Feature - Press Release: Wicked Stitchery

Feature - Press Release: Wicked Stitchery

Wicked Stitchery has been creating clothing for everything fantasy to functional since 1995 when designer and founder, Brandon Wilkes decided it was just too difficult to find club clothes he enjoyed wearing in the conservative shops of Boston, MA. He began designing and constructing his own club wear from second hand garments in used clothing shops and reception was good. This opened his doors and mind to creating unique, gothic inspired pieces for friends in the Boston club scene, Brandon learned his way around a pattern and began making his own pieces from scratch.Working mainly in rich velvets, antique lace and brocade fabrics he spilled floor length capes, hip hugging corsets, frilly frock coats and dainty babydoll dresses from his second hand metal sewing machine. "I've been drawing ever since I can remember. My mother still has sketches I did as a small child of 3-4 which makes me laugh" says Wilkes "It was only when I discovered true joy in bringing my drawings to life through fabrics that I found my place in the world. I love the smell of fabrics, the feel of velvets and finding new uses for fabrics I've had for years."

Brandon eventually moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1997 where he became part of the in-house sewing team for OzzFest 1998 under one of Hollywood's high end rock & roll designers, sewing for such rock personalities as Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne, Nine Inch Nails, Outcast and Static X (to whom he became the personal stylist and designer to the band for several years). Brandon branched into the film industry and music video arena while working with the other indi clothing designers for big name celebrities until he decided to bring Wicked Stitchery back from the dead and focus on creating his own designs once again. Wilkes presented his "Wicked Stitchery" designs to several shops on Hollywood's famous 'what's in' shopping area Melrose Avenue where the gothic/industrial/punk club wear remained for sale to the public for several years with new designs being released seasonally.

In 2004 Brandon was introduced to the world of Asian ball joint dolls and it was downhill, er uphill from there! Never being a doll person, he was pleasantly surprised and intrigued by how different bjd's are from conventional dolls and was amazed by how versitile each doll was from one ot the next and he was hooked. Wicked Stitchery pulled it's clothing from the shops and tossed it into storage, switching gears to shrink all their designs to Dollfie scale. Brandon purchased his first doll, a Dollmore Dean, from an online seller overseas and began making his floor length leather coats and lace trimmed dress shirts for SD/CP sized boys. The dolls began to come one by one. The Wicked Stitchery family now consists of a Volks MSD "Enn" (Emmett), three Angel Region little fair boys (Ayumu/Cien, Gabriel/Ren & Michael/Dana), a CP Delf Miyu (Myobi), CP Delf (Christian) & CP MNF Soo (Phee), two Dream of Doll boys (Haru/Tender Zen & Dorian/Tender Too), SoulDoll Harang boy (Tatshua) and a DoD Teen Lahoo (Valentine). Brandon has plans for another MNF boy Shiwoo this Fall, name TBD.

With the introduction of "Wicked Wigs" in 2006 by sister company founder, Erik Cain, Wicked Stitchery has moved from being limited to SD/Delf sized garments to a full service doll salon providing everything from head to toe for Asian BJDs of all sizes.

Favorites?:
Wilkes loves all his dolls, but favors the face and body sculpts of CP Delf dolls (of which he owns several). He likes his boys to be boys and prefers a baggy pair of 7 pocket jeans to frilly dresses on his own dolls. This drove him to adopting his two CP girls in Spring of 2006, giving him permission to create tulle skirts, corsets and fishnet stockings once again.

Wilkes background in children's book illustration gives his designs a whimsical feel or reflecting his alter ego love of traditional gothic horror, vampiric tales and romantic period costuming.

The Design Process:
Brandon drafts all his own patterns from the dolls themselves. He begins with freeform sketches, mapping out his ideas for style, color and prints. He then hand picks the fabrics that will become the garment, sometimes trying the same shirt in several fabrics before choosing the final piece that will go on to be part of an outfit. Garments are cut, hand sewn (by machine) & finished by the designer in his Los Angeles studio. All garments are inspected before they are shipped to insure quality and safety in transit.

Inspiration?
Designer Brandon Wilkes finds his inspiration in everything around him. Working by day as manager of a designer clothing showroom, he comes in contact with new human clothing designers and celebrities, finding endless sparks to fuel his new found obsession with BJDs. His designs are often influenced by the many goth & rock clubs and unique underground cultures found in the city of Angels as well as his favorite photographer, Floria Sigismundi. One of Wilkes' favorite weekend pastimes is wandering the back streets of the LA garment district, sorting through the buckets of mismatched buttons, dusty rows of fabric bolts and hidden treasures for his one off designs.

With plans to move back to the East Coast US this Fall to be closer to his family, no one knows what he will find in the endless fabric shops of New York City and Boston, MA. One thing remains the same, Brandon still uses his old second hand metal sewing machine for all of his pieces.