FRANK TELL

One of Frank Tell’s foremost preoccupations as a designer is the melding of different creative disciplines—film, dance, music, painting, photography, etc.—into the realm of something so undeniably material as is clothing He believes that instead of literal translation of his inspirations, it is more important to capture the essence of these.

The Spanish-born designer learned to design and sew at a trim and tailor shop owned by his paternal grandmother. Frank started his career in fashion with stints at CFDA-nominated collective ThreeAsFour and later with British designer Sue Stemp. He launched his line Frank Tell in September 2007 with a Spring 2008 collection entitled “Apple Blossoms,” inspired by 1920’s icons Josephine Baker and Louise Brooks, as well as the works of artists Georgia O’Keefe and Ross Bleckner. His latest collections, Fall/Winter 2008 and Resort 2009,  were inspired by different minimalist and geometric paintings from around the world, and 1960’s supermodel Penelope Tree, as well as by French Films from that era---including Godard’s Masculin, Féminin, William Klein’s Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?, and Alain Resnais’s  L’Année dernière à Marienbad, among others.

The line is currently sold in Bloomingdales and Henri Bendel in New York, Satine in Los Angeles, Outfit at Wynn Resorts – Las Vegas, Susan in San Francisco and Burlingame CA, Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong, and Aizel in Moscow, among others. It has been featured in Elle, Cosmopolitan, Style.com, Lucky, Teen Vogue, WWD, and many other publications.