Rooted in Los Angeles, designer Ella Mae creates clothing reflective of the natural world. The production process of each garment is tailored towards environmental mindfulness, each piece made from fabric that’s pulled from deadstock and dyed with natural plant colors, utilizing flora from the likes of logwood, marigolds, roses, indigo, madder root, and more. 

Three collections deep into her portfolio, Ella Mae’s garments feel reminiscent of a fantastical dream. The latest Fall 2024 assemblage is made up of hues of reds, creams, blues, and earthy dark neutrals. The collection, which she calls her “Winter offering” is conceptualized by the natural cycles of life, death, and rebirth, referring both to our daily lives as well as the central, enduring series of years that make up a lifetime. “I found that it is crucial to let things die so we can bathe in the luminosity of emptiness,” says designer Ella Mae. “It is the negative, the cold, the empty that allowed for this collection to be born.” 

Fairy-like and feminine, designs range from wool outerwear to flowing skirts and dresses to t-shirts and knit tanktops, fitting for the casual, the elevated, or simply for those who wish to weave in romantic threads into their everyday lives.

Ella Mae finds this romantic focus at the innate conjunction of fashion and art, with a recent pop-up and exhibition of clothing at LA’s Murmurs Gallery. The creation consisted of pieces hung in a circular formation around a centered pond oozing with a liquid dyed with madder root, built upon gravel, rocks, dirt, leaves, and branches. The ivory Magnolia dress suspended just barely above the surface of the simulated oasis, slowly changing it’s color to the deep-carmine dye that simmered below it. 

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