By LAWRENCE CHUA Christian Francis Roth is not our average piece of press bait. He may be every fashion journalist’s dream: young, good looking, with nice white teeth and, of course, talent, but this 20-year-old designer is well aware of the shelf life of the common press darling. “The press always needs some thing new, which is understandable, but the work is so delicate, so difficult and requires so much attention,” he says.
“You wind up breaking your concentration trying to make clothes to please other people. You start listening to what other people say.” So far, Roth seems to be doing well, listening to no one but himself.
His first collection, for last fall, was picked up by Saks Fifth Avenue, Nan Duskin, Bullocks Wilshire and Bonwit Teller, and sales totaled $45,000. This fall, his third season, he’s added Bergdorf Goodman and Martha’s to the list and projects a volume of about $150,000. Roth is showing a small, upbeat, well-tailored collection of merino wool and jersey separates and dresses.
Wholesale prices range from $150 for a wool jersey sweater to $600 for a merino wool gabardine smoking jacket. Manhattan-born Roth grew up here and, at the age of 17, left high school to work for Koos van den Akker. When Roth told his boss that he wanted to design his own collection, van den Akker said Roth wasn’t ready.
To prove that he was, Roth designed and produced a sample line by himself, sewing the clothes at home. Van den Akker then allowed Roth to bo.