For disco-worth clutches head to Lala Léxa. Established by means of 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 been accumulating artwork as well as handbags from an early age.
Prior to designing, she becomes a founding member of Tinder, but she decided to abdicate from the app global and handiest 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 in the pleasant manner viable. Note their boxy shape, materiality and color palette of onyx, sweet red, azure, and clean crystal amongst others. 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 become approximately nine, I would make T-shirts. I recall borrowing my mom’s iron and coaching myself the way to customize them with a few heat switch vinyl and a material appliqué There were tables complete of markers, fabrics, and scissors. I suppose I still have a few of those shirts!
I can’t inform you how oftentimes I became a maxi skirt into a dress, a headscarf right into a headband, jean shorts right into a pocketbook cover (sure, nevertheless have that), once I turned into younger. I constantly cherished fashion, however, it was most effective until lately in which it manifested itself into something that would alternate my lifestyles 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. Prior to Lala Léxa, I became a founding member at Tinder, all through my senior 12 months and a few years after university, focusing at the US enlargement of the business enterprise. As a long way as any fashion enjoy — I had one style PR internship after I become sixteen, and I didn’t like my enjoy there.
I genuinely do love style even though. Fashion is one’s identity and maybe an outlet of 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 yr in the past, my brother sold a residence in LA, and there has been an estate sale there. I decided to stop with the aid of with my older (less fashionably experimental) cousin. I found a bag, or what I idea became as a bag, inside the room that I loved and she or he looked at me like I was loopy for looking to buy it… She didn’t suppose it gave the impression of a handbag and become 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 5 compliments or extra, I’d make a bag line.”
I got 7! We nevertheless funny story about it. The antique find seems nothing like my first layout, but that moment was what clearly driven me to create designs of my very own… And 6 months later, my first bag turned into sold. To a stranger! Best feeling in the global.
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 a lot of them. But I experience sporting all of them. I desire to make greater add-ons, and I’m excited about the journey beforehand.
FC: Who is your consumer?
AM: My purchaser is assured and complex, yet a laugh and playful at the equal time. Doesn’t rely on if she’s age 21 or age 65…Age is simply a number in the end.
