Pyrite. What is it? Even though it sure sits pretty, pyrite is a power stone that packs a punch. One of our favorite stones, it’s believed by many to be excellent for manifesting, making big moves, achieving goals and calling in abundance. 

We don’t usually name our bags after women but you may have noticed that our new line of evening bags are named “Gigi” ... well that’s because they're named after my late grandmother Georgiana whose collection of handbags we based our new styles after. Gigi was an incredibly fashionable woman and a notorious entertainer, social butterfly, and lover of dancing— so it was only fitting to have some of our fanciest party bags named after her. 

I'm so excited to share with you the latest in our 5 Things series with Rachel Saunders of Rachel Saunders Ceramics. 5 Things is a series of interviews where we talk with inspiring female leaders making waves in their industry. 

We’re so excited to share with you our latest interview in our 5 Things series where we chat with Maike Lüdenbach, founder of ethical and sustainable underwear line LÖV the label. Here we talk about how she got started, the importance of inclusivity and conscious production, growing up in Spain, and finding inspiration in friendships, real women, and the magical world of self care. 

Today marks the first of our new blog series called 5 THINGS, where we talk with female leaders doing cool things. The first in our series is Dechel Mckillian, a celebrity stylist originally from Los Angeles whose clients include Drake, Nicki Minaj, Fergie, and Lionel Richie. After traveling the world with music artists like the Black Eyed Peas and Lil Wayne, Dechel saw firsthand the negative impact fashion has on our people and planet. Dechel brings over a decade of fashion industry experience to GALERIE.LA and has worked with the world’s biggest retailers including GOOP, Clare V, Steven Alan and TopShop.

Even as a native Angeleno, Los Angeles continually surprises me. For a city that gets a bad reputation for being superficial, you'd be surprised to find that L.A. has a lot of depth hidden beneath the surface. There is no better example of this than the annual Mercado Sagrado, a two-day event (Nov. 4th + 5th) quietly tucked away in hills of Malibu Canyon that offers an array of workshops, lectures, and activities intended to inspire grounding, creativity, self work, and community. Workshops include everything from learning how to grow your own food, read tarot cards, tie dye with indigo, and activities like sound baths, breath work and meditation, and a kava ceremony. With speakers like Shiva Rose, Josh Siegel, and Olympia Auset, you can learn about love and numerology, biohacking, holistic living, clean beauty, and the intersection of spirituality and social justice. With so much going on, you hardly have time to explore all of the many unique and like-minded vendors in their marketplace.

Celebrity Elizabeth Banks wearing her HFS Collective Black Pocket Bum Bag. 

Fashion is increasingly being viewed as an immense waste of natural resources, with an environmental footprint large enough to doom the planet for eternity within just a few, short years. The consumer's voracious desire for cheap "fast fashion" has created an industry not healthy for children, the planet and most other living things. The good news is there are fashion pioneers working hard to balance the equation. These are mostly small companies, like our own, intentionally creating quality products, not only built to last, but also built with great consideration of our natural resources, respect for the people actually making them and our environment. The problem is finding them. In a fashion world run by mega corporations with mega dollars to spend on advertising and PR, these small startups can get lost. Their only hope for survival is the ever increasing array of conscious magazines and fashion bloggers willing to do the research to find these small, ethical brands and share them with their own conscious audiences. While even the large, mainstream publications are beginning to occasionally feature a page devoted to sustainability (usually around Earth Day), the burden of saving the planet falls on the shoulders of those pioneering mavericks set out to make a difference. 

 

Rainforests are perhaps the most important natural resource on Earth. They safely store billions of tons of carbon annually, helping to keep the earth’s atmosphere in balance and warding off climate change-- an estimated 30% of our carbon emissions currently come from the burning of our rainforests. As if that wasn't enough, the rainforest is our single most important, untapped resource for scientific and medical discoveries and home to thousands of unique animals that depend on it for survival. 

With spring just around the corner, music festival season is officially here! While the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival came to an end this week, the Coachella music festival is fast approaching. In equal parts known for the street style as much as it's music, Coachella, which takes place in Indio, California, is the place to be for both music and fashion lovers alike...although getting tickets, is not exactly easy. In fact, it's rumored that tickets sold out just within the first 3 hours of being on sale. 

 

Yesterday, the HfS team and I ventured over to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood in search of inspiration for our new line of flat belt bags, the Flats Collection, soon to be new additions to our Classic Collection.