Elise Øverland got her start in fashion from Steven Tyler. The lead singer of Aerosmith discovered her sketches while she was still studying fashion design at Parsons, and they hit it off immediately. “Steven saw my sketches, which are very quirky and personal, and said he wanted to find the person who made them and hang out,” Øverland recalls with a smile. “When you have an inner connection, this creative nerve with someone, it doesn’t really matter what age, sex or whatever you are. There’s this sort of drawn magic to one another. So we were creative together.” Before long, Øverland was designing stage costumes for Tyler and other rock star clients, eventually launching her womenswear label in 2006.

The New York–based, Norwegian-born designer describes her working method as an “emotional process.” With clients like Hope Atherton and Irina Lazareanu, she’s gaining a strong reputation in the art and music worlds for her dark and glamorous aesthetic. For her fall 2009 collection, “Shimmer,” Øverland was inspired by what she calls the “macabre, almost sexy and primal” art of cutting and presenting sushi. The results are silk and leather looks with splices of dark metallic hues, highlighted by green, distressed leather jackets that evoke the feeling of seaweed. For her debut resort collection for 2010, Øverland drew from the looser shapes and muted colors that she wears on her regular trips to India, a place she considers her second home. “I don’t go to chintzy, cheesy beach places,” she explains.

Øverland, who will be collaborating with an unnamed artist for her spring collection, is taking it slowly in terms of new product lines, content to focus on her brand’s core values instead. “I don’t think you need to own a guitar to be a rock star,” Øverland says about her label’s key aesthetic. “It’s more about the lifestyle, that kind of free, primal way of being—to be driven by your emotions instead of what society thinks you should be. People think you have to be a size two to wear these clothes, but it’s more about the attitude.” To see the latest collections from Elise Øverland, go to eliseoverland.com.