2 posts tagged "Meritt Elliott"
Surfer, Skater, Chola, Star
For many in fashion, L.A. is a full coast away from where the real action is. “Style in L.A. is sort of an oxymoron,” admits former L.A. Times writer and journalist Melissa Magsaysay. “It’s jeans and it’s T-shirts. But what’s wrong with that?” In hopes of changing the conversation surrounding style in the City of Angels, Magsaysay penned City of Style: Exploring Los Angeles Fashion, from Bohemian to Rock.
While following the contemporary market in L.A., the author realized that mass market brands were referencing L.A.’s ease and attitude as inspiration—without necessarily wanting to admit it. “No one will acknowledge it because it’s not Dior and Vuitton. But to me, it doesn’t have to be those labels and brands to be stylish, per se.” City of Style combines street-style photography with interviews with some of the city’s reigning tastemakers, ranging from Monique Lhuillier and Trina Turk to Phillip Lim and even Slash. Magsaysay makes the case for L.A.’s own native style archetypes, which need no reference to Paris prêt-à-porter or New York cool: its skaters, surfers, rockers, cholas, bohemians, and glamour-pusses of the old Hollywood screen-star mold. “They’re not trends but actual looks that came about from subcultures, music, and counterculture—what I think are inherent and totally unique to the city,” she says. They hint at an L.A. beyond the old jeans-and-tees cliches, and according to stylist/designers (and City of Style subjects) Emily Current and Meritt Elliott, they may prove more influential than many yet admit—even outside city limits. “In the past decade, L.A. has really come into its own in having a distinctive and relevant fashion sensibility,” the duo tells Style.com.
City of Style: Exploring Los Angeles Fashion, from Bohemian to Rock is available at Barnes and Noble May 22.
Westward Bound
L.A.-based stylists Emily Current and Meritt Elliott are responsible for dressing some of Hollywood’s most on-the-rise stars—their client Emma Roberts in particular has been turning heads lately—but it’s really the notion of East meets West that has them busy these days.
“We were inspired by the notion of adventure and the idea of Kate Spade New York, an iconic East Coast brand, traveling westward,” Current said, referencing the unlikely compatibility of the pair’s whimsical, more casual Americana aesthetic (demonstrated in the Current/Elliott line they also design) with the New York mainstay’s playful yet ladylike charm. Hence the name of the capsule collection: Westward.
The duo’s West Coast girl isn’t a by-the-pool lounger, though. “We kept in mind the ideal shapes, sizes, and elements that suit a stylish, working girl,” Meritt echoed of the bags that range from oversized clutches with a hidden cross-body strap to their “2nd” bag, big enough to fit your laptop and a second pair of shoes. Working closely with Kate Spade’s creative director Deborah Lloyd, they conspired to provide the perfect antidote to the woman who never knows where her day will take her. Judging by the new ad campaign, debuting exclusively here, wherever she’s off to, she’ll be scaling new heights.
The collection launches this August at Kate Spade stores, Bloomingdale’s, and online. In celebration of the collaboration, Kate Spade New York has made a generous donation to the Phase One Foundation, an organization that supports cancer research and awareness. It’s a cause that’s sadly close to home: Elliott’s husband passed away nearly two years ago from brain cancer.