Founded by best pals Meriem Semlali-Broby and Flora Mascolo three years ago, ElleSD is the go to of young leather brands. Based in London and taking inspiration from across the channel – the label’s moniker marries the French word for “she” (“elle”) with an S for “style” and a D for “design” – the pair’s aesthetic is loyal to simple design: as far as guidelines go, casual is a key adjective for the look.
Produced in a family run atelier using only the finest, ethically sourced butter soft leather and suede, ElleSD’s line-up is created with a confident woman in mind; someone unafraid to make a statement, she embraces comfort and displays fine taste.
With everything from kimonos to hoodies on offer under the moniker, we caught up with Semlali-Broby and Mascolo to learn a little more.
Hey! So what inspired your AW17 collection?
Our collection always incorporates our classic styles such as the stretch pants, T-shirts and jackets: we keep those pieces throughout the season. We are inspired by our travels and we love seeing a fashionable, modern woman in day-to-day life. Our style is elegant and edgy.
And how does AW17 differ to your core collection?
We always have classic in our collection, such as flora, Zahra and the stretch pants, these are our customer favourites. We love playing with new colours and trends for each season. The style of the Wonderland shoot is very east London, edgy cool. ElleSD is versatile: we love that each media can intemperate the timeless pieces in different ways.
The design process, can you explain a bit about what you aim to portray through your pieces?
Our aesthetic is minimalist with a touch of rock. We have customers of all ages and we appeal to their different styles, some go for the very sexy fitted stretch pants and others for the jogger, which are more casual.
Coo. And do you have a favourite item in the collection?
Flora Mascolo: The Zahra stretch pants are my favourite. I named them after my daughter; they are very comfortable and so easy to wear.
Meriem Semlali-Broby: I love the classic leather T-shirt, it is very versatile and I can wear it casually or dress it up in the evenings.
There’s a lot of leather. Talk us through this.
Our entire collection revolves around leather. We wanted to specialise in one fabric: we love the way leather looks and feels against the skin. We wanted to show how beautiful leather could be. We introduced the more subtle pieces such as our T-shirts and dresses to women who might not necessarily wear leather.
Your palette focuses on moody-nudes like brown, black and a subtle hint of light grey…
We are leather specialists and we don’t play around with other mediums. Leather isn’t always about that classic black pair of trousers or a biker jacket. Our shades of grey and browns are just as sexy and timeless. They are versatile, investment pieces.
