MEET THE JEANIOUS

Twenty-five year old Alina Stefanescu is the “jean-ious” behind Alina Jeans.

With no formal background in fashion design, Alina successfully debuted a line of chic, rock & roll inspired jeans in early 2008. Growing up in Cold War Romania during a time when Western influences were banned, jeans were a rare commodity to come by. Luckily for Alina, her father smuggled and traded Levi’s on the black market.  This sparked Alina’s life-long passion for denim. Alina finds inspiration in her Venice Beach surroundings, as well as her European roots. The interesting washes and sexy silhouettes perfectly achieve that sex appeal found in the streets of Los Angeles. The line has already attracted a following from young, trendy celebrities such as Annalynne McCord (90210). Costing anywhere between $140-$210 a pop, a pair from this line will make a perfect addition to any fashion-forward wardrobe.

Jeshin Chun: How would you describe your line?
Alina Stefanescu: It’s a rock’n’roll, sexy silhouette strongly influenced by the fun and excitement of Venice Beach CA where I live.

If you had to choose a celebrity to either be the face of your line or collaborate in the design of your line, who would it be?
Karen O, Sienna Miller, Juliette Lewis.

What made you start a line that is specific to jeans? Did your father play a role in that decision?
He used to smuggle them in and sell them from my uncles Fiat Cinquecento in the town square in Focsani. He would spend the money he made on parts for his motorcycle and car repair business. He can fix anything. In those days you did anything ýou could to survive. And it seemed a lot of fun, this selling jeans thing! I was very small, and would stay there all day watching. It plays a role in Alina Jeans because I associate the smell of new jeans with hanging out with my dad and getting presents. That’s a good thing.

How were you able to begin designing jeans with no formal fashion design background? Where did you learn the necessary skills or get relevant experience?
I kept bothering people until they told me! Jeans are actually very hard to make. But I can be relentless, so I just kept turning up at factories and laundries until I found out what I needed. But for the fashion instinct, I was born with that.

Your jeans are each handmade and styled. Do you do most of that yourself? Can you describe a typical process that goes into designing a pair of jeans?
Well, all jeans are handmade. They don’t have robots for it yet and I hope they never do! What we are talking about there is really the washes. For example on our new PAINTED JEAN we apply 8 different paint colors by hand to each jean. And when I say ‘apply’ I mean we splatter, rub, drip the paint on! Each one is slightly unique. I’ve done some of it. It’s fun! I’m also VERY hands on when we design the washes and bleaches and of course the fit. A pair of our jeans has a lot of our blood sweat and tears in it.

Can you explain your choice in exclusively using denim imported from Japan and Italy?
The textiles they produce are exquisite and VERY expensive. Also the Turks are doing some fabulous new denims. There are some good US denims, but none that have worked for our unique washes so far.

What are you working on currently with the line?
We are doing a line inspired by a night out on the Sunset Strip, so it’s about tight sexy fits and FANTASTIC washes.

Are there any upcoming changes or events happening with your line?
We are really getting into blending music with our line. That really works for us.  So I could see us doing concerts and more music/fashion events.

Have you considered expanding your line beyond just jeans?
Of course. But it’s good to get these right first.

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