Designer Yael Aflalo Chats Fashion With A Conscience At Her Boutique The Reformation
The Reformation. Photos: Joey D’Arco for StyleCaster
The evolution of eco-minded fashion may very well live at The Reformation. The bi-coastal boutique, with locations in L.A. and on NYCs Ludlow Street, thinks fashion first, with an intrinsic green element that exists to serve that fashion.
StyleCaster visited the LES shop and got answers from co-owner Yael Aflalo (her partner in the endeavor is Chi Bui) about the collection for cool girls that keeps the covetable factor high and the environmental impact low. Even the stores name does double-duty, Its a double entendre, named for both Martin Luther’s Reformation which was about a simpler approach and for the idea of reforming clothes, which is what we do with vintage fashions, Aflalo told us.
With celeb fans like Leighton Meester, Emma Roberts, and Shenae Grimes frequenting both locations, Aflalo has taken her design credibility from her successful namesake lines Yaya Aflalo and Love YaYa with her and translated it to The Reformation. But don’t expect clones from those collections the designer explains, “The clothes at the Reformation have a different point of view. The cuts are simpler.”
And what of the green ethos? All of our styles are either cut from dead stock fabrics or reworked vintage, Aflalo said. Clothing is designed and sewn within the L.A. and NYC boutiques, which cuts out the middle man. This translates to lower production costs and also eliminates environmental enemies like gas-guzzling transportation and outsourcing to infamously pollution-causing countries.
However, the impetus of those earth-saving practices is creating an interesting, cant-get-this-at-any-store-in-the-mall aesthetic. The vintage origin of the materials gives the clothing a unique feel, the designer said.
With design elements including lace and zipper details, on lightweight silks and cottons in cool retro prints, or easy solids, the pieces have a bit of a wanton sex appeal and that distinct feeling that it’s one-of-a-kind.
Not straying from the stores philosophical intent, the dcor applies the same methodology as the clothing. We were taking from existing materials, the designer explains. The entire store comes from a high end junk yard for old buildings. Everything here is recycled barn wood, church doors, a mantelpiece from an old town house, etc.
The result is a cool, almost gothic, dark but not macabre space that houses vintage accessories including belts, bags and shoes. There are also outside jewelry lines that fit the boutiques aesthetic, including Pamela Love and Made Her Think among others, and dresses, pants, and hipster-friendly racerback tanks and tops in prices ranging from $50-$325 retail.
Getting a bit peeved that you cant get your hands on the wares? No worries fashion chicks outside of NYC and L.A.. Yael Aflalo and Chi Bui collaborate with Urban Outfitters on the Reformed and Nom de Plume lines. Plus, Aflalo explains,We are starting a wholesale line for Fall 2010 that will be [sold] in other stores.
Scroll down to get an inside look at The Reformation, LES style.
The Reformation
143 Ludlow Street
New York, NY 10002
(646) 448-4925
8117 West 3rd Street
LA, CA 90048
323.203.1102
All photos: Joey D’Arco for StyleCaster
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