand to tabletop and home goods, mixing their prints with textured plates, like a milky, blown glass, for even more “layered storytelling,” Julie said. Pieces range from $400-$5,000; hausalkire.com.