Carmen Marc Valvo Interview
This lecture is the first in our series called “Designer FashionSpeak. We will take you take you on location to the sprawling Seventh Avenue design room and showroom of famed New York fashion designer, Carmen Marc Valvo. You’ll learn all about how he started in the industry, where his collections are sold and what it’s like to dress celebrities, whom he says he dresses not just for their physique but also for their personalities.
Some of the celebs on Carmen’s A list are, Katie Couric, Lucy Lui, Queen Latifah, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange and Andrea Martin, who recently thanked him on national television while accepting her Tony Award. Carmen discusses the inspiration behind his latest collection, which received rave reviews, and talks about some of the realities of the business of being a fashion designer.
Interviewer: Today, we’re here to interview Carmen Marc-Valvo in his 7th Avenue showroom. Carmen, what influences in your life inspired you to become a designer? Did you have a mentor?
Carmen:I don’t know what really inspired me to become a designer, all I know is I was very very good in the artistic field. When I was six and seven, I would sketch. I think I got my first set of oils when I was nine. I designed for my sister’s Barbie dolls. I’d sketch her dresses. But I also liked doing portraitures. I worked in charcoal and in pen and ink, and I got my first set of oils, I guess, when I was nine, as I said. So, I was always involved in the arts. And, it wasn’t until many, many years later that I realized that fashion was, indeed, my first love, and so it took me many years to rediscover that, but I guess it was always part of my DNA.