J.P. & Mattie Accessories

J.P. & Mattie designers Jean-Pierre Roditi and Mattie Ilel took their love of Thai culture and design and developed it into their latest venture—a line of sandals, bags and jewelry under the J.P. & Mattie brand.

The sandal collection includes leather styles trimmed with silver, turquoise, coral, shell and beads, as well as styles made from fabric or crochet. The handbags come in leather, also trimmed with silver and semi-precious stones, as well as crochet and fabric styles.

The fabric used for the shoes and bags is woven by Hmong craftspeople, who grow the fibers to make the fabric, which is dyed with vegetable dyes. The process is spiritual for the weavers, who believe that when they die, their ancestors will recognize them by the elaborately woven and embroidered fabrics they wear.

Ilel hesitates to use the word bohemian, but the new accessories collection puts a new twist on J.P. & Mattie’s collection of dresses and separates inspired by ’50s- and ’60s-era French couture. The collection was so tied to the vintage-couture aesthetic that one of their best-selling styles was the “Sabrina” dress, a pleated sundress style that recalls the 1954 Audrey Hepburn film of the same name.

“Before we started accessories, it was definitely ’50s and ’60s couture,” said Ilel, who added that after eight years of creating vintage-inspired clothing, other contemporary companies began producing vintage apparel. “It felt like a trend,” she said. With the addition of the accessories, it’s as if Sabrina has gone on an exotic Thai vacation.

“We love that part of the world so much,” said Ilel. “Now it makes a whole story.”

The shoes and bags are made in tiny artisan workshops. “It’s a lot of work to coordinate,” Ilel said. Originally, most of the collection was produced in Thailand, she said, but they have since added workshops in Cambodia and Laos.

“The product is really unique and the handcrafting shows,” said Ilel. “The way they can spend so much time working by hand. To be able to work that closely—it’s a whole new world of creativity for us.”

By producing in small workshops, Roditiand Ilel must keep quantities small, although the Sundance and Anthropologie catalogs picked up the line, as did contemporary boutiques such as Tracy Ross in Los Angeles, Fred Segal Hats in Santa Monica, Calif., and Sophia Parros in Pasadena and Thousand Oaks, Calif. They also have orders from stores in Japan, Indonesia, Germany and Israel. “It’s frustrating,” Ilel said. “We know our quantities will always be limited, but it does make it special.”

She brought the accessories collections to Designers & Agents in Los Angeles and Fashion Coterie and Intermezzo in New York. This year, to reach more-traditional shoe and accessories buyers, they also showed at the World Shoe Association show in Las Vegas.

The wholesale price points for J.P & Mattie accessories are about $20–$30 for the fabric sandals and $50–$65 for the leather styles.

For information, call (213) 680-1105 or visit www.jpandmattie.com. —Alison A. Nieder