VISUAL TEASE
Minimale Animale: Dare to Bare
"I love that the one-pieces are the sexiest," says Cassandra Kellogg about her swimwear collection, Minimale Animale. "There's just something about being just barely covered in the right places that I think is really sexy. It's a smarter way of being sexy than wearing an itsy-bitsy tiny bikini."
Kellogg's designs are a visual tease of skin that's seen and not seen—hipbones exposed in high-cut bottoms, shoulders covered on a midriff-baring top and mesh that's totally see-through.
As a stylist for clothing brands and music artists in Los Angeles, Kellogg made the first Minimale Animale prototypes to use in photo shoots and for her personal festival-going wardrobe. In 2011, she made the leap from samples to production, and Minimale Animale found a niche of daring fashionistas in which the events Coachella and Burning Man are used as adjectives. Minimale Animale has shipped to Urban Outfitters and Revolve Clothing and will be on Nasty Gal (www.nastygal.com) in 2013. Retail prices range from $200 to $350.
"I'm interested in a unique customer—a fashion-conscious, confident girl that wears swim not just to the beach, but it's a part of her everyday apparel. I wear my stuff as a bra; I wear it underneath as a bodysuit," Kellogg said. "She can live anywhere. She doesn't have to live by the beach. I shipped out an order to Kansas yesterday! Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kentucky. It's crazy." For more information, email sales@minimale-animale.com.
