FASHION
BAJA EAST BRINGS IT BACK HOME
SEPTEMBER 10, 2019
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WORDS
by KRISTOPHER FRASER
PHOTOS
COURTESY of PURPLE PR
Baja East co-founder and creative director Scott Studenberg has hit the reboot button on the brand. After a three-season hiatus, Studenberg has relaunched the Baja East label at an advanced contemporary price point and with a spiritual spin on nature.
Studenberg presented his latest collection in a series of intimate salon-style shows in a space that was a recreation of his living room. The presentation also included a string quartet dressed in Baja East White Collection playing an ode to California with Tupac’s California Love, Californication and Hotel California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and California Gurls by Katy Perry.
The new iteration of Baja East was inspired by a New Year’s trip to the Joshua Tree National Park. This time around, Studenberg wanted to do something different. “I’ve done the sexy dresses that are form fitting and they sell, but I feel like a lot of people do that,” Studenberg said. “Now that I’m moving to an advanced contemporary price point, I felt like there wasn’t a lot of comfortable sexy. There were no dresses for you to be able to eat a slice of pizza and still be able to breathe in a dress. My girl hasn’t changed, I’m just trying to give her more options. The only form fitting dress I have is a knit, so it’s very breathable. Everything shows a little leg, because these girls go to pilates.”
Baja East spring/summer 2020
Studenberg decided to move the collection into an advanced contemporary price point because he didn’t just want to design stuff for a niche group of women. “My sisters and friends would always ask me for a discount, and now they are still going to ask me for a discount, but I can tell them they can afford it because I know what they make. You can also wait for it to go on sale at Intermix” Studenberg said. “I wanted more people to be able to buy my clothes, and because I now have an infrastructure and finance behind me that believes in me we were able to hire a production team to help source manufacturers to make deals with them and source fabrics with them. I used to do every single thing for the brand, and that was not sustainable. When I decided to make a fresh start, I knew I didn’t want to be niche anymore.”
As more designers were selling more skin revealing clothing for spring/summer 2020, Studenberg encouraged women to find their own definition of sexy. “Women’s minds are being opened up about what sexy is and what their strengths are,” Studenberg said. “You don’t need a body like a lookbook model to look beautiful in my clothes.”
Versatility has also become the mother of invention at Baja East. “Women want things, like a jacket they can wear with a dress, suit, over a t-shirt, with a pair of jeans, you want to be able to wear things more than once,” Studenberg said. “Everyone’s already Instagrammed themselves in that, so switch it up.”
Baja East has been reborn, but it hasn't lost its original essence. She's the same girl with a fresh makeover.
Baja East spring/summer 2020
