Built by Wendy is a line of clothing by New York designer Wendy Mullin.
Her style is reflected in a personal identification with family and culture through her memories and interest in the following themes:


Chicago
Wendy’s love/hate relationship with her hometown – is ever present in her designs. References include the Great Lakes, Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, Gilda Radner (a nod to Second City comedy club in Chicago), Lake Forest, IL (Mr. T chopping down the trees.), the movies Ordinary People, Risky Business, & My Bodyguard.

Sports
Whether it’s tennis for Spring 06, winter sports for Fall 05, prep school sports like rugby and hunting, or sports themed movies (Brian’s Song, Bad News Bears, Ice Castles, Breaking Away, Slapshot), Wendy still sucks at sports but is very enthusiastic!







Summer Camp/Summer Vacation
After many many years of long long summers at camp, Wendy can’t seem to stop using this theme as a major source of inspiration: god’s eyes, sailing & other camp activities, dream catchers, macramé, fishing poles, light houses, the movies Little Darlings & Friday the 13th, Native American beading via the Wisconsin Dells.







Prep School
Wendy went to public school but that doesn’t stop her from “re-imagining” those great times in the form of fantasy prep school clothes inspired by Cliff’s Notes, SAT’s, movies like Flirting and If, cable knit sweaters with suede elbow patches, $ sign print turtlenecks (a riff on the 70’s ones with snowflakes all over them), pinstripe shirts with inset ties attached or the stripes spun into cobweb designs, twisted punk versions of classic oxford shirts (with spikes on cuffs or “FTW” – fuck the world- embroidered on the collar) and Shetland sweaters (with kilt pins on slit front).







Books and movies
Wendy likes to find personal themes and combine them together in meaningful ways to her. Pieces of these can be found in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Bad News Bears, To Kill a Mockingbird, Out of the Blue, Mean Streets, Harold and Maude, and many more already listed. Wendy’s fascination with Gene Wilder (he has 2 shirts!) has something to do with her family’s belated switch from BETA to VHS. They owned only a few tapes (BETA): Blazing Saddles & Young Frankenstein.






Animals and Nature
Wendy, unlike most people, thinks animals are cute and nature is beautiful. She has made clothes inspired by this theme (even though she now thinks nature is “out of style”) such as: Wool plaid jackets with ultra-suede owl appliqués, Nordic sweaters with custom designed metal wolf clasps, embroidered howling wolf heads on jean pockets, buffalo embroidered sweatshirts and canvas work jackets, sweatshirts with deer and dog appliqués, spiders embroidered onto pinstripe cobweb shirts, ladybug hoodies, animal print pocket lining in men’s pants, “mystery” animal patches (mismatched animal heads and bodies) on men’s plaid button down shirts, bees attacking flower.








Classic brands, fabrics and motifs
When Wendy runs out of original ideas she likes to do her own twist on classic brands, fabric prints, and clothing items such as work clothes, preppy clothes, hippie clothes, western clothes, and non American clothes inspired by other cultures often combining them together: long john union suit tops, Japanese sailor sweaters, Marimekko-inspired eagle print tops and dresses, Woolrich hunting coats, punk-y oxford shirts, LL Bean Hudson stripe lace dresses and sweatshirts, Greek motif hippy tops, Japanese French Country fabric prints, floral hunting jacket, Polo style bird logo shirts, Levi’s style jeans, barracuda golf jackets, Nordic ski sweaters, and painters pants.






Americana
Wendy is an American citizen. To prove this she has made clothing…. that has American stuff on it. Examples: (I don’t) Pledge of Allegiance tees inspired by the last presidential election, the Great Lakes dress (connecting where Wendy came from to where she is now), the American Buffalo jacket, Mt. Rushmore silk dresses, 4th of July fireworks embroidery sweaters, Born in the USA jeans inspired by the album cover, and Mickey Mouse.







Music
Because Wendy used to work at some record stores and has worked with bands, most people think she makes “rock & roll” clothing. She doesn’t make leather trousers but she has made: clothing with Neil Young’s Cowgirl in the Sand & Tonight’s the Night silkscreened on them, Home on the Range sheet music fabric print tops, guitar straps, toy instruments fabric print, xylophone embroidered looking silkscreen tee, and (some merch for Bonny Prince Billy).