Designer Spotlight: Giejo
Swimsuits, as everybody knows, are a bitch. Too big around the chest, too tiny in the butt, is the lighting terrible in here or do you look like a linebacker for real? If you find one that fits well, chances are it’s boring—functional, maybe, but hardly fashionable. No offense, Speedo, but some of us want a little more.
Gabby Sabharwal knew this conversation, because she had it with herself, and her friends, many times. And so, a few years back, Gabby embarked on a quest to create fashion-forward, flattering swimsuits that didn’t make you want to instantly cover them up. She named the line Giejo (pronounced “gee-jo”), which is what her mother would call her as a kid, and indeed the line has its roots in the playful, calling on mix-and-match prints and pin-up silhouettes throughout. (Waterproof cover ups, meanwhile, mean no worries if you get tossed into the pool.) She uses her friends, real girls, as fit models and finds most of her inspiration in the street style images she posts to her Tumblr and girls she sees while roaming New York. “Print and texture mixing has always been my obsession, so I love to see how people mix it up and what they think goes together,” she says. “Personally, I am always mixing stripes with bold prints and that particular combination came from a girl I saw in SoHo wearing a floral skirt with a navy and cream striped t-shirt—about five years ago!”
Why We Covet: Looking at the collection makes me want to relocate to a remote South American beach town. Arrives at Covet + Lou: February 2014.
THE ABRIDGED COVET + LOU QUESTIONNAIRE WITH GIEJO'S GABBY SABHARWAL
Where are you right now? In my apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, sitting on a leather couch.
What is your most creative time of day? The morning
What fault in others do you tend to tolerate most? Hard question—I don’t!
When is honesty not the best policy? When you eat the last piece of cake
In your time away from work, what do you do? Sing karaoke. I do a mean “Material Girl.” Watch out Madonna!
