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"  Photo: Marco Pedde What started as a simple question\u2014what should I wear?\u2014led breakout designer Jordana Warmflash to launch her own line, Novis. &amp;quot;I had a wedding to attend. I couldn&amp;#039;t find anything to wear,&amp;quot; said Warmflash. So the NYC-based designer, who honed her skills working at Zac Posen, Peter Som, and Alice + Olivia, designed her own dress. &amp;quot;It was the first time I had made something for myself since college, [and] people were complimenting me, saying &amp;#039;Where did you get that? &amp;#039;I&amp;#039;ve never seen anything like that.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; The experience proved a dearth of options and lack of fun, which forced the designer to realize she had something different to offer. Three years later, her collection hits shelves at TenOverSix in L.A. and American Two Shot in NYC today. Characterized as &amp;quot;uptown elegance meets downtown quirkiness,&amp;quot; the line offers an alternative to the little black cocktail dress, thanks to wearable shapes, vibrant materials, architectural details, and subtle 1960s context. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m so inspired by the &amp;#039;60s, and I have tons of vintage inspiration\u2014both in terms of quality, silhouettes, texture, color, and fabric, because my grandmother kept everything.&amp;quot; When cleaning out her grandmother&amp;#039;s home in Brooklyn, New York, Warmflash discovered three generations of vintage garments. She now stashes the pre-loved finds in her studio and incorporates them in her own pieces. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m using a lot of vintage prints, but re\u2013interpreting them and re\u2013coloring them to make them bolder. I&amp;#039;m really drawn to brightly colored prints [like the metallic, emerald and cotton candy fabrics sported in her collection], but it&amp;#039;s also the quality of the way they used to make vintage prints. There&amp;#039;s more of a bleed line to each color. A lot of print today are very flat, so I like using the almost three dimensional, blended color that you get with vintage prints.&amp;quot; Warmflash also draws inspiration from the arts. &amp;quot;We thought it would be cute to name each piece after a dance, because that&amp;#039;s sort of what you do at night.&amp;quot; She admits you&amp;#039;ll probably catch her in The Charleston, The Fox-Trot, and The Cha\u2013Cha styles, and she won&amp;#039;t hesitate to pair the frocks with her favorite Converse shoes. &amp;quot;I hope that my girl, or my customer, will wear it in that way, as well. You want to dress and look great, but you also want to have fun. I want to have fun. I think my clothes have that same quality to them.&amp;quot;  The Polka Long Sleeve Mini Dress, $1,295; Photo: Marco Pedde  The Hora Fitted Sheath Dress, $1,295; Photo: Marco Pedde  The Cha\u2013Cha Drop\u2013Waist Ruffle Dress, $1295; Photo: Marco Pedde  The Jitterbug Organza Tiered Cocktail Dress, $1,495; Photo: Marco Pedde  The Mambo Pleat\u2013Neck Shift Dress, $1,395; Photo: Marco Pedde "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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