Gerlan Marcel wants to open the first Gerlan Jeans flagship store in the town of Jean, Nevada. "It's in the desert in the middle of nowhere outside Las Vegas. But it's worth it to be in Jean, Nevada," she says. Gerlan showed us a sketch of the store (below). It's shaped like a pair of jeans and her design studio will be in a glass shoe. For the time being though, Gerlan HQ is in a warehouse near the Brooklyn waterfront. Brayden and I dropped by for a total Gerlan Jeans immersion experience. Gerlan showed us her print archives and told us about touring with Grateful Dead, her obsession with the mall, and her vision of the future.
Shop all Gerlan Jeans here.
Photos by Brayden Olson
Alice Newell-Hanson: Where did you grow up?
Gerlan Marcel: I was born in London, but I went to boarding school in Glastonbury and I went to high school in Ohio.
Is that where you first encountered a mall?
Yes. I was never into fashion per se, I didn’t cut out ads and hang them on my wall, but I loved going to the mall. I was obsessed with Esprit and Benetton and these stores that had such an iconic identity. At that time, Esprit interiors were designed by the Memphis Sottsass Group. It's so incredible that that aesthetic reached every single culture and demographic. I think that’s where my love of clothes came from. It was a natural progression from that to eventually doing print for clothing.
Where did you study?
At Central Saint Martins. Natalie Gibson was always an inspiration, she was my head of course. She’s taught at Saint Martins for 35 years, so she’s seen it all. She’s extra special. It’s one of the only places that you can specifically study print for fashion. It’s a studio-based technical class, where you’re really hands-on. I definitely miss the physical part of it. I would love to start a print facility in New York that would be open to other designers to experiment.
How did you move from Saint Martins to starting Gerlan Jeans?
When I left Saint Martins, I had already been working for Jeremy Scott. Two days after finishing my graduate collection, I moved to LA full-time. Then I moved to New York in 2006. It was never really a mission of mine to start a label, if anything, it was the opposite. I had so many friends, before I started, who had started their own lines and it's so intense. You wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemies. But the more I worked for other people, the more I realized I had a really specific vision that I wanted to share. And then you just have to jump off that cliff.
If you could choose a brand to reinvent, like Carol and Humberto at Kenzo, which would you pick?
There are so many that would excite me. One of my biggest inspirations ever is Patrick Kelly. His legacy is so strong but I think there aren't a lot of people who are aware of the impact he had on the industry. That said, in a way, [the brand] was him, and it could only be him. Esprit and Benetton have been passed between hands so many times. I would love to go in there and creative direct. There’s such a strong brand legacy that sets them apart from all these other high street brands. The fact that they’re not using them seems like a loss for everyone.
If Gerlan Jeans became a global chain, what would your stores look like?
Don’t even get me started! I think about this all the time! The whole concept of the brand is that I w
Shop all Gerlan Jeans here.
Photos by Brayden Olson
Alice Newell-Hanson: Where did you grow up?
Gerlan Marcel: I was born in London, but I went to boarding school in Glastonbury and I went to high school in Ohio.
Is that where you first encountered a mall?
Yes. I was never into fashion per se, I didn’t cut out ads and hang them on my wall, but I loved going to the mall. I was obsessed with Esprit and Benetton and these stores that had such an iconic identity. At that time, Esprit interiors were designed by the Memphis Sottsass Group. It's so incredible that that aesthetic reached every single culture and demographic. I think that’s where my love of clothes came from. It was a natural progression from that to eventually doing print for clothing.
Where did you study?
At Central Saint Martins. Natalie Gibson was always an inspiration, she was my head of course. She’s taught at Saint Martins for 35 years, so she’s seen it all. She’s extra special. It’s one of the only places that you can specifically study print for fashion. It’s a studio-based technical class, where you’re really hands-on. I definitely miss the physical part of it. I would love to start a print facility in New York that would be open to other designers to experiment.
How did you move from Saint Martins to starting Gerlan Jeans?
When I left Saint Martins, I had already been working for Jeremy Scott. Two days after finishing my graduate collection, I moved to LA full-time. Then I moved to New York in 2006. It was never really a mission of mine to start a label, if anything, it was the opposite. I had so many friends, before I started, who had started their own lines and it's so intense. You wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemies. But the more I worked for other people, the more I realized I had a really specific vision that I wanted to share. And then you just have to jump off that cliff.
If you could choose a brand to reinvent, like Carol and Humberto at Kenzo, which would you pick?
There are so many that would excite me. One of my biggest inspirations ever is Patrick Kelly. His legacy is so strong but I think there aren't a lot of people who are aware of the impact he had on the industry. That said, in a way, [the brand] was him, and it could only be him. Esprit and Benetton have been passed between hands so many times. I would love to go in there and creative direct. There’s such a strong brand legacy that sets them apart from all these other high street brands. The fact that they’re not using them seems like a loss for everyone.
If Gerlan Jeans became a global chain, what would your stores look like?
Don’t even get me started! I think about this all the time! The whole concept of the brand is that I w