Only in Los Angeles could a chat over coffee start with comparing crystals and turn into plans for a 30-piece fashion collaboration. But when the journalist-turned-designer JJ Martin described her struggles with denim for her Milan-based brand La DoubleJ to Lela Becker, co-founder of the LA-founded denim brand Mother, things moved quickly.
The pair already knew each other through Becker’s husband, and Martin’s parents and Becker’s in-laws had shared a duplex in southern California in the 1960s, later both moving to the Palisades. The two women also shared mutual admiration for each other’s brands (“It is widely known that Mother’s jeans give you the best butt,” Martin confides). The collaboration “unfolded very naturally”, Becker says.
The starting point for “Ciao Mamma”, on sale from 13 March, was a meeting of the brands’ shared vintage-inspired aesthetic. The collection of silk, cotton and denim separates references retro, both in the vibrant colours and prints, but also in detailing such as the 1970s-style patches sewn onto a pair of very short denim shorts. “Back in the day, if you had a hole in your jeans, you’d sew a patch on. If you had 12 holes, you had 12 patches,” says Tim Kaeding, Mother’s other co-founder.
The two brands worked on their own specialisms: La DoubleJ focused on the flowing silk skirts and dresses, all of which are made and manufactured in Italy, while Mother designed and made the T-shirts and denim jackets, jeans and shorts, with denim from Italy and Turkey, and clothing handmade and embroidered in California. “LA is the capital for denim-making,” Kaeding says. Mother upholds its commitment to the locale’s denim heritage: last year it shipped 1.4 million pairs of jeans, with 85 per cent of sales to US customers. The US for La DoubleJ represents 50 per cent of its market, with Europe at 35 per cent – and particularly strong growth in the UK.
The predicted bestsellers will be the ankle-length jeans (£320) with an orangey-red dragonfly print – “the first time we’ve done a print on denim,” Kaeding says – and the red silk XX dress (£770) with women’s faces merging together in a kaleidoscopic fashion. Martin also included a dress dedicated to Becker. “I said, ‘Honey, what do you want to wear?’ Because in every collection I like to dedicate one dress to one of my girlfriends.” Becker’s direction was a midi dress, with ruching at the waist. “It’s very sexy,” Martin says approvingly.
La DoubleJ x Mother XX dress in Mamma print, £770
La DoubleJ x Mother Tomcat Roller jeans, £420
Nonetheless, both brands are still grappling with the devastation caused by January’s LA wildfires. “It’s grim,” says Becker, who lives in the Palisades “south of Sunset; everything north of that was burned”. Martin recounts bursting into tears mid-business meeting when her brother texted with the news that their childhood home had been burned to the ground. “It was traumatic, and I felt that from Italy. My heart goes out to people actually living there,” she says. Both Mother and La DoubleJ had been due to open their first US stores in neighbouring premises on Pacific Palisades, sharing a wall, when fires destroyed both shops the week Mother was due to soft open. Both brands are now looking at new premises.
With the fires being just one element of a depressing news cycle, Martin says there’s never been a better time to wear big, bold colour. “Colour can transmit energy,” she says. “If I’m walking down the street wearing a crazy sweater, people tend to stop and smile. It’s amazing that what you adorn yourself with can be that transmitter of positivity.”
The La DoubleJ x Mother Ciao Mamma! capsule will be available from 13 March exclusively at Net-A-Porter, Harrods, La Bon Marché, ladoublej.com and motherdenim.com. Prices range from £90 to £1,150
