Manifesting Community and Legacy with ManLuu

August 28, 2023

To MoAnA Luu, jewelry symbolizes much more than decorative elements for the body. Jewelry is a way of life and a snapshot into Luu’s lush, protean heritage that has shaped her into the spearheading woman she is today. Taking note of her French Caribbean ancestors’ unabridged sense of style and personal expression, Luu’s designs are all radiant interpretations of the culture that molded her.

From stackable, 18k gold rings to fine jewelry selections, each of ManLuu’s creations is meant to shine bright while also highlighting the individuality of each wearer — as Luu expresses, “Our differences actually make our richness.” When she isn’t designing or sourcing inspiration, she is advocating for marginalized voices, proving that her creative intentions gleam just as bright as her designs.

Interview by Kayla Curtis-Evans
Photos by Halle Klum

The brand just celebrated its two year anniversary at Luu's home in Sag Harbor, elevated by sycnhronized swimmers and the unveiling of her new swim line — a fitting celebration for the splash the founder has made thus far. Read more about Luu’s plans to continue providing visibility for her culture below.

What does being of Creole heritage mean to you? Where does your passion for your culture stem from and what are the magical, meaningful parts of your upbringing you would like to share with the world?

I was born and raised in Martinique, the French Caribbean. It's a little bit more than 400,000 people and very rich in our cultural heritage. I felt blessed during my childhood to witness some of the iconic people from our culture, from dance to politics. My childhood was spent around talented people, creative people, and philosophical people. So I felt that we had the duty to actually think bigger than our island and to try to share our thoughts and our knowledge with the world. And as soon as I was able to go outside of my island, I decided to start a career abroad. When people ask me, 'Oh, where are you from?' I will always champion that I am Martinique, French Caribbean because we have such a unique point of view. And because of this point of view, we are a melting pot of culture. We have this Caribbean heritage, we have French heritage, and we have the Latin attitude because we are surrounded by islands with Latin cultural backgrounds.

So what was essential for me and the knowledge I've gathered from my childhood was that cultural richness. So when I decided to create my own brand, it was very important for me to actually bring this notion with me — that what makes us different is what makes us stronger. So by creating ManLuu, I was able to do things that I love — fashion, but also lifestyle because I believe that the art of living is the best way to enjoy your culture and preserve French Caribbean heritage.

I really love the fact that you mentioned all the different people around you that inspired you. I know some of your inspiration for the brand comes from your family. Can you tell me about your origin story with the brand, which began from collecting vintage postcards?

The birth of ManLuu actually comes from the pandemic. I was very sick and it put everything into perspective. I was thinking, 'What will be my legacy?' And thinking about what I wanted to share with the world. So I started to go through postcards of my heritage and family photos, and those photos are just so strong. I refer to them a lot to show the resilience and the beauty of Caribbean people during that time. And you see all these women wearing jewelry as a powerful fashion statement, so that inspired me to start collecting jewelry. I had the idea that I wanted to do a book and then an exhibit about Creole jewelry. By sourcing information about it, I realized that not only was it very hard to find the history of Creole and Caribbean heritage, but beyond that, we were not always portrayed in a very elevated way. These histories weren't showing great aspects of who we are and what we stand for. So it was then that I decided to design my own. There is no gender attached to my pieces; I create things that will be a pleasure for everybody. Gwyneth Paltrow's team reached out to me to pull pieces and that was just the beginning. Then Cardi B wore ManLuu and our lives changed. When I started this project, it had always been my goal to democratize my culture, and it felt like that goal was reached right away.

I feel this inherent duality with the brand and see it manifest in many different ways. There's this sense of paying homage to where you come from, but also doing so in a modern sense and elevating it. I want to dive into your creative process. I know you've even designed hotels. But when it comes to jewelry, how does that process work? What inspires the shapes and the designs that you come up with?

I've always been a big accessory person. I believe that you can wear any basics if you have great jewelry and great shoes. Through my designs, you can see the journey of ManLuu over the past two years. The first things that I wanted to create were statement pieces that you can wear every day. So I was trying to balance the level of comfort because comfort is really key for me when I'm designing. When I design hotels, I love architectural lines, so I think that's something that you definitely feel in my jewelry designs. I think what makes my pieces different is that I don't approach jewelry like a jewelry maker. I approach jewelry as an architectural element. So what are the layers and how can they be combined together between geometrical form and organic forms?

I also wanted to make sure to highlight my cultural heritage through elements that are important to us. I have these beaded necklaces and there's a real cultural story behind that. For every important moment of your life, we will give you a bead — for a birth or for a wedding. The bead closure is a barrel, and those were the first elements that I designed for ManLuu.

I think it's just really interesting how you've been able to mesh so many different aspects of what you do and who you are into the pieces that you make. I know that, in general, Creole jewelry is a big part of your artisanal heritage that has persisted for decades. Can you tell me about those practices and in what ways jewelry history has shaped Creole culture?

Something that is unique to Creole and Caribbean culture is that when you look at those postcard photos that I mentioned, you see the art of accumulation. You see that they created the art of stacking before stacking was a trend. And this is what I want to keep in mind when I design my pieces. They are made to all wear together. I want people to be able to go big like women were doing before — you can put everything together and look glorious. As well as the art of how we've been wearing jewelry, I also want to show that we are jewels ourselves. So we are showing our pieces off and we are shining with them.

That's a beautiful notion. I read that your grandparents' owned a jewelry store in Martinique when you were a young girl. What lessons do you carry with you today that you picked up back then?

Even though I design jewelry, I'm still wearing the fine pieces that were passed down from my grandmother to me. What they really shared with me is the art of sharing jewelry. And to tell stories with jewelry, as they were when they were crafting in the very small store in Fort de France. As they were creating pieces, they were forming relationships with their customers. I discovered that that was the most important thing for them — their customers were part of a family. And this is what I really try to focus on when we do custom pieces today with ManLuu. I love making people unique pieces because that is where you have the time to create connections with people. And at the end of the day, it's all about connecting with people.

I think it's so important to assign meaning to certain heirloom pieces in the way that you are because then you treasure it more and that jewelry becomes something you hold on to forever. You have advocated for your heritage every step of the way with your brand. But you also just wear a lot of different hats and have worked in other roles, uplifting young creatives, especially young Black creatives. What is your advice to young Black creatives attempting to break into the scene?

It's been more than 15 years that I've been trying my best to wear Black designers and work with Black creators. Not only that, I try to work with all people from diverse backgrounds, from Indian to Brazilian, because I really strongly believe that this merging of cultures can really change the world and create something that is just so much more fruitful because you have different points of view coming together. I've realized that the secret of success for Black creatives is authenticity. It's unique and it's priceless. The way that you show up to the world and share your work is important. This is the only way for people to know that you exist. And when that true talent shines through, you will create space for yourself. The sky is actually not the limit. Behind the blue of the sky, there's so much more. So another bit of advice would be to not limit yourself regarding what can be done. This is what I applied to myself my whole life. Life is also about opportunity. So the more people you meet, the more opportunities you will create.

I feel like the hardest part for so many creators or creatives who come from diverse backgrounds is the beginning. Just believing in themselves enough to get over that first hoop. Once you get past that, the possibilities can be endless. It's just that you've got to be on your own side too.

And I think it's important that young creators understand the notion of community too. When you move as a community, you actually have more impact and everybody is trying to bring everybody up.

I agree; I think it's so important, especially in design and in creative realms to have like-minded people surrounding you. You mentioned earlier in our conversation the idea that the wearers themselves can then be a part of the story they are telling with their jewelry. Why do you think jewelry is an important part of displaying your identity or self-expression?

Life is a journey and you can almost signify this journey with every piece of jewelry that you wear. From your beliefs, values, or religion — all of that intersects and can be communicated in jewelry. But beyond that, your jewelry can actually tell people a lot about who you are. If you are a leader, you may wear rings on your index finger. So you share messages about who you are, not only with every piece that you wear but how you wear it.

I'm sure it's really interesting to see the ways that people interpret your pieces in their own ways. Though it is early days for the brand, you've accomplished so much already. Where do you hope to see yourself in five years' time and in what ways would you like to expand this world into the lifestyle and design realms?

The journey was always to extend ManLuu into lifestyle, especially since I was designing hotels already before. It's about the experience that you create — that's important to me. And since I love the beach, we launched a swim line, that now includes 5 pieces. So we are actually starting to go out of the jewelry space already. It's a first step. But in the next five years, I want us to really be a destination and a home to many other designers. I think that what I want for ManLuu is a strong community. I've always thought, 'What's the point if you can’t have people around you?’ On this journey, I just want to bring people with us. I don't want to do it alone. I want to be surrounded by people that I find incredible. And then they get to grow with the brand as well. It's an amazing feeling.

Fashion

Happy 424 Day!

Simon Rasmussen — What's going on?

Guillermo Andrade — Right now we're just setting everything up.

So, what are you doing, is it a party?

Well, I kind of felt universally forced, right? Because 4/24/24, I was just like, I don’t really have a choice here. The stars also just kind of aligned, so to be honest, I got this settlement that came with a bunch of clothes so I had this idea to give back to the kids who fuck with us by allowing them to buy our shit first. Not handing stuff out for free, but to do it in a way where we could skip the middleman of the industry, so to speak, and not allow clothes to disappear into the abyss of Farfetch or whatever else. So what we’re going to do is a sort of warehouse sale, which we’ve never done before so that was really exciting for me. I didn’t want to do just another warehouse sale, so it’s like a sample sale turns rager. We teamed up with Adidas and a couple of other sponsors, then drinks, DJs, and a performance.

Sick, I love it.

Yeah. My dream sample sale. Also, it’s not just hoodies and t-shirts here in there, it’s proper collections from the past three seasons. I’m also not picking and choosing, trying to make it accessible, like this was the only way I could afford to buy shit when I was a kid, bro. Sample sales were the thing I looked forward to the most.

I feel you. In New York, there's the annual CDG sale, which is when I used to cop all my CDG.

The only time I could afford Rick. I flew to New York once for a Rick sample sale and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I got invited. And it was mental. I still have those pieces. I will never sell them. Not even because I got 'em cheap. It was also just really fun. Even on the flight to New York, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to New York for a sample sale, what a fucking loser I am. But it was like the adult version of when I was a kid and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I'm 20-something and I'm still doing the thing I was doing in high school. So I hope we can create moments like that for kids here in LA.

Yeah. I love that. It’s important to connect with them; they’re essentially creating the brand. If you don't have them, good luck.

I mean, yeah. Fuck, bro. It's cool that we've been around for this long. I mean, it got a little rocky there for a second I think, for all of us. So coming out of it, tomorrow is a celebration. And it’s like an odd day of the week. It's a Wednesday, super random. And now that we've set it up, the homies are all like, Yo, I'm coming. I'm coming. Let me jump on stage, let me do this, and that's really what it's always been about. It's not some other strategy to get likes on the internet.

That’s how the best things happen, you just couldn’t help yourself. It was intuitive.

Yeah, it all came together in a really nice way.

Would you say that’s how 424 started as well? I remember we met in like 2010 on Fairfax and I was visiting with Rasmus…

Oh bro, it’s probably the time when I started the branch… do you remember Cecilia from Black Dakini? She’s the one that introduced me to CIFF and honestly, I didn’t even care what she was doing, I was just like, I’m coming, I’ll go with you. She said she’d give me half of her booth and I said, Awesome count me in. At the time, I had just gotten my green card and I wasn't allowed to ever leave America, so Copenhagen was one of the first cities I went to when I could finally travel. I mean, you see what we did at CIFF bro? It became our fucking hub for half a decade.

That was a moment for sure.

I remember the first account I got was Antonioli, and he came super gangster, being like, You're going to sell me these clothes. And I was like, bro, I didn't come to sell clothes. I'm just kind of catching a vibe with my homie and I made these things. And he's like, No, you're going to sell it to me. And then I was like, Oh my god that’s Claudio Antonioli. So then I went home, I googled wholesale, and figured that shit out. [laughs]

[Laughs]

Like you said, I couldn't help myself, but I didn't just make t-shirts and hoodies either. I was really on my Rick wave, so I made my version of the Rick things. It was that meets like The Boondock Saints, because I'm still a little bit of a Cali bro, sort of rock kid, but not really. I like hip-hop, but I like the way the rock stars look. I like the contrast. I thought it was cool. After that, I just never stopped.

It was clear to me when I first met you that you were onto your own thing in LA. It made a lot of sense, and it was so cool. It was before 424 was its own brand; you just had the store and this really cool curation.

It was all my shit, bro. I was very, very invested in sharing all of these things that I was finding from all over the world, like Astrid Anderson. She was one of those designers at the time, so important to 424. The connection to Copenhagen specifically for me was huge. I had a big fan base there. It was incredible. And then here in LA, we were sharing the things that we were a part of and finding; it was still the early days of Fear of God, Rhude, Martine Rose. A lot of these brands, we were the first store to ever sell it — we were selling Hood By Air on the West Coast.

You had Rick as well, I remember.

Oh yeah. It took me a long time. But I got Rick, bro. By the time I had to close the store on Fairfax, I already had a Raf Simons account. I had reached my ultimate dream. It was really all the stuff I wanted to wear at the time. It was dope. The best of the best.

We had an office magazine newsstand in there as well.

Oh yeah, we did! I came to visit the one you had, and I was like, Yo, I got to bring this whole fucking thing over here. But yeah, in LA, after two days people forget you exist, but everyone’s been super supportive. We’re all 10 years older now. We've been around forever at this point.

It can be dangerous to take those breaks when you’re figuring shit out, but there’s something very genuine to this comeback you’re having.

Thank you, thank you. We’ve been in and out of those fucking showrooms in Paris for long enough. I've been in and out of these factories for the past 10 years of my life. We had to figure something out. And I think now really diving in, being in Italy full time and being there to develop these products over time, I think that the whole thing just really shows the suppliers respect you more. The people who are making your goods understand why you're making them. And I think now I finally got to the place where I'm not making Italian things, I’m making my clothes, I'm making Cali-centric shit, but with that European technicality and execution. With this Fall / Winter collection, it clicked.

So what’s the vision for the next year? What are you manifesting?

I'm just fucking relentless, bro. This is the way I want to live my life. Now that we are more aligned, more prepared, and have more experience, moving forward it is just more of becoming a fully functioning company that can provide and create opportunities for all of the people around me. We’ve been operating just on instinct for a long time.

Sustaining a business is scary, trust me I know.

Scary as fuck, dog. I just opened a store next to Bottega, bro, and it’s like what am I even doing? You have to just believe in the thing you're doing more than anybody else.

100%, and it seems like that’s what you’re doing.

And fashion’s kind of a competitive sport, as much as people don’t think it is. We can reach a certain level without losing ourselves. My biggest ambition at the moment is to create something that, when you leave one of our neighbors you come into our place you don’t feel that the level has been sacrificed at all. And it’s not easy.

Definitely. I wish I could be there tomorrow.

Thank you, bro. 10 years now. You’ve always shown me so much love. We have to do a booth or have the office part of the next 424 day. Shit let’s do a 424 day in New York.

That would be sick. Let's do it. I'm here. Let’s catch up soon.

Next season’s right around the corner so I’ll see you in Paris.

Yes, see you in Paris and Happy 424 day!

Fashion

Luis De Javier's Puta Takeover

April 25, 2024

Last night with Luis De Javier, guests were overheard confirming this generation's most vital conundrum: “If I’m cunt, I can still be pussy.” “And if you’re pussy, you can still be cunt.” This sentiment echoed throughout the night as we celebrated De Javier’s first-ever streetwear collection, "Puta". We spent seven hours at Ella Funt at a dinner turned party that only he could’ve thrown (co-hosted by emcee). It was too dark for even the most aspiring-to-look-mysterious of us to wear sunglasses inside. Under the semi-oppressive flash of party photographers, we danced as much as the space would allow, drank tequila out of teacups and kissed each other on the cheeks with a vaguely European intimacy. “I’m doing streetwear!” De Javier could be heard exclaiming — whether it be in disbelief or excitement, we couldn’t tell you.

Words and photos by Izzy Capulong

The Spanish-born London-based designer has been well-loved for his genderless tailoring, latex mastery, and overall message of empowerment. Dressing everyone from ravers to A-listers, De Javier’s latest drop pushes his design repertoire to a new level. “While designing for my celebrity clientele and showcasing my creations on the runway has always been my dream,” he notes, “It’s equally important to me that my brand resonates with a wider, more diverse audience.” While this collection’s medium has shifted from corsets to sweatshirts, the classic LDJ avant-garde sensibilities remain. Bikinis and booty shorts are shamelessly emblazoned with “PUTA,” blazers are constructed with ample shoulder padding, and I had my eye on the cheekily-named “Faguette Bag.”

The Puta collection will be available exclusively on emcee.

Fashion

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