Tyler Ellis SS18 Collection

Tyler Ellis

Tyler Ellis, daughter of American fashion designer Perry Ellis, is one of LA’s hottest accessory designers right now. Her clutches and handbags are frequently photographed on the arms of Hollywood’s leading ladies, favoured for their simple, functional design and luxurious range of fabrics. Digital Editor Millie Walton puts the designer in the hot seat, for our new 6 questions slot.

1. You grew up around some of the biggest names in the fashion industry, Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors to name but two. Did this inspire you to become a designer?

My mother chose to raise me in LA away from my father’s world to try and give me a private and more normal childhood, so I was not raised in the fashion scene. I remember the first time I went to a Marc Jacobs fashion show, I was around 13 years old and it was at a tented, candle lit pier in NYC, very reminiscent of a romantic night in Italy. That was the first moment that I knew the designer gene was in my blood. The energy in the room was electric – a feeling I will never forget and something that I knew I wanted to be a part of!

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I returned home to LA and for a period of time left my dreams of becoming a designer in NYC. I ended up going to college in Boston and graduating with a Communications degree. It wasn’t until I moved to NYC and started working with the designer Michael Kors that my dream to design reemerged.

Working for Michael and his team was amazing. It was like one big family with people encouraging and inspiring one another to push themselves to do their very best. After this incredible experience I decided to take the leap and start my own line. It was the scariest, but at the same time, most rewarding thing I have ever done and I am very thankful that these impactful experiences pushed me to follow my dream!

2. Your designs have attracted an impressive celebrity following, how influential do you think celebrity endorsement is for contemporary luxury brands?

It has been an unbelievable honour having such strong, incredible and powerful women like Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Salma Hayek and Reese Witherspoon choosing to carry my bags, when they have the world at their fingertips.

Celebrities have literally “made” unknown clothing brands by wearing their creations to major events, giving emerging designers a worldwide platform which most young brands cannot achieve on their own. Exposure is key!

Actor Salma Hayek (left) pictured at the Golden Globes holding the Lily Clutch by Tyler Ellis

The accessory world is a bit more difficult because when a celebrity walks the red carpet, the outfit is always the main focus, jewellery and shoes may or may not get mentioned, and the bag sometimes might not even be carried.

Personally, capturing images of celebrities carrying my bags has been a huge asset to my brand not only because it drives sales, but also because it creates brand legitimisation. In order for most people to purchase an item, especially a luxury piece, they must believe in or have trust in the brand. As I mentioned earlier, celebrities have access to anything they want, and when they choose to carry my bags it sends a message to the world.

3. What makes the perfect bag?

The perfect mix between functionality and luxury. There are many beautiful bags in the world, but what defines the good from the great are the intricate details.
All of my bags are hand crafted in Florence, by a father/son owned factory. I customise my hardware, purchase alligator, python and lizard from Hermès Cuirs Precieux (HCP), an Hermès owned tannery, and source all of my leathers from France and Italy.

To me, what make my bags even more unique are the beautiful details that create functionality. Every Tyler Ellis clutch comes with a hidden, detachable, lightweight chain, holds the largest iPhone, fits comfortably in the hand and most also have discrete exterior pockets and internal dividers for the essentials.

Tyler Ellis SS18 Collection

Day bags come with phone chargers, extra-long key-fobs, credit card slots, iPad/computer compartments, hidden exterior pockets and zippered internal pockets. Gold plated pinecone feet are offered to help protect the hides and all of the bags are all lined with my signature “Thayer Blue” lining making it easy to see your belongings inside.

My bags are representations of me and my lifestyle, and I strive to make them as best as I possibly can.

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4. What are some of the challenges that face small independent luxury brands today?

Getting the right people in front of the product! People are so busy these days and given the speed and power of social media and the internet there is so much noise out there it’s very difficult to get enough attention from the fashion world to make a difference for an emerging brand. Larger brands have larger budgets, which leads to greater mainstream exposure. As an independent niche brand, I have changed my approach on running my business, relying less on the traditional fashion world and focusing more on intimate events with prominent women in key cities around the world. These women have access to anything and everything and when they choose to purchase and carry Tyler Ellis it’s an incredible validation for my brand and me.

Gigi Hadid pictured with the Ava Box. Photo by James Devaney/GC Images

5. Do you have a favourite material to work with and why?

I always enjoy working with unexpected exotics…skins like ostrich leg, jungle fowl, fish and toad are not commonly used but look and feel super luxe and keep people guessing. Creating these unique pieces excites me because there is so much of the same out there and it’s always refreshing to find something different and individual. The most rewarding feedback I have received from clients is that when they carry their Tyler Ellis bags, people constantly stop them and inquire about the bags, which makes them feel great and excited to be carrying something special and coveted.

6. What’s next for your brand?

I am currently working on a bag collaboration with a very talented Hollywood stylist. It’s a sporty day bag, which differs from my more classic signature style, but I’m very proud of it and super excited for the launch. I will also be continuing an ongoing collaboration with the fashion label Noon by Noor for their Fall Winter collection which will be presented over New York Fashion Week– stay tuned!

I’ve also started to delve into the bridal world. I’m at the age where many of my friends are getting engaged and I’ve been getting requests to design bespoke bags for brides and their bridal parties. I have a quick turn around and can custom most colours and materials. Another added bonus is the interior of my bags are blue, so you are also checking off something new and blue!

tylerellis.com

The Waldhaus Sils sits above Lake Sils, in the Upper Engadine of Switzerland. Image by Gian Giovanoli

The Waldhaus Sils sits on a rock amid a forest in the heart of the Engadine, Switzerland’s legendary high mountain valley; and is a cultural inspiration to artists and writers. LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai on why he’s tempted to make a spontaneous visit to his favourite Swiss hotel

One of the greatest sources of social media FOMO (fear of missing out) in the LUX offices currently emanates from the unlikely source of tourist office Instagram feeds. Normally, these are full of the usual platitudes about activities for all the family and new dine-around packages, and adorned with images of improbably physically superhuman and beautiful families gazing out over vistas in perfectly styled hiking gear.

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But this has been a near-record-breaking winter for snowfall in the Alps. The same bands of cloud sweeping in from the Atlantic that have caused floods in Paris and anxiety in France have dropped their load as snow as they hit higher altitudes. Many resorts have had more snow than they know what to do with, literally in some cases, as poor Zermatt, ringed by some of the highest Alps, was cut off from the world a couple of times.

A table is prepared for dinner at the hotel restaurant. Image by Stefan Pielow

While you wouldn’t wish to be skiing during a snowstorm, the weather has calmed down now, and those resort Instagrams are brimming with images of deep snow, chalets peeking out from drifts, silver woodlands, vistas of powder. The fact that the biggest snowfalls happened after the peak Christmas season means there is plenty of fresh stuff around still, also.

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A ski trip in the next few weeks seems inevitable, but LUX is not tempted by the fleshpots of Courchevel or Verbier. Instead, we are thinking of heading to our favourite, semi-secret hotel in the Alps. A place that does no self-publicising, doesn’t market itself to a market of billionaires, is not interested in whether you are a celebrity (A list or Z list), has no ski-in-ski-out facilities, and yet is, quite possibly, the most entrancing destination we have discovered.

Is it a photograph? No, it’s a view from a window at the Waldhaus Sils. Image by Stefan Pielow

The Waldhaus, Sils, sits on a rock above the tiny but culturally significant village of Sils-Maria near the head of a broad, high, sunny valley in southeast Switzerland. Sils-Maria was the home of Friedrich Nietzsche, and it has been a gathering point of the European cultural aristocracy for more than a century: Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, Marc Chagall and Gerhard Richter have all visited for inspiration. Views from the Waldhaus stretch south, along Lake Sils, frozen in winter and surrounded by forest, and north, past St Moritz (just 10 minutes away) and along either side of the Engadine valley.

Image Mart Engelen

The Waldhaus is a family-run hotel that has an other-worldly feeling of design harmony: not ultra-contemporary, not classic, but a perfectly curated collection of modern 20th century design. It’s there in the details – the chairs, the tables, the wood flooring, the lights – above all, the lights – and also in the fundamental layout: a window view from a reading room that looks like a perfectly framed Thomas Ruff image; the way the staircase is lit, and the stair rails designed; the way the keys hang at reception.

There is nowhere we have found that has this encompassing, and inspiring, depth of modern-classic design beauty: the Waldhaus Sils has not been consciously designed, just put together and maintained by its family owners.

There is everything you would expect from a five-star Swiss hotel, including excellent, not over-fussy, cuisine; an indoor pool; and a service to take you to and from all the ski lifts of the St Moritz area to enjoy that snow. But we will be just as happy walking down through the snowdrifts to the wooded promontory on Lake Sils where the Romantic poets took inspiration, or to drink a hot chocolate laced with rum next to Nietzsche’s house in Sils itself. And walking back up to the hotel, crunching deeply through the white, and reflecting that the Waldhaus and its aura will still be with us long after the greatest literary figures of the 21st century have come and gone.

waldhaus-sils.ch/en