Deadlines and shipping schedules make summer Fridays something of an anomaly around the W offices. Still, my colleague, Jessica Iredale and I were recently able to escape our cubicles for an hour to meet denim designer Chloe Lonsdale. Our appointment locale? The Soho House rooftop, where the pool—made infamous by the ladies of Sex and the City—was brimming with a bikini-clad crowd who, well, didn't exactly seem concerned with corporate attendance policies.
Chloe, a Brit whose father, Tony Lonsdale, was the founder of England's famed Jean Machine chain, was in town to search for office space for her nearly three-year-old jeans line, MiH, which is a relaunch of Made In Heaven, the Seventies-era line of hip-huggers Chloe's godfather started. The Lonsdale clan is something of an about-town bunch - Chloe's elder sister Tamsin is the brains behind New York's roving social organization The Supper Club, and her mother, Chekkie Maskell, was a Seventies model who worked the Made In Heaven jeans to fantastic effect in the company's original ads. "I'm looking for something like my London office - lots of light, lots of space," said Chloe, a Saint Martins alum whose revamped line has a modern-yet-retro look: a classic shape like a high-waist is made chic with a straight leg, while the pale gold stitching along the hems and pockets is refreshingly simple. (Another perk: all the washes are incredibly soft).
Wearing a snow-white cropped pair called the Paris, Chloe, a former designer for Nicole Farhi, admits to being her own best advertisement for the growing line, which has landed at Barneys, Intermix and Ron Herman, among other stores. "I'm trying to take it slowly, because I'd ultimately like it to be a real lifestyle company," she told us. "My father wore jeans to weddings and to funerals, and he had a real cool, modern attitude about style, which is what I want my company to be about." And while Chloe got to stay put under the sun awaiting her next visitor, Jessica and I had to return to work. On our way out, we passed (who else?) Candace Bushnell, lounging poolside with a Lipstick Jungle script.
Jean Pool
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