by Across from a bike path and an outdoor gallery, among the music recording studios and furniture dealers of North Hollywood, fashion brand Simon Miller has carved out a slice of neo-Mod heaven as it plans to grow into the living space.
Creative director Chelsea Hansford has transformed a 5,200-square-foot warehouse into a stunning studio and showroom with yellow Kartell pendant lights, red clothing racks, blue rugs, a block wood table with a Gaetano Pesce vase in the center, and commemorative copper. A “Pendulum” sculpture by Leonard Urso hangs nearby.
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Hansford saw 77 percent year-over-year sales growth from 2023 to 2024 by tightening its price point and moving into a Mod Space aesthetic that harks back to Rudi Gernreich’s Swinging Sixties, the body-con era of LA fashion, while put on her. in the company of the city’s contemporary fashion queens Jasmin Larian of Cult Gaia, Sarah Staudinger of Staud, Erin and Sara Foster of Miss Favorite and others.
“Her vibe fits the brand perfectly – she’s brought colourful, retro and vintage ideas to Simon Miller,” said Shopbop fashion director Caroline Maguire, who has known Hansford for a decade.
The brand went from denim to ready-to-wear in 2020, had a high-profile collaboration with Spanish fast fashion giant Mango in 2023, and is selling a vibe with lots of Lurex crochet dresses; sexy striped poplin sets (including the signature Lake tie-shirt shirt); tailored tank top and pants sets; green gummy sequins dresses; mirrored platform slides, and knot top clutch bags via Shopbop, Neiman Marcus, Saks and Revolve, which are buying deeper into the collection.
“Truely embodying the brand’s ethos, Chelsea has created your favorite cult styles that can be reinterpreted and re-edified every season,” said Divya Mathur, chief merchandising officer and fashion director at Revolve Group, adding that the brand maintains “its strong level of authenticity and freshness every season.”
The company’s 15 employees work in the design studio next to the showroom, where Hansford has an office with a red vintage French Mod desk and Verner Panton wool chair. “I find a lot of things at auction,” said the designer, whose 1960s Studio City home has been featured in Architectural Digest.
“Being in LA and having a space to create your own home has fueled my desire to design again,” she said. “My aesthetic is modern furniture from the 1960s/70s, a lot of fiberglass like the Wendell Castle Molar series, Pierre Paulin fabric and waves and ribbons and tongues, Frank Gehry architecturally, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaetano Pesce . I call it Mod Space.”
A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology who began her career at Opening Ceremony and Blk Dnm, Hansford joined Simon Miller’s team in 2014 to launch womenswear for the then men’s denim label. Soon after, the brand launched accessories, including the striking Bonsai bag and Bubble clogs, which have been worn by everyone from Bella Hadid to Martha Stewart.
In 2016, Hansford took over the company as owner, chief executive officer and creative director, and decided to move away from denim and expand into rtw, which is now almost 70 percent of the business, with 30 percent being accessories.
She celebrated her latest summer 2024 collection “Nights in Tangier” with a party last week in another stunning interior space, the Mosaic House.
Dree Hemingway, Langley Fox, Laura and Nathalie Love, Rocky Barnes and Ally Hilfiger were among the guests at the home, a Middle Eastern-meets-medieval wonder in the mosaic-covered Hollywood Hills by George Ehling for over 49 years (with help in the 70s from next door neighbor Harrison Ford, still a carpenter at the time).
“She has the eye. She’s just a native and you can’t learn or study good taste. You either have it or you don’t and she does,” said Hilfiger of Hansford, who sported a Moroccan theme with a benediction wearing red-and-white-stripe bell-bottoms, hookah gear and a table of Instagrammable treats.
“I love how Morocco was this warm, eclectic wonder from the 1970s, so I really got into that era,” Hansford said.
Over the past year she has been tightening Simon Miller’s price point, reducing Msrp by about 30 percent. Prices range from about $245 to $495 for rtw, with an average of $345 for shoes and bags.
“Where we have seen success is the perceived value. We’ve really lowered our price point to be super competitive because that white space has gotten smaller and smaller and the contemporary price point is so high,” she said.
The business is 65 percent wholesale, 35 percent direct-to-consumer, but DTC is growing. A shutdown during COVID-19 was an opportunity to relaunch the website and withdraw wholesale. Sales are 95 percent domestic, but Hansford is looking to expand internationally.
Simon Miller also rents Nuuly.
“I know so many people who rent now,” Hansford said, recalling a recent trip home for Christmas in Florida when her sister arrived with no luggage, and a package waiting for her with a wardrobe. total for the trip. “And it was cute stuff!”
Over the years Hansford’s approach to marketing has evolved. Initially she built the brand on positioning with organic influence. “I remember when Blanca Miró put up our first printed jeans and we sold so many, but now it’s not like that anymore. Everyone has an affiliate link, and you don’t know what it is,” she said.
Simon Miller showed at New York Fashion Week, but the designer now feels it’s too small for a small brand like herself (annual sales are less than $20 million) to make a big impact.
So she is focusing on brand moments like the Nights in Tangier party.
“It’s more important to build the lifestyle, and it was great to move here because we finally had a big enough space to create something,” she said as she left New York for Los Angeles during the pandemic.
Simon Miller is also increasing brand awareness through collaboration and there is even more in store for 2025.
“Coming out of Mango my expectations are growing,” she said, praising the retailer for bringing a luxury standard to the supermarket through an elevated photography, marketing and design sensibility. “It was huge for brand awareness; first they were going to roll it out to 13 doors and then they were so obsessed with the collaboration that they rolled it out to 75 doors,” she said.
“It’s critical to consider who is interested in amplifying,” she cautioned about evaluating potential partners. “I’ve done a collaboration with Melissa, a great product – basically we gave them our ‘It’ shoe for a small royalty – but there was no marketing amplification other than Instagram posts, and posters and store displays in New York.
“That’s the challenge of trying to run a profitable business and trying to increase awareness of your brand.… They’re two different things. So we’re just trying to be resourceful and creative.”
So far, LA has been a suitable muse.
“I can’t believe some of the houses you see driving down the streets. It’s like, where am I?” she said. “With the art and design fairs coming back, and Casa Perfect.…I know they have it in New York, too, but there’s something about it. blend the town and the art space that I love about L.A. And designing for you women. look in these spaces is what I do.”
Gallery Launch: Inside Simon Miller’s Studio in North Hollywood By Designer Chelsea Hansford
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