LOVE ACTUALLY!
Photography by Chloe Mallett
Words and Fashion Direction by Ursula Lake
Make catches up with Leslie Kouhana the founder and designer behind the effortlessly cool brand, Arizona Love
Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood, your background and your route into fashion design?
Since I was a kid, I’ve also loved and been passionate about art, sewing, knitting and everything that has to do with creating things with your own hands. I’ve started in the fashion industry since a very young age, nearly 20 years now as my parents had a ready to wear store – so it’s always been part of my life.
How do you start and progress through your creative design process? Does it start with a story, image, place etc?
My inspiration always comes from a recent trip. None of my collections are related to “what’s trendy at the moment” but more about what the people around me currently want to wear. Arizona Love found its DNA in the Grand Canyon.
For whom do you design? Do you have a muse or is there a Arizona Love woman in your imagination? To us she feels like a very cool, free-spirited, world wanderer, are we right?
Yes! Arizona love is for women who like to travel, work, go on holidays, go out…The Arizona Love woman loves colours, comfort, fashion and lightness.
The bandana is a key theme in your brand identity, is there a story or reason behind the use of this motif?
In 2018, I launched Arizona Love with one goal in mind: To create the perfect sandals offering comfort and high fashion. The story begins following a trip to the Grand Canyon, where the spirit and local mythology of this natural wonder inspired a revival of the bandana. Like postcard, which evokes memories of cactus plants, road trips and desert plains, Arizona Love combines vintage, folk and bohemian influences to create exclusive and unique designs, with a casual, hedonistic and colourful vibe.
What would you say are the five key pieces in the Arizona Love capsule wardrobe?
The ‘Trekky’ sandals bandana of course, the new Virgin clog, the bandana jacket with the palm tree embroidery, the XL caba bag in leopard and the swimwear Amalfi bandana and leopard print.
Sustainability in design is something we can’t deny and definitely is of crucial importance to the future of design. How do you incorporate that into your work?
Sustainability is such an important topic for us since Arizona Love launched, we’ve been working really hard on it and as a result all of our shoes are 80% sustainable made of recycled plastic bottles. We work with the label “REPREVE” and with factories in India who only use GOTS or COTTON BIO fabrics.
The fashion world is frenetic and often stressful. What do you do to unwind and look after yourself?
I always make sure to take the time for myself in the morning after dropping my kids to work. I either go to the gym or walk to work and get a good facial from time to time.
If you weren’t a designer, what would you be doing?
This is a difficult question as I was born to be a designer but maybe I would have been a buyer for a multi retailer brand, I love discovering new designers and new brands.
Our theme for this issue is Generation, does that resonate with you as a person or a brand and the way you create? For example, have previous generations of your family inspired you, or do future generations inspire the way you design?
My mother is my biggest inspiration when she was a teenager. Her dream was to be a designer. She was so talented at drawing and knitting. It’s actually with her that I’ve created my first Trekky sandals following my trip to Arizona. She sewed the first pairs with me. My grandmother from my father’s side gave me the love of travel – she used to open school worldwide and worked for the mission laïque.
What are your plans or hopes for the future of the brand? We want to expand in the brick-and-mortar world and hopefully open a pop up during the Summer months.
To learn more about the collection, go to www.arizonalove.store.com
Hair Stylist: Craig Taylor
Make-up artist: Sonia Deveney
Models: Leila Zandonai at PRM
Sophia Roberts at Models1
