Bruce Woods is not a household name in the world of fashion and design. But then he doesn’t aim to be. Working from his north-side apartment, he designs and crochets one-of-a-kind skirts, tops, dresses, jackets, even coats for individual clients. “Crochet” may suggest a kind of craft or folk art, but that is not what Woods does. His pieces are elegant garments that sell for $200 and up. And though he wishes he had a few more clients, he doesn’t want to work any other way.
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As might be expected, Woods has very definite notions about what he creates. The pieces–dresses, skirts, and tops make up his spring collection–are quite simple in line and structure, but they shimmer and glow with an often subtle interplay of colors and textures. This is quite deliberate, Woods explains. “When you’re designing something, you have to choose something that’s simple–either in the structure of the garment or the fabric that you use. Something has to have some simplicity to it, so that you can explore from that point.” He even keeps his stitching very simple, using only two basic stitches. He “lets the yarn talk.” He chooses yarns carefully, often looking for those imported from Europe, where more types are produced. “Because the yarn–depending on the fibers, and the texture, and the colors involved–can really make a garment sing. And that’s enough. So the busyness happens somewhere, but not everywhere. When the yarn is talking and the color is talking and the stitches are talking, you’ve got something–too complicated to be worn. Or it becomes craft, or it becomes trendy.”
For all his firm purposiveness about clothes, Woods’s life has often been governed by accident and flukes. He didn’t start out to be a designer. Living in Old Town in the late 60s, he acted and danced in some of the experimental multimedia performances of the period before moving to New York to pursue a career in either theater or dance. Once there, he found that his color (he’s black) and his height (he’s half an inch over six feet four inches) were barriers. Slender and distinctive, he just stood out too much, which doesn’t work well onstage unless you’re the lead. So he thought about turning his distinctiveness to good use by attempting to become a model–but his look was not what American advertisers usually wanted.
Bruce Woods will show his spring collection this weekend, April 20, 21, and 22, from 1:00 to 6:00, at his apartment, 3740 N. Pine Grove. For more information call 281-6805.
