From bespoke dresses for SZA to runway pieces for A$AP Rocky, LA-based designer Jenna translates unconventional materials into contemporary luxury.

From bespoke dresses for SZA to runway pieces for A$AP Rocky, Los Angeles-based designer Jenna is translating unconventional materials like latex into contemporary luxury.

What’s your background? Did you start with styling or creative direction before getting into fashion design? 
 
I actually studied fashion design in Berlin, but I started working in advertising and film production while I was still in university to pay for my studies. I ended up working in that industry for about six years, so I was constantly surrounded by fashion, image-making and creative direction. 
 
At some point I was tired of producing other people’s ideas. I wanted to build my own visual language so I started moving more into creative direction and styling and eventually back into design. 
 
Moving to Los Angeles really helped me reconnect with my artistic side. I started experimenting with latex, but it wasn’t really a traditional path of, “I decided to launch a fashion brand.” It grew organically out of all the different things I had already been doing and eventually became an extension of myself. 
 
What was the first big project you worked on? 
 
One of the projects that really became the kickoff for building my own brand was the adidas collaboration, where I created a fully latex football jersey for the German team during the European Championship. I wanted to take something that is incredibly recognizable and performance-driven and translate it into a completely different, more disruptive context. 
 
I pitched the idea to adidas myself by creating latex prototypes. They loved it because it created a strong story around women taking up space in a traditionally male-dominated sport. The piece ended up on the cover of 032c and was featured across so many different platforms.

Did that immediately open some doors for you? 
 
I definitely think it did. It also helped lead to my collaboration with A$AP Rocky for his AWGE show. But even now, I still feel like everything is building on top of everything else rather than there being one single breakthrough moment. 
 
Can you tell me more about how that came to be? What was that creative process like with Rocky? 
 
I was invited to his PUMA release dinner and at the time I was already in conversations with adidas about possible partnerships and projects, so I actually asked someone from the team if it was okay for me to go at all. He said I could but it might be better not to post anything. [Laughs] 
 
I pulled up just being myself and didn’t really think too much about the fact that I wasn’t wearing the shoes from the PR package we were meant to wear for the dinner. Later that night, Rocky noticed that my iPhone background was actually one of the adidas latex pieces I had created. He found the whole situation pretty funny, given that we were at a PUMA dinner. He asked to see more of my work, really fucked with it and that’s basically how we ended up working together. 
 
The creative process with him was very open. He has a lot of ideas, so for me it was really an experiment in combining his world with mine. Designing is such a personal thing and I think collaborations become interesting when you’re not too precious about your own ideas. You have to let someone into your world, but also be willing to step into theirs and see what comes out of that. 
 
We ended up doing over 150 designs throughout the process. It wasn’t just about individual pieces either, we were building a whole world around it and brainstorming together about the show itself.

Tell me about your work for Alice Hollywood. What’s the creative process like with Shane? 
 
That’s funny! Shane was actually one of the first people who asked me to do styling for his brand when I moved to LA, and he’s still one of the few people I’ll style for whenever he needs me. 
 
He became a friend of mine over the years. I was never really interested in becoming a stylist—I mostly do it out of friendship because I fuck with his stuff and it feels good to support other LA brands I genuinely believe in. 
 
What interests you about latex as a material? 
 
What interests me most about latex is that it has such a strong existing identity. People immediately associate it with something very specific: fetish, skin-tight clothing, sexuality. I’m interested in taking it out of that context. 
 
I want to treat latex almost like any other textile. What happens if latex becomes denim, lace, sportswear, a football jersey, a tracksuit, crocodile skin or even furniture? 
 
A lot of my work is really material development. I’ve been experimenting with laser cutting, molding, airbrushing, surface treatments and different constructions to make latex behave or look like forms and in contexts it normally has nothing to do with.

You’ve done custom pieces for names like SZA and Cardi B. How did those come about? What kind of outfits were they looking for? 
 
All of those projects actually came quite organically through stylists or artists seeing my work online or through my showroom at NSA in LA. 
 
For SZA, we created a crocodile-textured latex dress for the BET Awards. The piece incorporated Adinkra-inspired elements (which she wanted) and was hand-painted. 
 
For Cardi, we created a custom crocodile latex corset and leggings for her Knicks halftime performance which was completely airbrushed. 
 
Both of their teams actually came to me specifically because of the croc-textured latex we’ve been developing. I think the way my team and I work with latex is very unique, both in terms of the techniques we use and the way we approach the material, so there’s usually already a certain JENNAX language they’re coming to us for. From there, we build ideas that merge my world with the artist’s own identity, so it still feels very us, but also very them.

Tell me about the chair featuring your signature crocodile latex. Do you plan to expand to products outside of fashion? 
 
Definitely. I never really saw JENNAX as something that had to stay within clothing. The chair was one of the first experiments in taking latex outside of fashion and treating it more like a material for objects. The first prototype actually wasn’t functional enough to sit on, so we had to keep developing the material and find a way to make it actually work while still keeping the look and feel of latex. 
 
I’m also working on a collaboration right now that I can’t really say much about yet, but it explores exactly that idea: latex in objects and how the material can exist beyond the body. I’m really excited to push that side further.

How would you describe your aesthetic? 
 
That’s a tough question. There is definitely a tension in my work between something very feminine and something more aggressive or industrial. I love things that are sexy, but I also like when there is something slightly strange, technical or uncomfortable about them. I think it’s a mix of the raw, concrete energy I associate with Berlin and the glamour and fantasy of Los Angeles. 
 
Maybe also a way to describe it is familiar things made unfamiliar. I like taking something people already understand and changing one element enough that they have to look at it again.

Where do you seek out inspiration? 
 
I get inspired a lot by just being outside and seeing people. Especially in Eastern European countries: old people, the way they dress, little details that feel completely unintentional. 
 
I also like going to places you wouldn’t normally go to: the weird bar on the corner of your street, a random neighborhood, somewhere that feels a little off or unfamiliar. I think those places usually give you more than somewhere that’s already curated to be inspiring. 
 
A lot of ideas also come from my own experiences—lying in the bathtub and suddenly having a very specific idea when I’m in complete silence. Sometimes I honestly feel like I’m just a vessel for whatever the universe wants to send me.

Level up with <a href="https://www.goat.com/editorial/quen-blackwell-interview">Quen Blackwell</a> and take a look inside the machinery of <a href="https://www.goat.com/editorial/sub-design-studio-berlin-greatest-magazine">Berlin studio sub</a>.

Beyond Fetish: JENNAX and the New Modes of Latex

With ‘Sd-3,’ the Canadian producer closes a five-year creative cycle. Here, he talks dream collaborations, evolving his sound and what comes next.

With ‘Sd-3,’ Canadian producer Loukeman closes a five-year creative cycle. Now, he talks dream collaborations, evolving his sound and what comes next.

Categories

Collections

Featured Brands

Upcoming Releases

New Releases