The Archives

Lionel Roudaut, a patternmaker and cutter, formerly with Jeremy Scott in Paris, arrives in Alabama to help with pattern development and production. Over the course of the summer, Natalie and Lionel design and develop the Corset. This pattern and style of dressing becomes one of the defining garment patterns of Project Alabama, Alabama Chanin, and, eventually, The School of Making.    From Lionel: When I arrived the first time in Florence Alabama, I felt I was catapulted into a Tom Sawyer novel. The look of the place was just as I'd imagined it, reading or watching about this region of...

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Natalie arrives in Alabama to a three-bedroom, ranch-style house rented from her maternal aunt, located in a small community immediately outside of Florence, Alabama, called Lovelace Crossroads, with a population of just over 200 people.

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After extending her sabbatical and beginning work as a stylist in New York City, Natalie moves from Brooklyn to an apartment in the Chelsea Hotel.

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On a snowy night, Natalie arrives, with just a backpack, in Brooklyn Heights for the final leg of her sabbatical. She begins a self-portrait project exploring photography and writing across the boroughs of New York City.

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Natalie works as a fashion stylist and costume designer for photography, television commercials, music videos, and film. With photographer Sissi Farassat, she directs her first short documentary film, “Fertility,” a seven-minute exploration of the relationship between women and fertility.

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Natalie “Alabama” Chanin graduates from the School of Design at North Carolina State University with a double major in Environmental and Textile Design. Today, this is called the Anni Albers Program in honor of the beloved Bauhaus textile designer. 

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Nicole and Natalie met for the first time in 2002, when Nicole covered new designers at Elle magazine. Nicole goes on to build an illustrious career in fashion, moving from Elle to Style.com and, eventually, to Vogue where she is currently the director of Vogue Runway.

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The Lola Montes Schnabel collaboration is presented at New York Fashion Week.

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Vogue’s Julia Reed visits Project Alabama in 2001, the start of what would become a longstanding relationship shared between Natalie and the publication.

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What began as a one-off project becomes a business as the third collection of designs is prepared and presented in a suite at the Chelsea Hotel. Then, the horrific events of September 11th unfold and forever change America

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