When you think of the world’s greatest and most iconic fashion designers, many names come to mind. Eva Mendes, Matthew McConaughey and Big Sean probably are not among those names. Granted, these celebs dress to impress at red carpet events, styled by the fashion industry’s finest, but do they have what it takes to create successful brands? Each of them is hoping that the answer is yes.

Eva Mendes has conquered the film industry and now she wants a slice of the fashion pie. Women’s Wear Daily has reported that Mendes entered a partnership with New York & Co. to create a sub-brand, Eva by Eva Mendes.

The actress is very much a style icon, stepping onto red carpets in couture pieces by Christian Dior, Lanvin, Gucci and Prada, to name a few. She also has great everyday style, so some would argue that it is befitting for her to create a collection for the masses.

“She has amazing red carpet style and also has a very unique style off the red carpet,” said Greg Scott, chief executive officer of New York & Co. “She has a real sense of self, which will help us in terms of the design aesthetic. When we look at her, she really is confident.”

Of the upcoming line, Mendes says that she has “a ton of ideas, but it’s a bit early to discuss them. [The project] is taking up all my time, but in the best way possible. Everything I see is a possible design. My mind is consumed by it. I’m fortunate enough to travel to so many exotic places. I could find inspiration in a gate in Istanbul for a plate or a blouse.”

Mendes will be heavily involved with the design process and has begun having creative development meetings.

Matthew McConaughey will be designing a menswear collection for Dillards.  “Just Keep Livin” (JKL) will feature sportswear and swimwear.

“This is my first adventure into the fashion world,” McConaughey said. “I’m enjoying it so far. I like working on the details, the design, the marketing. And I think the JKL philosophy is what makes it unique.”

The JKL philosophy is deeply rooted in family and honor. The Just Keep Livin Foundation was created following the death of McConaughey’s father in 1992.

“It was about keeping his spirit alive and remembering the things he taught me,” he said.

Sean “Big Sean” Anderson is a still-rising star in the hip hop industry, ready to take the fashion world by storm. The ambitious Detroit rapper recently announced that he will be launching a new fashion company, Aura Gold. The company’s fashion label, “Finally Famous” and its first offering, “The Black Collection”, debuted last week in Las Vegas at Project MVMNT, a trade show featuring up and coming trendsetters.

“Launching my own label is a dream come true for me,” Anderson said.  “Even though I have a lot to learn about fashion and the industry, I do know what I like and the small details that make something stand out to me. I look forward to evolving the line with more colors, fabrications and offerings to show the other dimensions of my style progression over time.”

The fashion collective will include t-shirts, pants, sweat shirts, jackets and hats. Fans may view some of Anderson’s designs in the February/March 2013 issue of Vibe Magazine.

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‘Girl in progress’, which is currently playing in cinemas, is about Grace (Eva Mendes), a single mom who is too busy juggling work, bills, and the very married Dr. Harford (Matthew Modine), to give her daughter, Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) the attention she desperately needs.

When Ansiedad’s English teacher, Ms. Armstrong (Patricia Arquette), introduces her students to classic coming-of-age stories, Ansiedad is inspired to skip adolescence and jump-start her life without mom.

While Grace becomes preoccupied with the increasing affections of her co-worker (Eugenio Derbez), Ansiedad enlists the help of her loyal friend, Tavita (Raini Rodriguez), to plot her shortcut to “adulthood.” But as her misguided plan unravels, Ansiedad and Grace must learn that sometimes growing-up means acting your age.

It’s all in the writing: the Genesis of ‘Girl in progres’

Screenwriter Hiram Martinez – Dominican-born, New York raised – had written and directed the small indie Four Dead Batteries and was working as an editor for Keith Olbermann when the idea for ‘Girl in progress’ hit.

“I was thinking about growth, and how we each live through unique coming-of-age stories that shape us, when the light bulb went off…what if a girl willingly stages her own coming-of-age story?” Steeped in his Dominican roots but with a passion for indie fare like Thirteen and Rushmore, Martinez’s script grew out of those sensibilities.

He named his protagonist Ansiedad, the Spanish word for anxiety, explaining, “There’s no word Dominicans won’t turn into someone’s name. My grandmother was named ‘Light,’ I knew a girl named ‘Sadness’ growing up, doomed to neurotic dysfunction; so naming a teen Ansiedad/Anxiety said two things – how she feels and what kind of world she comes from.” But who or what would a teen named Ansiedad spend her story rebelling against? “Grace was a no brainer,” Martinez says. “It’s the timeless clash between mother and daughter.”

Martinez modeled Grace after women he knew growing up; he decided Grace should have still been a child herself when Ansiedad was born. “Her youth slipped through her fingers and Grace subconsciously pegged it on her daughter,” adds Martinez, “so the mother never really became an adult. The script all clicked after that: a girl decides to grow up because her mother refuses to.”

As for Ansiedad’s classmates, Martinez split the difference, modeling some after high school archetypes and a few after the real deal. The plucky and loyal Tavita, played by Raini Rodriguez, was closer to the writer’s heart; “Tavita represents the early faithful companion you kinda grow up with but then leave behind so you can branch out in a different teenage direction, and it ends up sucking for both of you, doesn’t it?”.

Trevor, played by Landon Liboiron, was inspired by “the sort of kid every guy wishes he had been at that age – a tractor beam for girls! Popular, good looking, rebellious, but if you asked him about his life maybe some dark stuff would seep out.”

In 2009 Martinez applied for a Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Ten finalists were selected that year from more than 6,000 submissions. Martinez was one. His screenplay circulated to agents, producers and studios around Hollywood.

“I was getting a lot of calls. And then I got the call.” Greg Coote and Robert Lundberg of Latitude Entertainment read the script and responded to its original voice. Coote is a veteran of international production who most recently ran Dune Entertainment, which co-financed ‘Avatar’ and ‘500 Days of Summer’.

The script was then sent over to Jim McNamara and Ben Odell, who were in the process of folding their Latino-focused production company, Panamax Films, into Pantelion Films, a joint venture between Lionsgate and Televisa. They decided to option the material together.

“Ben and I had been making movies in Spanish for a few years and as we shifted out focus to English, we wanted to find stories that were unique and original, universal but with a certain Latino flavor,’ says Former Telemundo CEO and Prexy Jim McNamara.

“First and foremost the ‘Girl in progress’ script was very entertaining but it was also smart with a capital S. It had a unique voice, an original point of view. And I have never come across a Hispanic character as original and articulate as Ansiedad or as layered and complex as Grace.  We were all just riveted by the material. These are the kinds of movies we want to bring to our audience, stuff that stands out in any marketplace,” adds Odell.

Image Courtesy of   Girl in Progress

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