Meet Kristina Marie Garnett of Joni Margaux International in Downtown Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristina Marie Garnett.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Kristina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I began my brand back in 2014. I was a year graduated out of UCLA and exhausted. I was working at a major retailer at the time who sold very SUPER popular clothing, but everyone knew the sizes weren’t inclusive. I sat at the home sewing machine my mother had at home and began to cut and create garments that were the same silhouettes as the retailer I was working at, but I was making all the garments a couple sizes bigger to fit my body comfortably. That led me on the journey to make different variations of dresses, skirts, and tops that has gradually morphed into its own language and aesthetic regarding fit, surrealist size and shape play, gender non-conforming, movement-based, pieces.

All of the women on both my mother and father’s sides of the family are seamstresses, all with incredible self-taught, generational skills that it felt only right for me to effortlessly fall into it. While I watched my mother sew all of the dance costumes for my performances with the Lula Washington Dance Theater, during my 10+ years of dance training, I never took an interest to making a garment myself. I would modify clothing by cutting them, hemming, adding pieces with pins, or designs with embroidery, but constructing an actual garment from start to finish had never crossed my mind.

Now, five years later, Joni Margaux is the lead up and coming clothing brand consulted to costume dancers all across the Los Angeles movement exploration realm. My design voice has really streamlined itself to heavily focus on allowing movement and size inclusivity—regardless of structure, gender, and ability—all while maintaining minimalist design concepts with an emphasis on comfort.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has been really rewarding! Smooth? I guess not. There are always ups and downs, which are mostly the pieces of inner dialogue that usually consist of me having a really good idea and then another random “me” thought that cancels it out and says that it’s not. Working for YOURSELF is really all about learning and knowing YOURSELF.

I’ve learned a lot about my process and what it takes for me to get things done. I like time and slowness and to spend time with an idea before I actually take to constructing it. I don’t really love a schedule, but if I have to make one, I make sure to give myself and the client enough time in between for me to go through all my stages of preparation as PART of the creation process (and not labeled as a “BEFORE” to the process).

I went back to the corporate 9-5 structure a couple of times in my five years of having my brand, and each time I ended up leaving because I knew deep down that working for someone in a capacity that didn’t allow me creative freedom, or a space that asked me to be NOT myself (tuck in my septum ring, dye my hair back to black, etc.), or anywhere that wasn’t an art-based space, in general, was not my jam. While I WAS making more money doing these jobs, I was emotionally drained. unhappy. spiritually “broke”. I mustered up the courage to leave the last corporate job I was at two years ago and haven’t looked back since.

This is the happiest and most free-flowing I’ve ever been in my life. Now, if I accept a job, it’s as a co-producer of some sort and I am actually interested in the job, the people I’m working with, and it aligns with my happiness and well-being. The money is the cherry on top!

I say all of this to say, my biggest struggle was MYSELF. I hold the key to my happiness and success. WE ALL DO.

Once I learned how to let go and trust that it will be okay because it HAS to be, things got SO MUCH EASIER.

If I encounter a bump in the road, it doesn’t emotionally throw me off anymore because I am extremely positive that everything happens just the way it needs to and on the other side of that “setback” (which was really a blessing…) is something exactly aligned with what I really DO want.

And it’s true EVERY. TIME.

Once you trust yourself, you begin to trust in everything you create. THAT is the sweet spot.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Joni Margaux, I’m the founder/creative director/designer/seamstress/pattern-maker/social media marketer/shipping manager/stylist/photographer/etc!

It’s a one-woman operation, but I am SO LUCKY to have so many talented friends who offer to shoot campaigns, model, travel with me, assist me in getting ready for pop-ups, set design, and all other creative things together.

I specialize in creating one of one unique garment that are MEANT FOR MOVEMENT.
“Clothes for Moves”, it’s been coined.

Also, the “Universal Body” describes my no-size sizing method.

Because I design all of the patterns, I’m able to make immediate modifications to fit anyone’s body in the way that feels best for them.

I am known for my minimalist structures that perfectly juxtaposes AND compliments the body by creating with fabrics that work WITH the body and not against it. My dance background has allowed me to understand what is needed in terms of the way we move and how we would like that to be emphasized during a dance performance and also on the stage of daily life.

As a company, I’m most proud of how effortlessly this avenue of creative expression has fallen into my lap. This is ancestral, generational knowledge, live and direct in the 21st century! Modernized and adapted to support forward thought and the spreading of love and acceptance of OURSELVES through the way we choose to adorn our bodies!

What sets me apart from others is that I am a direct embodiment of my practice. What inspires me to get dressed everyday, is what inspires the designs I make—-which is COMFORT. I know what I need for my body because I’ve spent most of my life in an industry that told me that my body was wrong for dance. When I make garments for myself and others, I compliment the body with shapes and luxury fabrics as a way to THANK the body and not feel as though I need to hide or change it to “fit” into a piece that wasn’t created with ME or US in mind in the first place. My deep understanding of the body allows me to create for it in a way that is cooperative and intuitive, rather than gimmicky or in the hopes to catch on to the “here today. gone tomorrow” trends.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was a fireball! Fearless, always needing something to do, and always writing.

I loved school because I loved learning new things and writing about it.

My parents kept me busy during the summers with workbooks in English and math because I wanted to be prepped for the grade I was to be coming into that fall. I was an absolute nerd and I loved it. Still, am! Reading is literally everything to me and writing is just absolutely indescribable…..

My parents bought me a notebook when I was really small and I would scribble in it and pretend to write stories. When I finally learned letters and then started school, there was no turning back for me. I’ve lowkey been keeping journals since like 3rd grade. That’s YEARS of data. YES, I will be writing a book haha! More on that another time…

I loved school, I danced everyday after school and participated in performances with LWDT all year long, I wrote, and I also played the violin (for four years) and clarinet (for two). I was always involved in the arts and my parents really supported it. Nothing was off-limits in terms of the way we could ourselves artistically.

Contact Info:

• Website: instagram.com/joni_margaux
• Email: designs.kaygee@gmail.com

Image Credit:
Sam Goodman, Kevin Le, Puss Puss Magazine

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