Meet Lindsey Mallon of Nadjarina in Downtown Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Mallon.

Lindsey, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design. My senior thesis collection was featured in V Magazine as a “designer to watch”. From there, I moved to NYC, where I took positions in every aspect of the apparel industry-design, development, and production, and so forth- looking to understand the many positions and stages of creating a design and carrying it through production.

I’ve always had the mindset that to manage a process, you need to have a thorough understanding of it and should have experience in it. During this time, I also honed in on my vision and the ethos that I wanted to bring to the industry. It was very disheartening seeing the working conditions so much of the fashion industry was run by, the immense community and environmental harm the industry creates. There were definitely periods where I felt a disconnect from what I wanted to put out as a creative, and the values the industry was dishing out. Style is meant to empower the wearer, it is a vision, it is about confidence. How empowered can fashion make you feel when manpower bringing each piece to life is essentially slave labor and we are one of the top industries in environmental damage and waste?

I moved from the East coast to LA with my 1.5 years old daughter. From LA, I launched Nadjarina with the desire to marry conceptual runway aesthetic with functionality and the idea that we need to redefine our standards of luxury for a better future.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been slow and intentional growth- really developing that conversation around our ethos with the community and building a deep understanding of who that Nadjarina woman is. It’s a walk, not a run, especially in today’s landscape. There’s so many brands launching into instant fandom with what becomes a trendy point of view, but with that comes high risk to fade away just as quickly. I spent a lot of time really fine-tuning my vision into something that feels timeless, but still progressive and fearless.

I’m also a single mother, so I’ve really had to carve my space out and find balance. Launching a brand on my own was certainly a bold move, but from great risk comes great reward.

Please tell us about Nadjarina.
Nadjarina is a Conscious Luxury brand, “visionary apparel, consciously brought to life”. We focus on the community that brings each piece together, with everything made in downtown Los Angeles by passionate, skilled crafters and livable wages. We also focus on natural fabrications and a realistic, transparent approach to sustainability and the future of fashion.

As an aesthetic, we are known for a strong East coast (bold confidence of NYC) meets West Cost (sophisticated ease of Los Angeles). We focus on luxe fabrications, textures, and our signature usage of chain in approachable silhouettes for an edgy women-on-the-go look. Nadjarina is designed with the modern woman in mind, and where we (as a community of women) are going. Today we are not just the muses and the nurturers, we are businesswomen, trailblazers, and we are breaking down old standards and ideas of femininity and owning our femininity. That multi-faceted, fearless female is very evident in our aesethetic.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If anything, I wish I had listened to my gut a little more making decisions when I first started, so I could have avoided certain mistakes, but you live and you learn and you grow. Finding the right people to bring the vision to life, I appreciate each of them that much more for those experiences.

Contact Info:

• Website: nadjarina.com
• Phone: 2135420532
• Email: info@nadjarina.com
• Instagram: nadjarina
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nadjarina.rtw

Image Credit:
Photography: Arthur Galvão

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