La Frenchie is an LA based clothing line which is the brainchild of Myron Batsa, Stuart Lafferty, and Carissa Blades. As a higher end boutique line it has caught the eye of various celebrities and A-listers.
Q. ok. I love the name. My grandmother was French, and it actually was my first language, but for some reason not many people infuse the people or language for ANYTHING. Yet you guys took it upon yourself to do just that. The name is simple yet holds a ton of weight. Who came up with it? What were some other names before you guys went ‘nope that’s it’?
SL – A couple years ago I was working at a friend’s Parisian clothing company called Paulster collaborating on the company’s new LA collection. As I began to conceptualize the brand, I started to notice how the French influence can be seen all over Los Angeles. After some brainstorming, I came up with the idea of a hipster French Bulldog and the line La Frenchie was born.
Q. How did you guys meet? I know the three of you are super close, but where did it all begin? A coffee shop on Melrose? Some seedy WeHo bar?
C- Stuart and I met at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and ended up driving back in the same car. After 11 hours of driving together we were basically best friends.
M- Carissa and I met through a mutual friend. The first time Carissa and I met we went on a booze cruise through the Venice streets. Needless to say we bonded in the best way. I met Stuart while I was working at Sundance Film Festival. Since we were both working it allowed some good conversation. Been friends ever since.
S- Umm, that pretty much sums it up.
Q- There is nothing more critical than everyone accepting and understanding their job. Who does what when it comes to La Frenchie? Who is the one who’s at every event? Who handles all the sales? Who is the one up till 3AM figuring out fonts for the logo? Or is it a collective effort?
C- It’s a collective. There is no task that I would hesitate to work on. Even if we disagree on something, we debate our opinions and then vote. And at the end we all laugh, cause it’s fun.
M- As far as designation of duties, Stuart heads up the sales, why wouldn’t he look at that face. Carissa heads up our Social Media and styling, because she’s awesome at that. Me, I deal with technology and marketing. When it comes to design we each play a role. Stuart is our idea guy, he has ideas for days. Carissa and I turn those ideas into reality. I am a stickler for brand integrity.
S- I chose to work with Myron and Carissa not because they are my friends, but because both of them have style, and both of them are not afraid to speak up in front of anyone. I asked Myron to work with me because of his design skills, and Carissa was an obvious choice when it comes to female style. Every day is a learning process and I am happy to have partners who are willing to do anything for our brand to keep it moving forward.
Make sure to check out next month’s print issue for our full interview with the La Frenchie team.
Twitter: LaFrenchie
Instagram: TheLaFrenchie
Website: www.thelafrenchie.com
