ETALuxe: Are You A #LuxeGirl?
written by: Rachel East
My first impression of ETALuxe? Absolutely stunning. I LOVE simple, minimal styles that can be dressed up with the right shoe, jewelry, or bag but also have a sexy flair to it. ETALuxe embodies this feeling and more. Her designs are sleek with clean lines and simple silhouettes. Her fabric choice is comfortable but sensual, detailing the beautiful curves of a woman. The colors of the garments are soft and feminine. Above all, ETALuxe is the expression of Erica Appleby, the one- woman army that designs, create, and sews these pieces.
Before our video shoot, I sat down with Erica to find out more about her brand, beginning stages, and what minimalism means to her.
"To me, minimalism just means a stripping down of your everyday life, going back to the basics and going back to the core of what everything is. The end result of my pieces is to be really clean, simplistic, and timeless. I want hard working women to feel like they can go into their closet and have a little piece of luxury that they can pick out."
Although her first love was actually science, “I actually wanted to be a paleontologist but then I realized that I didn’t like bugs all that much and I didn’t like dirt all that much,” Erica first learned how to sew around five years old, where her mother, one of her biggest inspirations, taught her. “My mom is an inspiration because she is a hard working woman; she always had a go-getter spirit. Although she wasn’t a designer, she taught me how to sew. By eight years old, I was technically designing clothes.” Erica attended a design high school, where she furthered her technical design skills, and debuted her first collection in 2007, her junior year.
"Art is never really finished. I go through a sketching process where before creating any garments, I study trends, talk to different women about what they want and what makes them feel good and confident. I consider my consumers ‘Luxe Girls;’ they are tough and hard working but still soft at the same time."
So where does Erica see her brand five years from now? “I want to do more technology-based things. I see ETALuxe being more of a household name and a sisterhood, rather than just a fashion line. Inspiration and motivation are very important to me and I see the brand being more than a brand and becoming a lifestyle.”
Want to read/see more ETALuxe?? Check out the website, www.etaluxe.com and follow the brand on IG @ETALUXEOFFICIAL
