The World of LA DoubleJ
Champion of colour, creativity and craft, Leith Clark takes a step inside the kaleidoscopic mind of founder, JJ Martin
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The World of LA DoubleJ
Champion of colour, creativity and craft, Leith Clark takes a step inside the kaleidoscopic mind of founder, JJ Martin
Delve into Liberty’s 150-year legacy as editor, stylist and Liberty lover Leith curates a selection of 150 pieces from Liberty’s past and present, each with their own unique story to tell. Liberty’s 150 for 150: Curated by Leith Clark amalgamates musing on the tales of artistry, history and modernity shared by our collective of brands, to explore the story of Liberty anew.
As part of this milestone collaboration, Leith visited a selection of Liberty’s creative founders – old and new – at their studios and workshops across the globe, to discover the stories and craft that makes each unique.
California born, Milan based JJ Martin is in the business of joy. With her brand, LA DoubleJ, she is on a mission to boost moods, create conversation and empower her creative clientele through colourful, vibrant and print packed collections.
Driven by the brand motto “raise your vibration”, Martin is inspired in equal part by vintage finds, her Italian surroundings and a close connection to her own spirituality – in addition to Creative Director, she also serves as LA DoubleJ’s CSO: Chief Spirituality Officer.
To find out more, Leith took a trip to the brand’s brand-new HQ in Milan, a space featuring a Gong Temple as prominently as it’s fashion and home design floors, to find out more about how her friend JJ crafted her eclectic, electric community driven brand.
So first things first, take us back to the beginning: when did you start the brand?
This year is our 10th year, but I’ve only been making collections for eight years because the first two years I was selling vintage rather than my own creations. Exactly ten years ago, I started Double J as a website selling my collection of vintage jewellery and clothing.
At the time, I was showing the pieces on all of these creative, wonderful, creative women in Milan, insanely chic women like Angela Mazzoni or Rosalinda or Nini Shah. We were taking shots of them in their home and talking about how they lived these impossibly chic lives as an Italian.
Eventually I created one new dress in 2016. And by 2017, I had like a mini collection. It was very slow to start with. I kept my job as an editor for the first two years of the brand, as I had no idea if this thing was going to work or not.
Everything at LA Double J has been a process of instinct and intuition. There hasn't been a lot of business planning and investors: it was never done that way and a lot of it had to do with building relationships.
Did you know the motto of our company is raise your vibration, so that's what we're trying to do. How can we give you a mood boost? For many people, that's through colour, that's through pattern but for other people it’s a new meditation technique or introducing them to a healer, or a different kind of yoga: there's so many different ways to do it.
Feeling and emotion feels very prevalent in LA DoubleJ. Was that your incentive?
One element of our Raise Your Vibration motto is asking how fashion can be a way to empower women, rather than being something that they are attracted to out of fear of not being enough, not having enough or not looking enough.
I love the idea that fashion is an avenue or a portal for women, giving them permission to be fully themselves as a form of expression. And that's why we focus so much on the silhouettes, for example, are they flattering? Can a woman love wearing this.
It's very exciting to be one of the first to see your new LA Double J headquarters. What an incredible space, so full of light. Why Italy? When did you first move to Milan?
I moved here in 2010, and I launched LA Double J in 2015. So, 15 years. I was obsessed with vintage, I was obsessed with Italy and I was obsessed with the Italian women. How they cooked, how they decorated, how they entertained. How they dress themselves. Everything.
I call Italy the motherland. Because it has such a feminine, energy to it, whereas America has a real masculine, energy: go, go, go, do, do, do. Are you being ambitious enough? Have you been successful?
Here, they'll ask you. What did you eat last night? Where did you go on vacation? They really don't care what your job is. These were all the lessons that I learned that were helped make a company that was more like a matriarchy.
Can you tell us about your spiritual journey and how you integrate that in to LA DoubleJ.
During Covid I started sharing some of the tools, some of the techniques, some of the teachers in my own practice. And we had this overwhelmingly positive response from the women in our community: it felt like people realized that we were all alone together
The mission of LA Double J has always been to create an energy elevating experience. At the very beginning, I was transmitting that through just joy in the colours, the prints. In my vintage collection, I don't think I had a single black dress. Everything was printed, everything was sparkling and illuminated, alive with life force.
Today, we have a community called the Sisterhood. It’s a community of women who are really interested in the consciousness and the spirituality, we do a lot of events and workshops either in LA or online. We've hosted over 100 spiritual events from channels to crystal healings, meditations, yoga, all sorts of things.
You said you see your clothes as a service to women. I love that sentiment. What does that mean to you?
I think that is a really important consideration, how can we as designers be of service to people? I'm imagining a 22-year-old and a 98-year-old and making sure there's things in the collections for both. How do those differ?
There used to be this taboo about an older customer and now the world is changing. Have you seen Heidi Klum or Elizabeth Hurley recently? They're in their 60s and they look fantastic! People are going to be in really excited about fashion, I think until they're much older.
And you’ve been in Liberty for a long time now, so what’s that relationship like for you?
Liberty was one of the very first retailers to give us a shop space. Many, many years ago in 2018, maybe 2017. I feel like Liberty, with their heritage, with the prints and my obsession with prints: we have a common language, a common love for pattern, for that energy that is coming off of swirling, swishing, pulsating print.
It always feels so elevated to be at Liberty. The building itself is so chic and sophisticated, it feels like an enchanted fairy house. Whenever clients are asking me about London, when we tell them that we're at Liberty, people are tell us how much they love the store. People adore it.
La DoubleJ
La Scala Mayfair Feathered Top
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
La DoubleJ
Long Sleeve Swing Dress
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La DoubleJ
Herald Black Silk Pajama Shirt
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La DoubleJ
Comber Alpaca-Blend Turtleneck Jumper
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La DoubleJ
Tailored Wool Trousers
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
La DoubleJ
Cerere Shirt Dress
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
La DoubleJ
Midnight Dress
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
