Lauren Elaine says she designs for the woman who wants to be and feel beautiful. Plain
and simple. She doesn’t care about designing
things that are overtly “sexy” or “avant garde”
– and thinks that a sense of sexiness and
uniqueness comes out naturally when a woman feels beautiful.
Elaine has always been fascinated by the transformative nature of fashion. Striving for her collections to tell a story and have a clear thememuch like a film, time period, or place. Before creating a new collection, she usually decides on a
certain theme, and the inspiration grows from
there. For summer 2011, her overall theme was
"Bond Girl"- so she wanted to create strong silFOR BLACK LABEL: Lauren Elaine always houettes that still maintained a very feminine and
refer to her design aesthetic as reinventing
regal feel- much like the leading ladies in any
the “princess” archetype — designing for the Bond movie. A woman who can take care of herwoman who aspires to be ultra feminine, ef- self, but is still very elegant and alluring- the "prinfortlessly elegant, and completely regal.
cess" but not the "damsel in distress". And
FOR SWIM: She really wanted to capture the although it's a little abstract- Lauren Elaine takes
rebellious spirit of the late 1970s. Fashion
huge inspiration from music. For her, music is inwas carefree and very experimental back
credibly transforming, and she usually has a set
then, for both women and men. “And I wanted song that becomes a sort of theme song for each
to play around with that concept, say Lauren collection or season. Usually, the songs end up in
Elaine. Her aim is to take the design aesthet- the campaign films or on the runway soundtracks.
ic from the Lauren Elaine Black Label dress
collection, and apply it to swimwear. She
Every fashion week show, Lauren Elaine usually
wants to give her suits a sort of kitschy,
selects a charity for which the show benefits. For
tongue-in-cheek vibe while keeping them ef- example, at the FW2011 “Unmasked” show at LA
fortless.
Fashion Week, proceeds from the pre-show silent
auction benefited the Burbank Animal Shelter.
Also, a lot of thought and inspiration goes into She’s also really enjoyed presenting a runway
each collection. In general, a majority of Lau- show for 2 years in a row at San Diego Women’s
ren Elaine’s inspiration comes from film, trav- Week. And her show for SDWW this past April
eling, and wardrobe trends throughout
benefited Becky’s House- a non-profit organizahistory. She’s always loved studying clothing tion offering support services for women and chiland styles from the past, and incorporating
dren who are victims of domestic violence.
them into new, wearable, and modern silhouettes. And really enjoy classic films and period pieces for this reason, and Lauren
Dixi Ramano