La Detresse

How did you decide to start La Detresse?
Alana Hadid: I always wanted to do a jacket line. I met Emily when we were working together in styling, she has an insane business mind and I knew we had to work together.
Emily Perlstein: Alana came to me saying she wanted to do a denim jacket line. We have become friends and my Dad has been in the textile industry for over 30 years and has a lot of knowledge and experience.
Can you describe your different roles in the company?
AH: It’s a two woman show! We are every role from designer to business partner, to model caster, model, makeup hair, we are everything!
Why did you decide to focus just denim jackets?
AH: As far as I know, there has never been a line that is focused just denim jackets. Denim jackets are a staple, they are an amazing accessory and piece.
EP: To show a collection of just denim was important to us.
Can you tell us about your design process?
AH: It’s based on things we both have in our closets. Vintage items, pieces we wore to death, we went from there as a base and then made it our own. We sample a lot, the color has to be correct, the fit has to be perfect, we add our own details along the way as well.
EP: Yea we used a lot of samples and a lot of variations on the samples before we were finally happy with it.
What makes your denim jackets different?
AH: People love a vintage jacket, so we base our design on that, we have our own hardware, and a full V in the back which not many denim jackets have. We do fun things with color, stitching, and fitting….
EP: We also experiment with length. Alana is super tall and I am more of an average height. We are experimenting with different silhouettes.

What is Savage for you?
AH: Ahh oh my… so many things. Being unique. I think our jacket says savage is super unique. Because it’s black on black you may never know that it says that, which is super savage I think…
Alana, what does your family think of the jackets, they are also in fashion…
AH: They love it. Their input is nice. They love that I am expressing myself this way. I have been in fashion for a long time and they love the jackets. Gigi has the Red one, Bella loves the Savage one. My brother Anwar is very Restich.
We read that you are not going to do seasons, you want to do drops, why?
AH: We don’t really believe in seasons.
EP: Especially with denim. It’s a year-round thing… It’s a good way to keep your customer engaged with your brand. As soon as you have it drop it. Fashion is immediate more now than ever.

So your jackets are unisex… can you tell us a bit more about that?
AH: We decided to make them unisex because I think fashion really has no gender. Also our jackets were inspired by vintage denim jackets which at the time were primarily men’s jackets, I loved the fit oversized and boxy and I think that should be shared, passed on, borrowed and it doesn’t have to be limited to who gets to wear it.
What’s next for La Detresse?
AH: More denim, pants, trenches, more distress. It’s going to be a full line. You will see little peaks along the way. We will always have our jackets.

Who would you like to wear your jackets?
AH: Everyone! Obviously, I would be super excited to see Rihanna wearing it, but I just want to see our jackets on the street wearing it and loving it.
Your favorite way to style the jacket?
EP: I like to wear mine really oversized and wear jeans and a t-shirt underneath.
AH: It’s fun because you can wear a denim jacket over anything, from a sequined dress, or a pair of distressed jeans. It’s a great piece to pull an entire outfit together.

Special Thanks to Alana Hadid and Emily Perlstein
Model: Vadim Ivanov
Photographer: Gianmarco Flamini
Hair: Ziggy Maigo
Make up: Catalina Moran