Princeton Creative Services - 2017- Darren partnered with fashion veteran, Catherine Leocadi, to create a full service agency dedicated to the life-enhancing power of good design. Their specialty is conceptualizing and implementing unique solutions that make life simply more beautiful. Catering to corporate, hospitality and residential clients with discretion, stellar service and innovative vision, Catherine and Darren bring their passion for all things gorgeous to each project.
Donna Bell's Bake Shop- 2009- Darren founded the southern baked goods, desserts and savories concept as a mobile food business, at the New Jersey Shore, at the height of the food truck craze. The business was inspired by and named after his friend, actress Pauley Perrette’s mother. Eventually Darren partnered with Pauley and Matthew Sandusky to open a brick and mortar flagship café, in 2011, which is now a thriving neighborhood business in Hell’s Kitchen/ Theatre District, NYC.
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Donna Bell’s Bake Shop- Recipes and Stories of Food, Family and Friendship- the book, published April 2015 by Simon and Schuster, became a New York Times Bestseller. Co-authored by Greenblatt, Perrette and Sandusky.
Stanton Maxwell- 2007-2009 Darren and Tatiana Osorio created women’s luxury handbags, based on limited editions and numbered collections, sourced and handmade in Italy using the industry’s highest quality materials.
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Developed business plan and raised seed funding.
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Designed and developed collections in Veneto region, Italy.
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Sales, press and marketing was based in New York City.
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Vogue launched Stanton Maxwell in the esteemed September 2008 issue.
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Celebrity placement: Amy Adams, Katie Holms, Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansson.
Stella Verde- 2004 Darren appeared in a "fashion" episode of NBC's The Apprentice, which had the teams competing to launch a young-designer collection. Darren was chosen and helped the girls team reverse a 4-episode losing streak. His designs won the episode garnering orders to ship the winning collection to Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, Henri Bendel, Sak’s Fifth Avenue and Jeffery.
Planet Yumthing- 1999-2004- Darren and Ela Jaynes launched the teen multimedia Do-It-Yourself destination (tagged “Martha Stewart for teens”) that focused on DIY fashion, beauty, home/gifts and theme parties. The platform encompassed divisions for Internet, Publishing, Television, Fashion and Hard/Soft Goods.
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TV and Literary agent representation was procured (ICM)
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Celebrity TV producing partners signed- Hart Break Films- Paula and Melissa Joan Hart (Clarissa, Sabrina the Teenage Which)
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TV show concept was sold to Fox Family and a Planet Yumthing TV show pilot was ordered and shot. Darren was given Creator and Executive Producer credit.
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Random House published Planet Yumthing DIY, 2003, as a lifestyle primer for teens. Darren was given co-writer and illustration credit. In addition to wide distribution, 40k copies were ordered by Scholastic for national school book fairs.
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Created, pitched and presented a Planet Yumthing teen lifestyle magazine to Hearst Publishing,
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Created, pitched and presented Planet Yumthing Craft Kits to Target, and a teen DIY clothing line to Macy's.
Fiorucci- 1997-1998- Darren along with Ela Jaynes were given Creative Director titles to revive the once-hot, dormant brand. During their contract positions Darren and Ela developed the company brand book and oversaw all creative elements of the re-launch, including; design of 4 collections, marketing and media outreach, celebrity relations, product placement, retail fixture design and overseeing creative cohesion of 10 licenses. The re-launch garnered massive media and editorial exposure and in-store shop concepts in Macy's and Bloomingdales.
Girls Rule!- 1993-2003- Darren and Oliver Dow created New York Fashion Week's (NYFW) first “group” fashion show featuring multiple youth-market brands, including Roxy, Custo Barcelona and To The Max by Max Azria, under the Girl’s Rule moniker umbrella. The shows featured up-and-coming artists, stylists, designers, models and celebrities. Millions of dollars were raised through corporate sponsorships and fundraising to finance the events over the 10 year period.
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Sponsorships included L’Oreal, Hello Kitty, and Revlon, Redkin 5th Ave, Seventeen, Teen and YM Magazines, and Uggs.
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The events garnered hundreds of millions of media impressions from print and electronic media, including WWD, Harper’s Bazaar, Village Voice, New York Times, The View, Today Show and CNN.
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Youth celebrities featured on the runway: Brandy, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Paris and Nicki Hilton, Scarlett Johansson, Adriana Lima, Mandy Moore, Tia and Tamara Mowery, Bijou Phillips, Robyn, Jamie Lynn Seigler.
ka-bel-waer- 1992-1996- Created and designed handmade industrial jewelry, which was sold to hundreds of retailers and received massive editorial recognition. Marketing highlights and collaborations include: custom jewelry for Janet Jackson/Sony for “janet.” Album, tour and catalog, Alice In Chains cover of Spin Magazine and official jewelry vendor of 1995 Lollapalooza with Sonic Youth, Hole and Moby.
