Meet Designer Amanda Valentine

On Tuesday, April 7th, Nashville Fashion Week kicked off its 5th year at Acme Feed & Seed.  Seven local designers presented their collections with a few of them being returning designers. Eric Adler of Eric Adler Clothing, Maria Silver of Black by Maria Silver, Truly Alvarenga of Pink Elephant Designs  along with Ashley Balding of Ona Rex, Leslie Stephens of Ola Mai and Van Hoag of Van Hoang Designs.

We caught up with Amanda Valentine after she showed her collection Valentine Valentine to talk about her inspiration, her time on “Project Runway” and hanging out with Adam Levine.

WS: Tell us your inspiration for your collection?

Amanda: I let my myself play with techniques like coloring in a new way and just kinda let myself  go.  It turned into this 70’s ski lodge look.    

WS: You showed an amazing vibrant blue, do you see that as trending?

Amanda: I love that color. I can’t say whether I think it is trending because I really try not to look at other shows so as to not accidentally copy any other designers. Now that my collection has shown, I am going to go back and look at that.

WS: Tell us about your time on “Project Runway?”

Amanda: So, I have to say that my first time on “Project Runway” was kinda a letdown. But on the second time around, I feel like I got a break and it was great to show my collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week coming in second.

WS: Do you still have time for styling?

Amanda: I was a stylist for the last ten years, that is how I made money.  But right now I am so busy with my business that I just don’t have time to do any styling.  I will say that I just spent two weeks in Los Angeles working with a new punk rock band called Twenty One Pilots.

WS: So, do you ever make time for Maroon 5 styling? (Amanda’s brother is lead guitarist)

Amanda:  No, but I will say every time I see Adam, he always says Amanda ‘let’s talk.’  He will  take me into his closet and we will discuss his wardrobe. I think he has great classic dude style. Adam actually has his own line at Kmart.

Thanks to Amanda Valentine for taking  time out to  speak with us. Amanda still lives in Nashville and plans to keep her design business here as she figures out production.  Learn more about her line at Amanda Valentine. 

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