For disco-worth clutches, head to Lala Léxa. Established using Alexa Mateen (her nickname is Lala) in her home metropolis of Los Angeles, she cites the artwork world as a suggestion for her suitable collection of handbags. After all, she’s accumulated artwork and bags from an early age.
Before designing, she became a founding member of Tinder, but she decided to abdicate from the app globally, and the last 12 months transitioned into fashion. Her motivation? To fulfill her innovative passions and create a label that “bridges cutting-edge artwork with capability.”
Mateen’s series of lucite clutches, which can be designed and lovingly made in Los Angeles, absolutely vibe Studio 54 pleasantly. Note their boxy shape, materiality, and color palette of onyx, sweet red, azure, and clean crystal; the thing is, they are so excellent you will want them all.
Felicity Carter: What’s your first fashionable memory?
Alexa Mateen: My first style memory dates back to after I was approximately nine; I would make T-shirts. I recall borrowing my mom’s iron and coaching myself to customize them with a few heat switch vinyl and a material appliqué. There were tables complete with markers, fabrics, and scissors. I suppose I still have a few of those shirts!
I can’t inform you how often I put a maxi skirt into a dress, a headscarf right into a headband, and jean shorts right into a pocketbook cover (sure, nevertheless have that) once I turned yo. I constantly cherished fashion. However, it was most effective until lately, manifesting into something that would alternate my lifestyle and bring me a lot of pleasure.
FC: Tell us approximately your historical past...
AM: My entry into the fashion international, in reality, snuck up on me. I’ve usually had a passion for style. However, I have genuinely no education in it. Before all Léxa, I became a founding member at Tinder, all through my senior 12 months and a few years after university, focusing on the US enlargement of the business enterprise. As a long way as any fashion enjoy — I had one style PR internship after I was sixteen, and I didn’t like my want there.
I genuinely do love style, even though. Fashion is one’s identity and maybe an outlet for full expression. I get dressed in 10 mins. However, I rarely depart the house in an outfit I don’t like… I revel in experimenting with style by blending and matching one-of-a-kind textures and patterns.
About a year ago, my brother sold a residence in LA, and there has been an estate sale there. I decided to stop with the aid of my older (less fashionably experimental) cousin. I found a bag, or what I thought became a bag, inside the room that I loved, and they looked at me like I was loopy for looking to buy it… She didn’t suppose it gave the impression of a handbag and began rolling her eyes at me for seeking to be “different” again. We were invited to an occasion that night, and I told her, “I’m shopping for it and carrying it out, and if I get five compliments or extra, I’d make a bag line.”
I got 7! We nevertheless have a funny story about it. The antique find seems nothing like my first layout, but that moment drove me to create designs of my very own… Six months later, my first bag sold. To a stranger! It is the best feeling in the world.
FC: Why accessories?
AM: Accessories are what make an outfit precise...Footwear, baggage, and jewelry can completely trade the mood and tone of what you’re wearing. I love the bags. And I even have to do a lot of them. But I experienced sporting all of them. I desire to make greater add-ons and am excited about the journey beforehand.
FC: Who is your consumer?
AM: My purchaser is assured and complex, yet laughs and playful at the same time. Doesn’t rely on if she’s age 21 or age 65…Age is simply a number in the end.
