Wild One: Skingraft Designs Debuts Loft Store
The Victorian- and fetish-style looks of Skingraft Designs have graced the backs of celebrities Kat Von D., Margaret Cho and Tila Tequila. In January, Skingraft opened a boutique in its downtown Los Angeles design loft. The place might have been constructed for your inner big-game hunter or gunslinger.
The 2,300-square-foot loft is dominated by the taxidermied head of an African antelope called an Eland. Also on display are holster-shaped handbags designed with a Mad Max chic. Because fashion design is the main activity in the loft, vintage Singer sewing machines sit under the hunting trophies.
Part retail venue, part design studio, the space currently houses the Spring 2009 collection from Skingraft designers Jonny Cota, Cassidy Haley and Katie Kay. The latest collection includes Jodhpur pants, leather jackets with Tudor-era-like ruffles, backless vests, skirts with corset-style lacing and said holster bags. Retail price points range from $80 for a holster handbag to $900 for a leather jacket.
Cota said his label sometimes gets requests from gun enthusiasts to custom-make holsters to carry weapons. The vegetarian designer said he has declined the request so far. “I hate hunting; I will not make a holster to support guns,” he said. For more information on Skingraft Designs, visit the designers’ Web site or call (213) 488-0816.
Skingraft Designs Loft store
Skingraft Design chiefs from left Katie Kay, Jonny Cota and Cassidy Haley
