The ever-morphing Barcelona dress, courtesy of Karolina Zmarlak

NEW YORK, United States — As global economic woes continue to wear on consumer spending, some fashion and luxury companies are teetering on the brink. Blue chip brands are halting expansion plans in order to focus on survival tactics, while smaller labels with limited resources are faced with the reality of sudden annihilation. It may not seem to be the ideal time to start a new label, but New York-based womenswear designer Karolina Zmarlak remains unfazed.

“All ventures in the business of fashion are daunting because it is an industry that is constantly moving, contradictory, and revenue-challenged,” she argues. “But it would be tragic to not face the demons and complexities by attempting to ‘wait it out.’” Rather than sitting on the sidelines, Zmarlak has jumped into the fashion game with an eponymous Autumn/Winter 2009 collection of directional and versatile clothes that bravely tackles womens’ shifting perception of real fashion value.

Faced with tight personal credit, consumers want more bang for their hard-to-part-with bucks. “We have taken this deeply to heart by enabling each piece to be worn in various, truly distinct ways,” notes Zmarlak’s business partner, Jesse Keyes, adding: “Just as the Parisian woman is famously able to style the same garment in a myriad of ways with accessories, our pieces can be accessorized within their own structure.”

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