The Return of Loyandford
The label relaunches in the U.S. with a Los Angeles boutique on the horizon.
Stefan Loy and Frank Ford have relaunched their Loyandford collection and have plans to open a boutique in Los Angeles.
The German-born design team was once a fixture in Los Angeles’ design community, hosting events in their Chinatown atelier and store. Loyandford’s edgy mix of artful deconstruction, tailoring and handwork soon landed the collection in Barneys New York, and in 2003, the label was featured in the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial in New York.
After a rapid rise, the designers decamped to Europe—in search of design inspiration and sourcing avenues. After three years away, Loy and Ford are ready to bring the brand back to the United States—and back to its creative roots.
“In the beginning it was a very creative company,” Ford said. One-of-kind pieces and a small ready-to-wear collection were the focus before the line took off and was mass-produced. “This was not planned,” Ford explained. “We were very happy about it, but we didn’t have as much time to really concentrate on the design.”
Over the last three years Loy and Ford have returned to their bespoke-design ethos and have rediscovered their creative passion. Their focus going forward is to create couture, one-of-a-kind garments. They do not have plans to expand exponentially but rather to keep the line exclusive. While the pair are no longer mass producing, they are, however, seeking out manufacturing partners. And they plan to take it slow.
“There is no financial need right now to go fast,” Ford said. “It’s like a peaceful mission of going slowly but truly and doing it right.” Currently, the line is carried in a handful of boutiques in Germany and Italy, as well as at the designers’ own Loyandford White Horse boutique in Ibiza, where they are currently based. The road to Ibiza
The Loyandford collection launched in Los Angeles in 1999 and quickly became popular with celebrities and rock stars. The line’s intrinsically sexy, punk-rock styles appeared on everyone from Christina Aguilera, Courtney Love and The Rolling Stones to Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman and Drew Barrymore.
The designers opened a design studio and retail space on Chung King Road in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. Soon Barneys New York Fashion Director Julie Gilhart discovered the line, and within two years, Loyandford grew to become a multi-million-dollar brand carried in stores around the world, the designers said.
By 2007, the pair were ready to move back to Europe. “The decision was to expand in terms of the creativity and to find new places [to manufacture] in India or China to see what else we could do with the design,” Ford said.
They hosted fashion shows in Milan and Berlin and went on an artistic exploration from Finland to Tunisia. Their travels helped them discover new production methods and resources for their intricate hand-beaded items, exquisite tailored pieces and deconstructed garments. Eventually, the pair moved to the Spanish island of Ibiza to return to a simpler way of life and design. There they began designing the collection out of their beach-house studio and opened the Loyandford White Horse boutique. Return to L.A.
With the relaunch come plans for a Los Angeles boutique—most likely to be located in the Hollywood area—where Loy and Ford will focus on bespoke pieces.
“When we started out, we did a lot of custom-made pieces for videos for Cher or stage outfits for whomever it was back in the day—Britney Spears, The Rolling Stones,” Ford said. “It was a lot of fun, and one main thing that we want to do is really give access to the stylists, and then we can collaborate.”
The store isn’t open yet, but a collection of one-off pieces is currently being presented to stylists and press in Los Angeles.
Titled “Wicked Garden,” the collection is chock full of beautiful, edgy pieces geared for the stage and the red carpet. “The work that we do was very appreciated in America,” Ford said. “The whole energy of what we like and how we work is always related to California. It’s our thing. It’s what we like the most.”
