Chelsea Goldman is the Founder and Creative Director of the emerging designer RTW brand, CF. Goldman, which launched in Spring 2015. She interned at Celine, Narcisco Rodriguez and Proenza Schouler. She went to London College of Fashion and Central St. Martins. Chelsea grew up in NYC. Growing up here causes one to grow up quickly, but you get such great access to multiple cultures and people. It gave her the opportunity to take classes at Parsons and FIT from a young age. She was able to sneak into fashion week and went to her first show, Lela Rose, at 13. Chelsea's mom was a fashion designer and her dad is in the jewelry business, so she comes from a design-oriented family. London is a more creative place in terms of fashion and they are willing to take risks in a different way than New York since NY is very business focused. She wanted to meld the design and spirit of London to NYC. Chelsea emailed people on LinkedIN, especially alumni in order to land her incredible internships. She was there the latest, worked the hardest and she always said yes. This work ethic and mindset allowed her the opportunity to go to Paris and work at Celine. She was Phoebe Philo's second assistant a year in. Because of this, she was able to go into the atelier with Phoebe and watch her work. Celine was her longest internship. She would spend 2 days a week at school and 3 days a week at Celine. A month before fashion week, she would go to Paris and work in the studio. In choosing the name, CF. Goldman, she wanted to make sure it was a unisex name so she could later branch into other categories. The corset is an interesting item for women because it is such a historic item that has been worn as undergarments, although sometimes restrictive. She likes the thought of taking that back and also loves that it is something that is really crafted. You have to really make it well. There are so many layers, there is a stretch to it and it is made in such a beautiful way. The brand is all about craft, you can't cheap out on a corset. She started working on the collection 4 or 5 months before it came out. It was the longest lead time she had and since you don't have production, there is such a luxury of time where you can hone the vision. You don't have to worry about sales or production. When designing a collection, she starts in fabrics and research. She and her team go to libraries, Tumbler, Pinterest, artists she likes, etc. They compile everything they've seen for the last six months that has interested them. They go to different mills in the city to look at fabrics. After, they start sketching as well as look at old shapes they like that they want to re-use and redo. They give the sketches to the factory who makes the first sample, they will have fitti

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