<\/b>What\u2019s the origin of the name Raife and Singer?<\/b><\/p>\n
Raife is my last name, and Singer is the sewing machine that my mom taught me how to sew on.<\/p>\n
Describe what it is that you do.<\/b><\/p>\n
So I design and make neckwear, which I define kind of loosely. I started out making bowties and bolo ties, and I\u2019ve also started making skinny ties more recently. But I also do necklaces and scarves. I don\u2019t wear a ton of accessories, but I pretty much just make stuff that I like to wear.<\/p>\n
What was the inspiration and influence behind your work?<\/b><\/p>\n
I starting making stuff as a hobby, as a side thing. I sort of just would have ideas like \u201cOh, I\u2019d love to wear something like this, but I have no idea where to get it, so I guess I\u2019ll just try to make it.\u201d And this sounds kind of cheesy, but I feel like the origin story of Raife and Singer starts with my parents. They\u2019re both craftspeople. My dad is a woodworker and my mom can sew anything, and make anything in the kitchen. I was brought up with this DIY attitude, and my parents were always making stuff. And they always empowered me to create stuff as well. Coming up with that attitude and being surrounded by my parents always making stuff, I thought \u201cI\u2019ll just do what I can do!\u201d Even though I didn\u2019t have any training or skills in that, I just sort of had this attitude of \u201cIf I want it, I\u2019m going to try and make it.\u201d And so I guess it\u2019s sort of just an extension of my own personal style and things that I want to wear, and things that I want to see other people wear. And I just figure out how to create that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Where are you from?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m originally from Des Moines, Iowa.<\/p>\n What\u2019s your educational background?<\/b><\/p>\n I went to Smith College. I graduated in 2011, majored in women\u2019s studies. I haven\u2019t taken an art class since middle school. So I really have no background in design or accessories or fashion, other than just doing it as a hobby.<\/p>\n I certainly wish I had taken a graphic design or photography class, so that I could do more of that stuff myself, cause that\u2019s stuff that\u2019s necessary for creating a brand.<\/p>\n How long have you been creating neckwear?<\/b><\/p>\n I started the Etsy store last October, so almost a year ago. But I\u2019ve been making stuff for a couple of years now, like three years maybe. Sort of honing in on how to create stuff that I can sell for a couple of years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I know of the Etsy account, but do you sell in the traditional marketplace as well?<\/b><\/p>\n I don\u2019t as of now, but I\u2019d like to in the next year or two. It\u2019s just a matter of building up inventory.<\/p>\n Tell me about your clientele. Where do you find yourself shipping to most?<\/b><\/p>\n All over. Mostly US based, but a few in Europe and Australia. It\u2019s really all over the US. I\u2019ve sent them to Florida, Virginia, Oregon. And I get a lot of New York people as well.<\/p>\n Tell me about the process, from inspiration to design, and then to physically creating the pieces.<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ve made all my own patterns, and that\u2019s just a matter of making a bunch of shit that doesn\u2019t work until I get something that works. And then in terms of fabric, I just spend a lot of time combing through discount fabric stores until I find something that I like, and finding stuff that works with my vision. And then I try to choose stuff that works sort of like a collection, even though I don\u2019t do like a fall\/winter collection or whatever, but I try to have everything come together to make a cohesive aesthetic. And then after that it\u2019s just tedious hours at my sewing machine or at my desk.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What are your thoughts on selling online vs. the traditional marketplace?<\/b><\/p>\n Ideally I\u2019d like to be doing both. I\u2019d like to have a stand-alone website within the next year so that I not only have an Etsy, but my own website. Online is great cause you can promote it and reach a wider audience, but then I\u2019d also really like to be selling stuff to people locally and interacting with people that are going to be wearing it. And also, I feel like it\u2019s a good marketing thing. Someone sees their friend wearing something and they\u2019re like, \u201cOh that\u2019s awesome, where did you get that?\u201d \u201cOh, I got it at Brooklyn Flea. It\u2019s this little booth where they have a lot of great stuff.\u201d When I buy stuff, I\u2019d almost always rather buy something in person. You get to touch it and feel it and try it on. And you don\u2019t have to deal with shipping and filling out forms.<\/p>\n And waiting.<\/b><\/p>\n Right.<\/p>\n Do you have any plans to expand beyond creating neckwear, or is it the focus for now?<\/b><\/p>\n I see myself staying focused on [neckwear]. That\u2019s just what I\u2019m interested in. Something I haven\u2019t talked about yet that I want to is that I feel like a lot of my stuff is really tailored towards creating an androgynous aesthetic. I see pretty much everything I make being worn on anyone on any part of the gender spectrum. I know bowties and bolo ties are considered menswear and I\u2019ll probably never be free of that label. But I really try to make stuff that can be worn and appreciated by folks on all parts of the gender spectrum.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n How does being a part of the LGBT community affect what you do?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been thinking about this a lot. I feel like identifying as queer and presenting as gender non-conforming or gender non-normative really is intimately tied to my personal style and what I do. And I think it\u2019s sort of\u2026it\u2019s hard to explain. I feel like I\u2019ve had this attitude for the past few years that if I\u2019m on point all the time, if I just look on point and fierce and awesome all the time, no one can touch me. And whether or not that\u2019s true, that\u2019s the attitude I have, and if I feel like I look good and I feel confident, then that\u2019s the way that I move in the world and that\u2019s how, to some degree, how people perceive me. And maybe that sounds a little bit cocky, but I feel like it\u2019s something that our community is familiar with.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t want to be making \u201cqueer accessories\u201d or \u201cLGBT accessories\u201d or whatever. I just feel like my identity, which is a lot more complex than just my sexuality or my gender identity, but my identity as a whole is inseparable from what I create and informs it in every way, my queerness and gender non-conformity being only a part of that identity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Related article:\u00a0Brooklyn\u2019s SKINNYFATTIES Delivers Artfully Crafted Ties Designed By You<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Looking appropriately stylish in an ensemble that included a handmade, triangular cocobolo necklace, Annie Raife sat down with me to talk about her creation of neckwear and the business through which she sells it. Her online store, Raife and Singer, is on Etsy. What\u2019s the origin of the name Raife and Singer? Raife is my\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[158,129,161,51,82,81,159,160,135,134,38,162],"yst_prominent_words":[3253,3247,3242,3240,3252,3245,3093,2708,3250,3243,3255,2205,3246,3251,3241,3248,3256,3249,3244,2199],"class_list":["post-1634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion","tag-accessories","tag-androgynous","tag-bolo","tag-fashion-2","tag-lgbt","tag-lgbtq","tag-mark-mcqueen","tag-neckwear","tag-posture","tag-posture-magazine","tag-queer","tag-tie","post_format-post-format-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/annieinbolo.jpg?fit=2640%2C2408","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6QBV8-qm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12093,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions\/12093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Raife](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/bolotiedetail.jpg?resize=960%2C1455\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Raife](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/LR1.jpg?resize=933%2C1394\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Raife](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/necklace_edit.jpg?resize=1394%2C933\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Raife](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/tie.jpg?resize=847%2C601\")
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