Rachel Comey is an American independent fashion designer based in New York City. She is the founder of Rachel Comey, a clothing, shoes, and accessories brand known for its "intellectual, arts-and-crafts aesthetic." [1]
Comey was born outside of Hartford, Connecticut. [2] In 1994, she graduated from the University of Vermont, [3] where she focused on Asian studies, printmaking, and sculpture. [3]
After college, Comey worked at an art gallery in Vermont and designed a line of novelty underwear. [3] [4] In 1997, she moved to New York, where she worked as a freelance production assistant and later as a design consultant at Theory. [5] During that time she began making costumes for her then-boyfriend Eugene Hutz's band, Gogol Bordello. [5] In 2001, after her designs caught the eye of a stylist friend, Comey was commissioned to make two hand-painted shirts for musician David Bowie. [6] She charged him $100 per shirt. [6] Soon after, Comey was fired from Theory for performing outside work. [7] [5]
In September 2001, Comey presented her first menswear collection. [8] In 2004, Comey expanded her brand to include womenswear. [5] [9] Of her Spring-Summer 2004 ready-to-wear collection, Vogue published, "The overall mood was pure summer, and the collection full of confident, easy clothes for cool customers with discerning eyes." [9]
In 2009, Comey was inducted into Council of Fashion Designers of America. [5]
Her clothes have been worn by celebrities and artists including Miranda July, [10] Rashida Jones, [11] Lady Gaga [12] and more.
Comey's first official fashion show took place in September 2001, days before 9/11, near her studio in Tribeca. [8] The ad-hoc, menswear-only show was held on the street and featured models including Waris Ahluwalia and Devendra Banhart. [8]
To present her Spring-Summer 2014 ready-to-wear collection, Comey hosted a sit-down dinner at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn [13] featuring a performance by Justin Vivian Bond. [8] Thus began a series of untraditional presentations taking place at venues including Hauser Wirth & Schimmel in Los Angeles, CA. [14] To celebrate the brand's fifteenth anniversary in 2016, Comey presented her Spring-Summer 2017 ready-to-wear collection on the sidewalk of Crosby Street in New York City, [15] a nod to her first-ever fashion show in 2001. [8]
In addition to choosing unconventional venues, Comey is also known for casting unconventional models in her fashion shows. [16] For her Spring-Summer 2016 ready-to-wear show, Comey included "artists, eccentrics, dancers, and businesswomen" in addition to professional models. [16]
In March 2017, Comey introduced a line of unisex clothing [17] – "because clothes are for everyone." [18]
In 2002, Comey appeared in a documentary short about Gogol Bordello. [19]
In 2014, Comey played herself in the "Rachel" episode of the web series High Maintenance . [20]
Comey lives with her husband, Sean Carmody, [5] and two children in New York's SoHo neighborhood. [21]