October 18, 2022 |
Born out of a love of travelling and a nostalgic appreciation of holiday keepsakes, LA-made clothing line, Made Some Souvenirs, has wanderlust woven within its seams. An assortment of punchy pastel tees, sweatshirts, accessories and home goods – created by Madelyn Somers – were born from the designer’s own globe-trotting adventures and treasured momentoes. And who better to launch a brand like this other than the girl who has milked cows on a dairy farm in Australia, jumped on the back of mopeds in Greece, had a fully tailored suit made in Vietnam, explored Naoshima – the infamous Japanese art island –, road-tripped through Italy with her dad and recently biked to seaside dégustations (pre-dinner oysters and wine) in Cap Ferret with friends she had made studying abroad nearly 15 years prior.
“I’ve really prioritised travel (as you can see). It fills me with so much joy and always reinvigorates me on a creative level,” she says.
On each collectable garment, an original embroidered logo commemorating cities like London and Pisa, as well as monuments like Chichén Itzá, Tokyo Tower, and La Sagrada Familia, are featured on one side of the chest. A Taj Mahal tee transports you to the Indian white marble mausoleum circa 1632 while a Copenhagen motif is symbolic of the city’s Little Mermaid statue sculpted by Edvard Eriksen in 1913.
Somers’ latest collaboration with ethical American household label Madewell, brings brand new beachy tourist tees to the table, denoting Bondi Beach, St.Tropez and Tulum, Copacabana and Ibiza in embroidered motifs. It’s also a prelude to journeys yet to come and a reminder of the indelible energy that bides in places unseen, sounds unheard, flavours untasted, alcoves and alleys unexplored. The result: shrunken tees made from candy-coloured surplus fabric with cap sleeves and contrasting overlock stitching. Somers’ breathed new life into deadstock sweatshirts, transformed vintage terry cloth into comfy bucket hats and repurposed 1970s beach towels to synthesise scrunchies like vintage tokens evoking everlasting memories to be passed through generations.
The collection nods to the blissful naivety and carefree spirit of the ’70s, tapping into Alexander Girard’s hedonism-hued palette to fashion threads that could be an adjunct of a Martin Parr beach photo or a Slim Aarons poolside splash. “My love of the ’70s stems from my parents since they were carefree and in their twenties then. From looking at old photos and hearing stories, it was such a laidback decade where people lived life to the fullest,” the designer explains.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s kitschy direct-to-video releases – the nostalgic Y2K films Passport to Paris and Winning London – like keepsakes, were ingrained in a young Somers mind only to emerge in her design endeavours decades later. That’s because to Somers, a souvenir is anything that sparks sojourn nostalgia: “Whether it’s the toothbrush I get at a french pharmacy, a coca-cola bottle written in Arabic from Morocco or a hand-painted bowl from a small town in Italy, I cherish them all the same.”
For the future, the art director says she’s “taking the name “Made Some” and filling in the blanks.” Think, Made Some Pants, a brand new labour of love for the Somers, or whatever else works. She’s also got an itch to get back to traversing the globe but whenever she does return, it’s safe to assume she’ll have scored some stellar souvenirs.
Photography courtesy of Made Some Souvenirs.
