Meet Octavio Carlin | Fashion Designer, Writer and Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Octavio Carlin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Octavio, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
A little backstory. I started in theatre as a child and grew up thinking I was going to work as an actor, when I moved to Los Angeles in 1990, I discover the behind the scenes of moviemaking and with time I ended up doing wardrobe and from there started doing costume design. Not long after I was studying fashion design and I knew I wanted to have my own clothing line. After graduating I started my own line specializing in evening gowns and red carpet. The business did good and I did a full circle when decided to go back to theatre, producing, directing, acting and writing original stories and of course the costumes were of my design too, and when possible even incorporate pieces of current collections. Thanks to the theatre, a theatre group was form and eventually found ourselves producing short films and in 2016 did our first feature film, follow by two more and now we are in pre-production of our 4th production.
That was how our own ventures began and continue, it was never a thought about working for someone else, and I am very grateful that everything has grown organically and in a positive way.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a fashion designer as well as theatre producer/director and filmmaker, the inspiration comes from the Hollywood of yesteryears, meaning from the early silent days to the golden age of Hollywood. The fashion and the stories are all part of that world. The stories are always original stories that interconnect between them, but you don’t have to follow them to understand them, each one it’s a separate story. It doesn’t matter if you know the others; each one is entertaining on its own, and they’re usually always comedies. We’re currently working on a book about them, which we hope will be released by the end of this year or early next year. A coffee table book is also in the making about the fashion side of the business, but this one will be released later. A few years ago I completed a masters degree in haute couture in Rome and since then, my fashion has gone to another level.
None of this has been easy and to tell you the truth, every time a door closed, the will to cross over to the other side kicks in and I work harder to either open that door or move around and move forward. Sometimes is for a better reason that the door closed.
What sets us apart from others is that as a fashion house, we also display our pieces in a theatrical way that brings entertainment and laughter (important in these times we live) to our audiences not to mention that the way it is presenting reflects the brand in a positive and glamorous distinctive and original way.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The week long trip will take us to a very diverse areas and places. On the list I will put for sure museums such as the two Getty museums, the Academy museum including a screening or two of their wonderful programs all year round. LACMA and The Broad. Also a tour of the (I don’t know what’s the name of that theatre these days LOL), theatre where the Academy Awards take place every year in the Hollywood and Highland shopping center. A visit to the Roosevelt Hotel, including their restaurants. Definitely Larry Edmonds bookstore (amazing bookstore with great books on Hollywood). Downtown L.A has very interesting places but I’ll make an effort to arrange tours to the theaters on Broadway, they are fascinating. The new apple store inside the Tower theatre is very cool. As restaurant goes, The Alcove, The Grill on the alley, the Polo Lounge is a must for the experience, the relatively new Cipriani gives you a taste of the Italian lifestyle. As well as In-n-Out Burger and talking about burgers… Big Boy is also a must stop in Toluca Lake. We’ll stop also at some of the fabulous nightclubs in the city where people that I know have stand up comedy shows and of course being Hollywood, the movies are important. The Chinese theatre is an experience not to be missed and hopefully they bring back the Cinerama Dome soon. Theatre is not as big as in New York, but you can experience great plays in great theatres in all sizes. Dorothy Chandler, Ahmanson Theatre, Geffen playhouse, Pasadena playhouse and my favorite The Hudson Theatres offer excellent shows. And a visit to Los Angeles would not be complete without a stop at The Hollywood Bowl (when in season).
We’ll need more that a week long trip.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
In all the adventures I have embarked on, there is one person that has been my right arm and more, thanks to him all I do is possible, his support has been unconditional and has helped me grow as an artist as well as a human being, my partner in crime Ricardo Mora, who is in charge of all aspects of production design in fashion, theatre and film.
And also for the theatre company and movie projects, the theatre group has always been there and ready to take part in the next adventure, believing in us and giving their 100 percent, but two persons have gone beyond expectations and have help the dreams come true: Terrence Taylor and Karin Hallen. Two amazing actors and producers that have been with us since the beginning and share our values and are always very enthusiastic with the projects. A huge Shoutout to them!!!

Website: https://octaviocarlin.com

Instagram: octaviocarlin & octaviocarlin2

Facebook: octavio carlin

Other: teatrodelao.com & odetteproductions.com

Note: there are some issues with the webpages as of now, we are working on it. I’ll let you know as soon as our web guy figures out what is going on.