Lauren Moffatt

When Lauren Moffatt first brought her women’s wear designs to the Charles Porter Boutique in Old City, things didn’t start off well. Porter, busy showing customers his current offerings, paid little attention to her. But while she was waiting, she started pulling out samples — a bright green strapless dress with a pink patch pocket, a yellow and white striped A-line skirt with pink leather trim, a green skirt with lime green lining and an orange antique button. The Candyland colors and simple lines drew the attention of customers — so much so that they abandoned Porter to investigate. And Porter was right behind them. When he saw how well the items were made and the reactions they caused, he was hooked. "My customers told me what to carry," he says.

Lauren Moffatt designs are the work of Abington native Lauren Moffatt, 24, and her boyfriend and partner Rob Pepin, 27. The fresh-faced blond couple met while studying fashion design at Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. Pepin graduated in 1997 and moved to New York to work for a big-name fashion house; Moffatt transferred after her freshman year to earn a degree in fine art at Chestnut Hill College. After graduation she did graphic design for a Conshohocken firm that folded a year later. Meanwhile, in the big apple, Pepin was fed up with doing all the work with none of the credit for other designers, so he quit. The couple’s mutual joblessness in early 1999 led them to start their own business.

"There wasn’t much thought put into it. We just did it," says Pepin.

So how do two young designers make it in the big city? Lots of luck, says Moffatt. And they had it from the start. After deciding to design a women’s wear line, Moffatt began drawing with colored pencils. These colorful doodles are where most of her design inspiration comes from, she says. A few months later they bought some scrap fabric and started sewing. Once they’d completed a bunch of pieces, they thought they’d start small, show their line to some unintimidating boutiques they’d found in the back of a trade magazine. A few stores agreed to take a look. Just as they were about to pay a call on one, Hedra Prue on the Lower East Side, they came across an A-Z list of hot boutiques in Vogue. There, under H, was Hedra Prue. Fear shot through them both. They’d assumed this was some minor shop, not a high-end boutique. They contemplated skipping the appointment — for a moment —then pulled themselves together and went anyway. The folks at Prue ordered 100 pieces that same day. read more...