occupation: designer www.erikbergin.com

When you see Erik’s bedroom, modeled after a period room in a museum, it is pretty clear that leaving his suburban home in New Jersey was inevitable. His closet door is a red velvet curtain, a perfect cover to his costume-meets-art-meets-fashion aesthetic. Erik is a costume and fashion designer and it all began for him when he moved to Manhattan in 2004 and started to get dressed up and go out dancing. This is where he first began getting serious about making clothing, and Erik put a lot of effort into experimenting with every kind of material that he could, trying to break all of the rules before he even knew them. He put a book together, and from there got a job at a studio constructing mascots and large wearable foam costumes – today, he designs for Broadway. His love for the theater is obvious in his style, with pieces that are so dramatic and historical that Erik could be taken for a character in an opera when he is just walking down the streets of New York. Everything is a stand-out for me, but I am particularly obsessed with the Chariot Riders Coat from the 1800′s and the over-the-top and magnificent coat and scarf that are literally from the Met’s production of La Boheme. Erik’s fashion designs are made with the idea of helping people to express their true nature through their clothing. Genius to me is his making of indigenous masks to pair with a particular piece in order to enchance the meaning of that item of clothing. In one case, a bird’s face with an Aztec mythology becomes the foil to a gray flannel Eduardian-futuristic blazer. As always with Erik, everything is a stage.

Check out Erik’s Site