Melissa M
After taking a four-year hiatus, designer Melissa McElrath has resurrected her line Melissa M and updated its image from young contemporary to contemporary.
While taking a break from the Melissa M label, the spunky clothing designer kept busy with freelance design gigs and opened a retail store in South Pasadena, Calif., called Melissa M.
Though McElrath had worked on the wholesale side of the industry for nearly 10 years, operating a retail store and working one on one with customers gave her a renewed sense of what customers want to wear and the importance of fit when she designs.
“It gets real basic with women,” McElrath said. “The fashion industry likes to take itself all seriously and has its big shows, and it’s all super fabulous, but really, when it comes down to it—it’s so not like that.”
In the dressing room of her retail store, McElrath relates to her customers’ insecurities about their bodies when it comes to fashion and takes into account those feelings when she designs.
“I understand the need for elastic, drawstrings and movable things that fit. Every girl thinks she’s fat. Every girl zeros in on the 2-by-2 square inch of cellulite that she has and has blown it up out of proportion,” she said. “When you know that as a designer, you want to try to accentuate the positive.”
McElrath’s strategy for Melissa M is a series of unrelated theme-based groups to offer variety for the customer with eclectic style. For one Spring 2006 group, she interpreted a nautical theme using vintage tattoo graphics of mermaids. For another, she went super girlie with vintage-inspired house dresses and skirts cut in Swiss dot fabric adorned with lace, ribbon and floral embroidery.
McElrath was shipping her young contemporary line to stores including Urban Outfitters to the tune of $10 million annually when she took a break from the line in 2001. McElrath projects sales for the contemporary line Melissa M will be $2 million for the first year. Wholesale price points range from $44 for a top to $110 for a dress.
McElrath doesn’t plan to follow the trend wave, but her design instincts usually hit on key looks for the season. As long as the customer has a delightful emotional response, she doesn’t mind if her clothes bought on an impulse have a short shelf life. “There’s nothing wrong with having a one-night stand,” McElrath said. “I’m going to be the thing that you’re going to buy in the store that you’re going to wear that night or tomorrow.”
For more information, contact the It’s All About the Girls showroom in The New Mart, Suite 702, at (213) 624-9715.
—Rhea Cortado
