Playing Dress-Up at Hayden-Harnett

This is why I should never doubt the camaraderie and joie de vivre in the greater Greenpoint and Williamsburg fashion community. My interview with Toni Hacker, one of the lead designing minds behind Franklin Ave fashion grande dame Hayden-Harnett, morphed into an all-out girls’ dress-up party—and one with champagne and cupcakes, at that.

Ok, there was one boy in attendance: the official Hayden-Harnett Boston terrier.

I was at their flagship boutique just as they were hosting a trunk show for fellow Brooklyn designer Staci Leatherland of Mifflin Jewelry, so the store was replete with baubles and refreshments galore, not to mention the walls of leather goods (Leatherland, what an appropriate last name!) and apparel on offer.

The convo between Toni and me started with talk about the store’s prep for the annual winter Hayden-Harnett sample sale (next Tuesday through Thursday) as well as a run-through some of the hottest-selling items from Hayden-Harnett’s Fall-Winter 2009 collection.

Bedecked in this season’s operative shades: plum, dusty rose and neutrals, some of the Hayden-Harnett accessories gaining traction is the Burke, the line’s first-ever suede bag. For a bit of pocket-sized luxury, the leather Emile clutch is, as Toni dubbed it, a great “little French wallet” that transitions from day to night. The Emile also has a cardholder-sized version, oh so apropos for a-networking.

Spun off of its cornerstone leather collection is Hayden-Harnett’s new leather necklace line, such as the crescent-shaped Corinne and pictured here, the Junya amulet, named for Junya Watanabe of Japanese clothing line Comme des Garçons.

It was as Toni took to posing with her bag that the impromptu fashion show began. Soon the people on hand became the default models and were soon bedecked in Hayden-Harnett’s fall apparel offerings. Pictured here, is Hayden-Harnett apparel designer Stephanie working the Michi tank along with the leather Tallulah skirt,

as well as Staci of jewelry fame posing in the Taso jacket and the Woodsen wool short, sported with the Farrow clutch in hand. 

Also from the Farrow line: the wide cuff, worn by Nicole, H-H salesperson-posing-as-1940s-feminism icon Nicole.

Outerwear gets its due with the maven herself Toni sporting the line’s classic Parker Peacoat and Staci donning the charcoal gray medieval pleats of the Anais coat (see below).

Having customers come in and trying everything on “is exactly what we want,” says Toni. An online outpost of this is the collection’s weekly email “IRL: In Real Life,” profiling H-H fans/newly minted models.

You’ll never know who you might find on there (especially if you scroll down on this link).

Hayden-Harnett’s sample sale is next Tuesday through Thursday, Dec. 8-10. Can’t wait that long? Head to the store at 211 Franklin Ave in Greenpoint for its trunk show featuring Oblik Atelier, the line of Brooklyn jewelry designer Mia Hebib.