Through the concrete and brick columned hall of the CFDA Incubator, past glass doors with names like Bibhu Mohapatra, House of Waris and Prabal Gurung etched upon them, sits a room on the end that houses the studio of a French expat with a beautiful concept. Alice Ritter works seemingly solitary in a tidy brightly lit room with a towering cubic bookshelf, a sewing machine and inspiration all around. Her style rings from the authenticity of growing up in the late 70’s in France, where Yves Saint Laurent was god and high power glossies were sacred. Having studied economics, she created a fashion lab within her home with her Brooklynite husband to pursue her true art of design. Poring over books and dissecting vintage clothing lead to her creating an aesthetic that is uniquely hers. 

How did you translate your studio from your apartment to this space?

Frankly, it was sort of the same, only smaller. I mean I have a good apartment, but it’s private space. I live with someone, so I can't take over. I need to have the couch; sometimes I just go and do something else, like read, and I use [the front] part [of this office] as a little apartment set up. 

What are your three fashion books you recommend to an aspiring fashion designer?

Oh! This Madeleine Vionnet book I’ve had for a long time, I know it by heart.  Madeleine Vionnet is such an inspiration. It was just so modern what she did, and she invented a new way to drape fabric and to drape the woman’s body. She not as famous as Gabrielle Chanel or Christian Dior. I mean she’s famous amongst fashion people and she’s more influential for me.

This Balenciaga book is beautiful not just because I’m fascinated with Balenciaga, but the book its self is just a beautiful object, the way its printed, paper. Its really good. He was very forward thinking  He was like a sculptor almost. 

Fashion Design 1850-1895 is a good one. It’s a classic. It’s a very well curated collection of clothes, and their details. It’s an endless source of inspiration. And a really good way to learn about costume and this sort of fashion.

Now that your studio is located in the garment district do you find you use more of the local resources?

No, to be frank, I don’t because we do samples [with my partner] in Hong Kong and manufacture in China. I used to produce in New York, and it became too expensive. It’s also a lot of expenses when you have your own in-house team because you need to have a manager to oversee the production, someone to carry the fabric and the clothes when they’re done, you need people to deliver, to put the clothes in boxes. It costs a lot to do from the States, because workers don’t work for the same salary in China, and unfortunately that’s what happened. 

How did you get connected to your factory in China?

They actually contacted me a long time ago through press clippings from when I showed with Gen Art: Fresh Faces of Fashion. I was very suspicious at first, because I was based in New York, I wanted to do everything here. I guess I needed to have a better grasp of business before I could really understand what they were offering. I went on my way, by myself for a year and a half, and then I was like, okay, maybe I should contact to those people. Tthey might have solutions for me because this is a killer. For every young brand and every young designer the conundrum of the production is really complicated to be on top of your cost.

Who else works in your studio now?

I'm by myself, because my team is really in Hong Kong. I like it, [but] it's also a financial thing, I don't have that much money to spare. I'm going to sound really bad, but I don't want to have dead weight. I used to have a much bigger studio before I signed up with my Chinese partner, and it was an ongoing problem. You need to manage them, and I didn't like to police people. If you're too cool, at some point people aren't really doing work. I also didn't like the constraint it was putting on myself to be in the office physically. If I want to do work in my apartment, or if I want to go to the stores and do market research, or if I want to go to the MoMa to get inspired, or if I want to watch a movie, I need to be able to do that. If you get to work in an open space with lots of people, you don't get to do that. You have to show and lead by example. 

What was the point at which you knew you could make your designs a company?

I moved into Williamsburg in 2001, and this really great store opened next door to my apartment and we became friends with the guy. He was really into my post-90’s DIY type of thing, so he put them in the store and it sold out in a week! I was like, maybe there’s something there. They were made from A- Z, by myself, really handmade.

What was your first experience with factory production?

When Gen Art approached me to show with Fresh Faces in 2005, they said I would need to be ready to produce. My best friend at the time was the right hand of Azzedine Alaia for many years, worked with Gucci on haute couture, and did couture with Galliano and McQueen, and he was in between jobs. So, we took my drawings and went down to Buenos Aires and did a collection together. I wanted to go back, but working in Argentina is not very practical. It’s really complicated in terms of import export legislation; you have to bribe people. It's like an Almodovar movie, the big Latin drama. 

Do you ever socialize with the other designers in the Incubator?

We do, but not as much as we thought we would. Because this is really an office type of situation you don't really hang out at the office. you see people and make good friends that you'll obviously keep in touch with, and we have fun and we like seeing each other I went out with Rachel Dooley and Johanna Stout, who is in charge of the program. But no, we don't hang out in the kitchen. Everybody works. 

Photography by Richard Guaty