Edward Buchanan has designed for some of the biggest names in fashion, from J. Crew to Giorgio
Armani. He now lives in Milan, creating his own line for boutiques in Europe and Asia. And he has
worked with celebrities like Jennifer Lopez.
Still, the 40-year-old who studied at the Columbus College of Art & Design doesn't forget
where he came from, friends say. That's part of the reason the globe-trotting designer and
consultant was named this year's Alumni Fashion Icon, an award presented annually at the
spring senior fashion show.
"It's always the same Ed," said longtime friend Keith Morgan, Buchanan's freshman year roommate
at CCAD. "The fact that he works within those circles and yet stays immune to those things other
people would fall prey to-I don't know how he does it."
Buchanan was an individualistic, artistic teenager when he arrived to CCAD from Cleveland in
1988. He immediately fit in on campus, he said, and decided to study fashion design after
completing his freshman year foundation courses.
"He was always really energetic and interested in what he was doing," said Brooke Hannan, the
professor who started the fashion design program and mentored Buchanan. "You could hide, I suppose,
if you really wanted to, and he wasn't one of those people. He was always right there."
During his studies, however, Buchanan eventually felt pulled toward the Big Apple- as many
fashion students do, Hannan said. He moved to New York, finished his degree at the Parsons School
for Design, and started earning a reputation with jobs at places like Giorgio Armani and J.
Crew.
In 1995, Bottega Veneta approached the well-known but relative-fashion-newbie about establishing
its inaugural apparel line. "At that time, Bottega Veneta
was only handbags. And it was kind of a collection which was for, let's say, a consumer of a
certain age," Buchanan said. "I wasn't so interested, because I was young, and I just wanted to do
something which was cool. I was like, 'Who? Bottega who?' "
Nonetheless, he took the New York-based design director position, adding knitwear- which was to
become his specialty-and leather goods to the brand. Buchanan also formed a close friendship with
Manuela Morin, a Bottega Veneta designer and native New Yorker. When the company moved its design
studio and staff to Milan, the pair experienced the transatlantic transition together. Morin
watched as Buchanan's style sense was affected. "I think that has broadened his horizons and
taste levels," she said.
Both left the company in 2000 and together launched LEFLESH. Buchanan designed knitwear and
ready-to-wear pieces, and Morin created handbags and shoes. Their collections received acclaim at
fashion shows and were sold in Paris, London and New York, among other places.
Buchanan adds levity-and laughter-to any situation, and that held true even when
starting a line from scratch in the often-serious fashion
world, Morin said.
"Edward always puts a smile on your face," she said. "And when we started our company
together, it was just a lot more of that." The pair showed their final collection in 2005, when
Buchanan and Morin took up separate consultancies.
Today, though, they still speak often and run into each other in Milan on occasion, as they both
consult for Italian clothing company Stefanel.
Buchanan has also launched Sansovino6, a knitwear line of comfy luxury featuring light, long
sweaters and long-johnlike pants in neutral colors. "I'm not so interested in selling," Buchanan
said. "I just want to create great clothes for my friends that we want to wear."
But it turns out other people want to wear his goodies, too. "People responded, and it kind of
took off," he said. Sansovino6, now in its second season, is available in stores in Italy, France
and Japan. Buchanan expects it might be carried in New York and Los Angeles after its third
season.
On Buchanan's occasional trips to Columbus, he stops by CCAD and speaks to fashion design
students, sharing his sketches and occasionally putting on impromptu minifashion shows of his
work.(The school awarded him an honorary degree a few years back.)
He stays in touch with his former professor Hannan, for whom he bought a ticket to the senior
fashion show in May so he could thank her in his acceptance speech when he was honored.
And he organizes reunions of sorts with CCAD friends like Morgan, who also attended the show to
cheer on his old roommate.
Perhaps that friendly, relaxed, all-inclusive personality is why Buchanan's designs are so
successful-because they are equally as easy.
Like him, they are stylish without being ostentatious. "I'm not accustomed to being called an
icon," Buchanan said as he accepted his award.
But, he added with a laugh, he could get used to it.
