You might not know Kerin Rose’s name, but you definitely know her other-worldly shades that have a devoted fan in Rihanna. The fashion forward Bajan wore the sun blockers in Jay-Z’s “Run This Town” video. Kerin started A-Morir less than a year ago but she’s making a splash in the accessories market. VIBE talks to Karin about how she got her start, her friendship with Rihanna, and the visibility of those studded shades.
VIBE: Tell me about your line and how you got started.
KERIN ROSE: My line is called A-Morir by Kerin Rose. It started as a bit of a quarter-life crisis. I had quit my marketing job and wound up working at Patricia Field. I made myself a pair of glasses after my other pair broke and I had some crystals laying around. I wore them into the store and the buyers were like, “Why aren’t you selling these?” Very quickly I started to get attacked on the street by people and it was just a very organic and quick growth.
How did Rihanna find out about your work?
A friend of mine was wearing a pair of my glasses and [Rihanna’s] personal shopper saw her out somewhere and was like, “I need to get these for Rihanna.” A month or two later, Rihanna was shopping at the Patricia Field store after hours and the store called me and said, “Rihanna’s here and wants to see your stuff.” I packed up my bag and made sure my makeup looked alright, went down there and she fell in love with what I did. I feel like I can call her a friend at this point–she’s so supportive of my work. If you’re going to have someone in your corner, who better to have than someone with as much personal style as Rihanna.
So which pieces does she own?
She owns the Baracudas, Sioux lace eyeglasses, Love/Hate chains in black. I did a custom pair for her with a gold chain and a red frame. She owns the Sabotage which got in Italian Vogue. The photographer saw them and said, “You have to wear those on the shoot.”
It doesn’t seem like you design for wearability. Can you see out of the sunglasses?
Yes, you can see out of everything. I wear them all the time and people stop me in the street and are like, “I know you’re standing up and walking, but can you see?” I tell people not to drive in them or go duck hunting as you will probably suck at both of those things.
So what’s next?
World takeover! Haha. Hopefully I get to the point where I can start to manufacture my own frames. I’ll hopefully be able to do more collaborate pieces with artists and brands that I respect. You know, just trying to one-up myself. The Barracudas are really awesome and people like them, but how can I do something better than that–that’s what becomes the challenge now. I’d like to go from just being an accessories line into a full-fledged business. —Adrien Field