Fame Meets Fashion: Alexis Bellino and Tal Sheyn’s Design Collaboration
It’s not everyday that an Israeli/European couture designer teams up with an American reality star Housewife to design a fashion line. But in couture designer Tal Sheyn and The Real Housewives of Orange County star Alexis Bellino’s case, this is exactly what happened. While reality television and fashion don’t always mix successfully, the Alexis by Tal Sheyn collaboration could not have happened without the platform of the Bravo reality series. It all started after Bellino wore one of Sheyn’s tunics on the season five finale of The Real Housewives of Orange County which Bellino had purchased at a local luxury boutique. As Sheyn recounts, ”I found it to be a big deal that she wore the tunic on the finale of Real Housewives. After the finale I got so many responses about the tunic and I saw she wrote in her blog about myself and my collection. We communicated via email and we decided to meet in my studio face to face. That day she became my celebrity client right away and we started to design custom made dresses.” Adds Bellino, “Tal designed dresses for me my first year on Housewives of OC, so when I decided I was going to pursue my own dress line, I decided to partner with Tal because she already had a clear understanding of what my vision was.” While the two come from very different backgrounds, they do share similar design aesthetics; both cite Chanel and Roberto Cavalli as collections they draw inspiration from due to their elegance and sophistication.
Alexis Bellino has taken an unlikely path into the fashion design world; she grew up in Hannibal, Missouri but had a love for fashion from an early age. A fish out of water in Missouri, she was often asked if she was actually from California, particularly when she started highlighting her hair at age 12 and living at the tanning beds. Bellino always knew she belonged on one of the coasts and after giving New York a try for a few years, she settled down in California. She was married by the time she was 28 and 3 children, her son James and twin girls McKenna and Melania, quickly followed. After landing the role on Housewives, Bellino knew she had the resources available to start her own fashion line. Says Alexis, “I have always been motivated, intrigued and passionate about fashion. Once I had the platform to make my dream a reality, I jumped at the opportunity. My advice to anyone dreaming of something and finding reservations is go for it! Don’t let anyone, including yourself, stand in your way. You will never know what you are capable of unless you try! I’m so glad I did.” Bellino currently has two fashion lines, Alexis by Tal Sheyn and Alexis Couture. Continuing to extend her role and brand, both collections are modeled solely by Bellino on both of the line’s websites.
Tal Sheyn took only a slightly more traditional route into the world of fashion. She began her career in her native Israel as a make up artist. After making a name for herself in the Israeli hair and makeup industry, Sheyn moved to Europe to study fashion design while also working at MTV London and Fashion TV Paris. Upon completing her design education, Sheyn moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of her own fashion design company. Sheyn continued to support herself as a make up artist in LA, gaining such high profile clients as Carolina Herrera and Jean Paul Gaultier. In 2008, she opened her first fashion studio. Since the opening of her studio, Sheyn’s business has grown rapidly. She has designed couture evening gowns for such celebrity clientele as Jaimie Hilfiger, Faith Evans, Angela Bassett, Regina Hall, Bai Ling, Micky Rourke, and Emma Roberts. Her gowns have been seen on the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys telecasts as well as on Beverly Hills 90210. Editorially, her designs have been featured in Signature, LA. Direct, Coast, AC, Cosmopolitan, Zink, and Runway Magazine. She continues to design custom couture dresses for private clients as well as her own collection in addition to Alexis by Tal Sheyn.
When Sheyn and Bellino decided to join forces for Alexis by Tal Sheyn, their objective was to create feminine dresses to make all women feel sexy and beautiful. Their collection includes casual, daytime dresses and cocktail dresses as well as evening couture dresses. When asked to describe the goals and target customer of Alexis by Tal Sheyn, Sheyn said, “Our goal in this line was to develop a line that would fit everyone and would appeal to everyone and still be unique, classy, sexy and make every woman feel beautiful within herself. ” Bellino describes their target customer as, “18-55 years old, a woman of any shape or size looking to feel elegant, confident, and sexy all at once. Our goal is to give our customers a couture feel at an affordable price.”
Bellino and Sheyn showed their latest collection at LA Fashion Week this past March. It was their first runway show for the line and both were pleased with how the show went. The collection was made up of mostly evening dresses. Tight, form fitting cocktail dresses were sent down the runway in deep purples, blacks and greys as well as long, mesh and sequined evening gowns. All of the collection looks like what the ladies would wear on any franchise of the Real Housewives but has a definite Southern California feel to it. Housewives cameras were not there to film the runway show on March, but Sheyn did show up with Bellino on Season 6 of Housewives. Such exposure was a strategic move on their parts as it gave viewers some insight into their designing and brainstorming sessions and also gave viewers a sneak peek at the clothing. Cameras showed that their working relationship was not always super smooth as well. One notable example is when Bellino cut a loose, mesh sleeve off one of their sample dresses with a pair of scissors while the two were having a disagreement on whether or not the sleeves worked on the dress. (Bellino thought they didn’t while Sheyn loved them.) Illustrating the art of compromise, the particular dress in question did make it into their collection shown at LA Fashion Week with one removable loose, mesh sleeve.
Next up for Alexis by Tal Sheyn is a Winter/Holiday collection the pair are currently working on. The current Alexis by Tal Sheyn collection is available for viewing and purchase on their official website. Their collection is also available in select boutiques worldwide, including stores in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.
To visit the Alexis by Tal Sheyn website, click here:
To visit Alexis Bellino’s website, click here:
http://www.alexis-bellino.com/
To visit Tal Sheyn’s website, click here:
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