Making Waves

Photographs Chloe Mallett
Fashion Director: Ursula Lake
Interview by Hannah Rand

Sean Monahan and Monica Paolini grew up together in upstate New York, in small-town on the Hudson River, and formed a shared passion for design, which lead them to launch cult fashion brand SEA NY. Hannah Rand caught up with Monica during pre-fall fittings at their Canal Street workshop to ask them about their new collections, letting life unfold and why every girl needs a jumpsuit.

Q. Thanks for fitting me in during your pre-Fall prep. Tell me about your latest collection, what inspired it?

A. I found a surfer print at Melet Mercantile in Montauk and the collection started with this idea of an easy elegance. We shot the campaign with Terence Connors and Zippy Seven: They are a beautiful couple that seems to chase the sun around the world. They live engaged free lives enjoying the moment and that mood inspired our SS18 collection.

Q. OK, I’m going to have to take some pieces home with me. If I were going to buy two, what should they be?

A. I love jumpsuits so every collection I try to sneak in as many as Sean will let me. They are such an easy, flexible, wearable look and you can dress them up or down. And we are known for our prints and different eyelets but our best-selling style over the last four to five seasons are our cuffed pants, so you should definitely take some of those.

Q.  All hail to the jumpsuit! Your clothes are so ‘wearable’ – like something I can wear to work and at the weekend. Were you ever tempted to do more formal styles?

A. Over the last few seasons, I have also sensed a void in the market for dresses to wear to a wedding or an event that feel special, but keep at a manageable price point. it’s something we are trying to develop and deliver to our customers.

 Q. Can’t wait to see what you come up with. What does the name Sea mean anyway? How did you come up with it?

A. Sean came up with the name Sea. He was “helping” me with the line up for a fashion show at Betsey Johnson at 4am and lost interest and began typing his name in oversized letters on a corkboard. Before he finished he went to the kitchen for a coffee and came back and saw ‘Sea’ and that was the beginning of Sea. It just stuck and it’s a great name that now as a personal history behind it. I love how it evolved.

Q. What’s it like working with your best friend? Does it not drive you crazy working together?

A. It’s both torturous and wonderful working with Sean. He is fiercely supportive and encouraging but at the same time a really annoying nitpicker. But we have a symbiotic relationship and balance each other out: I bend more towards the vintage feeling pieces and Sean leans perhaps to more modern clean styles. Most importantly, we completely trust each other and can say anything to each other without hurting each other’s feelings. And we laugh every day and have fun. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Q. Who is the funny one? Who is the smartest?
A. I think Sean would say he is both and would be wrong on both counts!

Q. You’ve been friends since you were kids. What was your childhood like, and how did it inspire your work?

A. Sean was a quite a naughty child – and a worse teenager but somehow managed to become an amazing adult. I desperately hope Luca (Monica’s two-year-old son) won’t give me as much heartache as Sean gave his Mum. But Sean has always been a great friend who is exceptionally supportive and it is our friendship that is the genesis of Sea and it’s our constant inspiration.

Q. Your label is entrenched in New York – it’s part of your DNA. Describe NY style and how does that inform your collections.

A. I think NY is part of our personal DNA and that makes the brand feel like it is cut from the city. We are from NY and have spent our careers here so that sense of NY is a natural outcome. As much as the Sea woman is a woman of NY we envision her as someone who wants to dress like herself, has a sense of freedom and creativity while not looking like she’s tried too hard. She is elegant, cool and sophisticated, but, certainly, fun.

Q. What is the future journey for SEA. Where will the label take you next?

A. I feel if you let it, and you are true to it, life unfolds wonder into wonder. That has certainly been the case with Sea so far and I think if we continue to work hard and keep our customer in mind, I am not sure where we will end up, but the journey there will be fulfilling.

See the whole Sea collection HERE