Las Vegas Weekly

The CEO takes up the scissors

Local businesswoman tries her hand at fashion on Bravo’s “Launch My Line”

Marilyn Crawford wants to give all women a killer waist. Amen.

BravoTV

They’re calling her the CEO on TV, but recent Las Vegas transplant Marilyn Crawford is no boardroom bully dressed perpetually in pinstripes. Crawford is a businesswoman who moonlights as a fashion plate. And since first playing fashion police at age two, she’s had something to say about what everyone else is wearing.

After the final four hit the cutting board for part 1 of the Top Chef: Las Vegas finale on Wednesday, Crawford and nine other professionals will pick up their scissors and sketchpads on the first episode of Launch My Line (Wednesdays, 11 p.m.). LML is Bravo’s new reality competition that pairs fashionable pros in a variety of industries with established designers to create looks that, for the winners, will eventually become a fully launched fashion line. Before her debut, Crawford talked to Las Vegas Weekly about taking self-inventory, wearing fur and the one fashion item that every woman should own.

Bravo is calling you the CEO on the show. What attracted to the participating in a fashion competition?

Fashion in general is something that I was just born with. Ever since I was a little girl my father was designing outfits for me. From that moment on and when I got my first rabbit fur cape and muff at three years old, I was hooked. My brothers and sisters were older so as they grew up and traveled the world I would get presents back. So, I would get a Parisian coat and things like that. Being from a little town in South Carolina that was quite exceptional. I was always the fashion icon at school.

Did you ever think about pursuing a career in fashion?

I design a lot of my own things because I’m not size 2. So when you walk into a store they have this idea – until the Rachel Roy’s of the world came along – that to be a 10, 8, 12 you wanted to wear boring clothes. So I design a lot of my own things. I decided to take that one step further and for any special occasion I always design my own gowns and things of that nature. I also have celebrity friends who saw my things and they loved what I had on. I designed a coat for Jackée Harry; I designed a bag for Patti LaBelle.

You mentioned that sizing can be a problem. Did you think about that specifically when you were creating your line?

Absolutely, because what happens is, every woman wants to have a waist. And not every woman has a waist. Some of us have had kids, some of us have eaten a little too much fast food, some of us don’t have the time to exercise cause they’re working 24/7 and some are just built that way. So what I did was create a line where you would look like you had a waist even if you didn’t have a waist, because it was cinched.

How would you describe your personal style in a few words?

Simplicity and elegance with the wow effect.

Bravo shows are known for throwing curveballs at their contestants. What was your state of mind during the competition?

This was no exception. In my camp, there were curveballs every two seconds from the beginning up until the end. You just had to deal with it. You roll with the punches. I had the attitude going in there that I just wanted to have fun, cause it was something so totally out of my comfort zone. When I say out of my comfort zone, I’m so used to being in control, but for this I did not have the sewing talent. I knew how to design and I had the vision, but I couldn’t do everything by myself because I did not know how to sew. So you had to depend on someone else. Sewing took motor skills and an art. I have a new respect for all seamstresses across world.

What’s the one fashion item that you think every woman should own?

A pair of black patent leather pumps.

As a CEO, did your business skills help you during the competition?

Tremendously. It required an enormous amount of patience, an enormous amount of negotiating. From the side of my life that I come from some things you have to let go. And it also taught me that.

Do you have plans of where you’re going to watch the premiere Dec. 2?

I’ll be in New York. I don’t know if I plan to watch it. I have back-to-back meetings all day, so I’ll try.

What do you think of the Las Vegas fashion scene?

Vegas is very eclectic. You never know what you’re going to see when you walk out your door. But I’ve found the shopping in Vegas is exceptional. When I moved here I thought, “Oh my gosh. I’m going to have to fly to L.A. or New York to find anything worth wearing.” But Vegas has some imports from all over the world they have some basic Made in the USA that work in a very, very economical manner. … When you walk out on the street you see people that some people look like they left the nightclub on the pole and other people are overdressed in suits and stockings in 113 degrees. Everybody needs to find that balance and take self-inventory. Once you take self-inventory and you find the balance, you can step out and you be you. It’s important that you do you.