Meet Melissa
Unsurprisingly, with such a pertinent and powerful mission statement, Melissa has garnered attention, success, and the opportunity to continue growing. And this month, Melissa took a major step in that direction by launching their second US shop, Melissa Clube, located in Los Angeles. For the new location, they have emphasized further their eco-friendly efforts, with shoe recycling bins that allow for worn products to be repurposed as new ones.
Additionally, building on the significance of the specific space and its location, the brand teamed up with local creative directors, M Czerwinski and Cybelle Bradford, on a project titled Meet Melissa—a series of 30 portraits that capture LA’s young, creative community, featuring an array of Angeleno artists and activists from Lil Miquela to Gabrielle Richardson.
We got the chance to chat with M and Cybelle about the city of angels, their creative process, and how they stay active when it comes to sustainability.
In your opinion, what makes Melissa well-suited to set up shop in a city like Los Angeles?
CYBELLE—Melissa is ready to be transformed and to become. It’s an enthusiastic company that’s more interested in collective groups holding their own individuality than pushing a style onto a certain person and urging tropes to exist.
M—It’s a sick brand in general, the plastic material and colors are perfect for a hot climate like LA. It’s FUN, LA is FUN, [and] I think fashion here is experimental and colorful in the same way Melissa is. Also, I like how focused they are on sustainability. And not in the woo-woo American way like, we are just doing this for marketing way, [but] sustainability has always been integrated with their brand. Their shoes are 100% recyclable and they are focused on approaching sustainability with every part of their production. I’m hesitant to work with brands because you don’t always know what you are supporting, but I really f*ck with them.
When selecting the subjects for your Meet Melissa series, what was it that drew you to this specific ensemble of young Angelenos?
C—People with heart! With a grasp on life and a curiosity to become people who are, for lack of a better phrase, en route to being themselves... and ready to show up as that on set! It’s a beautiful thing.
M—Angela creates rugs that have a message of anti-establishment and reflecting on the problems that arise with the community’s livelihood under capitalism and control under a police state. Victoria is also from the area, and makes beautiful animations and paintings that deal with feelings of isolation and anxiety and relationships. Lexie started a fully vegan burger joint, Monty’s. Gabrielle creates Art Hoe and the Brown Butterfly project. Really just people who are shaping the LA community and in my opinion are changing the cultural landscape in a positive way. The brand has been building on its sustainability efforts, and we see this becoming even more evident in the new LA store.
Can you, as young creatives in a major city, speak to your own stance on sustainability, and how you are taking action?
C—It’s beyond important to prioritize and spend time thinking about your imprint. Each of us make our own calculated choices, and Melissa makes being sustainable chic! Which is compatible with the already consciously eco-friendly-group-conversation and attempt in LA.
M—Haha—living under the “American Dream Pseudo Capitalism Guise” is pretty unsustainable. We just use a TON more power, electricity, material per capita than other people around the world. It’s how we are raised—to be super gluttonous and always want more and more and comfort and luxury and it’s weird to try and think your way out of that and re-establish new habits. I’m still committed to learning and unlearning what I think I need versus what is necessary. Thinking about the lifetime of a product or good for instance, how often we replace things. I think in general I buy as much as I can used—my car, all my furniture, all my clothes, I’m looking around my apartment right now and I got literally everything off of OfferUp (a resale app). Recycle. Swapping books and clothes with friends. Every time you buy something brand new, thinking about the energy that had to go into creating that, the new materials, etc. Sometimes it is worth it to buy new, but it’s just making those choices where you can.
Melissa makes a point to manufacture products that fall under the category of gender-neutral fashion. In your own process as creative directors, how did you approach the concept of gender-fluidity for Meet Melissa?
C—My idea of love, of fashion, of life, is that it’s gender-less, unless someone else prefers any particular label, then that’s cool too. But to me.. fuck fashion with predetermined binary.. that’s so 2000 and late (lol).
M—Weird question to answer, I’m gender fluid, our assistant is gender fluid, most of the team is queer, all my friends are queer… Lots of the cast identify as gender queer. It just is that way because we are thinking that way. The constant process of letting go of filing things into categories as this belongs to a masc identity and this belongs to a femme identity, in terms of fashion, color, characteristics, etc.
After connecting with the multi-talented, diverse community of young creatives in this series—and as important members of that community yourselves—why LA? What about this city, over others, inspires you?
C—Every city inspires me. And I hope every city has its moment to shine in the ways the individuals there dream of it shining :-)
M—I somehow take things way less seriously here, and that makes me feel like there’s more creative potential in a way, because there’s less pressure and less rules. The city is SO baby. Didn’t we just barely get our economic footing in the ‘50s with car culture? Hollywood boom in the ‘20s? This was less than 100 years ago. Tradition is completely out the window. The city itself has a juvenile identity, I feel like we are making it grow up and find itself and what it could be within the collective and will overturn with generations and generations of people. Though simple, and very much about each subject, the series is incredibly playful—from the poses, to the hair, to the bright backdrops... There is something nostalgic about the series.
What inspired your aesthetic vision?
C—We’re ready to make Melissa boom in a way that is ICONIC.. Our vision is people being enthused by the varying faces of Melissa, the way they used to feel overwhelmed by inspiration from supermodels back in the day... but now actually seeing something about themselves in what they’re shown. Relating to the faces in campaigns, editorials, etc. Melissa is ready for us to resurrect the brand, now finally, in an inclusive, genuine way.
M—Thank you!! The brand is really colorful so we just went with it. Me and Cybelle gathered up images and ideas beforehand and shared with the team. We wanted each shot to feel fresh and like it belonged solely to that person as an iconic image of them and felt like every image was adding something new to the series. Cybelle styled everyone from their own wardrobes which adds to how personal it feels. Vince is an incredible photographer and super intuitive when it comes to posing, his ideas flow really naturally and he’s great at directing movement and shape. In terms of hair and makeup—Malcolm and Alexandra just went OFF and we fully trusted them 100% to do whatever it was they envisioned. Malcolm really brought out the long long hair for this campaign and I love it. We invited everyone on because we trust their vision, at that point it’s just my job on set to make sure everyone has water, food, nicotine, caffeine, good music, support, love. It’s a collective vision because everyone contributed their own ideas. I’m happy <3
Check out the real of the campaign below.
