swimwear designer Malia Mills on breaking fashion’s rules, #Metoo and more.
Dressed in head-to-toe black with her signature cropped blond ’do on a recent trip to the Bay Area, Malia Mills’ edgy New York style belies the island upbringing that launched her enduring career in swimwear design. Born and raised in Honolulu, the 51-year-old pioneer revolutionized the industry by launching her eponymous line of “bra-sized” bikinis in mix-andmatch separates — a breakthrough 25 years ago for women looking for a more precise fit than the typical S,M,L options.
Swimwear obsessed since childhood, Mills’ idea for a lingerie-inspired collection using atypical fabrics dawned on her in the early 1990s, after graduating from Cornell University and moving to San Francisco to work as an assistant designer for Jessica McClintock. It was then that a former college roommate at Sports Illustrated asked if she would make pieces for the magazine’s iconic swimsuit issue.
“I left work that day and went to all the stores in San Francisco
that sold swimwear, and 7,000 light bulbs went on,” recalled Mills, whose retro-inspired designs hark back to the lowlegged silhouettes of the 1960s. “It made no sense to me that the same-size top was clipped to the same-size bottom in the same fabric, and I couldn’t just buy the top or the bottom if I wanted to.”
Still going strong, Mills has expanded into ready-to-wear,
accessories and a new lingerie capsule collection. Her products are sold on her ecommerce site; in specialty retailers and luxury department stores; and in nine Malia Mills boutiques across the country, including Marin Country Mart in Larkspur.
She has also invested in educating the next generation of creatives, using her stores to offer career workshops for girls
and supporting her production director, Libby Mattern, to launch her nonprofit Course of Trade, a skills training program for sewers run out of the company’s Brooklyn headquarters. Style caught up to Mills en route to Los Angeles to talk about her San Francisco beginnings, the company’s female-fierce philosophy and tips for buying a new suit.
Q: Did your Hawaiian roots influence your path to designing swimwear? A:
Two thousand percent! When we were growing up in Honolulu, swimwear was such a rite of passage. There were specialty boutiques, and you’re like, “Is your mom going to allow you to buy a Surfline bikini?” They were very trendy knit bikinis that were striped, dark blue and baby blue striped hand-knit. I was about 12 before we left Honolulu and I begged my mom please, please, please let me get one. She finally took me, but I was totally flat-chested, so nothing fit. I went home and I took the top, folded it and stitched it down so it would fit me.
Q: How formative was that first job designing dresses at Jessica McClintock? A:
I learned as much as I did because even though I loved Jessica McClintock as a teenager, I had grown beyond that. My style wasn’t that style when I took the job. Because of that, I could — from the outside looking in — find out what it is that peoridiculous ple love about the product and why they were such loyal fans for so long. I think if I had worked at Ann Demeulemeester, because I love the brand, I may not have been as innately curious. So I always tell people, don’t necessarily go after the jobs of the brands that you love. Go after the job where the opportunities are the greatest.
Q: What has been an unexpected source of inspiration for you? A:
Recently, we started to do swimwear that has clothing as inspiration. So how do you peel away coverage, but not pull it all away? Like our Piper top. It has a high neckline, a wide shoulder top, and we added bands and ties that you wrap around so it almost feels like ready-to-wear. It’s very dancer inspired. Dancers have an incredible way of layering things. You have to move, so you need high arm holes and you need the movement of a certain type of leg line. You can’t be flailing and coming out of it in the front or sideways. There’s a sense of coverage that’s really fascinating.
Q: What is the biggest mistake women make while shopping for a swimsuit? A:
No, I can’t wear stripes; I can’t wear colors; I can’t wear retro; or I can’t wear skimpy. You have to set yourself up for all the exploration of going out there and seeing all the options. Yes, you’re going to try some stuff on and you’re going to laugh. Yes, it’s and you’ll want to take it off — immediately. But don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not you, it’s the suit. Just keep trying!
Q: Considering that your 35-person company is nearly all female — with the exception of Frank, your cutter — has the #MeToo movement influenced the way you do business? A:
Totally. The #MeToo is part and parcel of the election. We were pretty transparent about who we wanted in the White House. … While we were brave about posting things on our website — we made a bikini that said Nasty Woman on the back in crystals, we have our “Future Is Female” T-shirts that we sell a ton of — I don’t think we ever really explicitly said in any of our messaging what we stand for. So I wrote an email to all of our customers. It was saying we’re bummed, but we need to rally, it’s going to be shoulder to shoulder, and we’re going to take one step at a time to make these next years as best as possible. I also said to our team, we must look at everybody we do business with, and we must see if there’s parity between men and women. We looked at our banks, our fabric suppliers, our lawyers. We dug deeper into all the people that we do business with to say: We need to hold you to a higher standard.