Gloria Lee is a womenswear brand that offers sustainable, elegant, and romantic dresses that women can wear from day to night. Inspired by mythology, nature, and history, Gloria Lee designs each and every garment with the purpose of highlighting women’s innate elegance, beauty, and love for all.
The mission of the company is to deliver joy, style, and prosperity to everyone in the world. It starts with the promise of creating beautiful collections with compostable fibers, collaborating with domestic manufacturers, and embodying production processes — zero-waste pattern-making, up-cycled fabrics, recycling scraps — that are least harmful to our ecosystem.
We caught up with the designer, who will be presented with a Fashion Icon Award at Hamptons Fashion Week on August 6, to learn more.
How did you begin your career in the fashion industry?
When I was in fifth grade, I saw the hiring advertisement of Brides’ Assistants in the magazine. It inspired me to dream and pursue a career of designing beautiful dresses that bring happiness to women. My career in fashion began when I first attended Parsons The New School of Design, from where I received my BFA degree in Fashion Design. Since then, I have worked for companies including Oscar de la Renta Fur, Luca Luca, Caché, and Nine West. When the pandemic started, it really affected everyone’s lives and we all had to stay at home. With the extra time and resources, I took the opportunity and fully launched my sustainable womenswear brand, Gloria Lee. It has been my dream to start my namesake brand and I am really happy to share the results with everyone at Hamptons Fashion Week.
Tell us about your involvement in Hamptons Fashion Week.
This is my second year presenting Gloria Lee’s collection at Hamptons Fashion Week and I am very honored to be nominated for the Rising Star Award. By attending Hamptons Fashion Week, we strive to raise more awareness for sustainable fashion and present a stylish and eco-conscious fashion show that everyone will remember. Gloria Lee is a luxury womenswear brand that offers sustainably produced elegant and beautiful dresses for women to wear from day to night. Our sustainability practices include using biodegradable materials, such as silk, wool, and tencel to produce our dresses, treating fabrics with toxic-free dyes only, and practicing zero-waste pattern making technique. This year, we are excited to be showing our collection with two fellow sustainable fashion brands, Allégorie and DiFiore New York. Allégorie solves food waste problems with their gorgeous handbags. DiFiore New York uses the finest and eco-conscious mills in Italy to produce printed scarves and donates a percentage from sales to preserving ocean life. Each of the companies is owned by women coming from various backgrounds, and we are very excited to become a part of the Hamptons community.
What are you most looking forward to at Hamptons Fashion Week?
I am looking forward to meeting both new and old friends, and presenting collections with fellow talented and hardworking designers. I see fashion week as an opportunity to admire each designers’ works and learn their thoughts on what the future of fashion should become. It is always very inspiring for me to directly connect with my audience and listen to their feedback on my collection as well.
Tell us about your latest collection.
It is disheartening to learn that 80 years after WWII, another country is imitating Hitler and the Nazi Party, trying to conquer other countries and taking away more lives with violence. Gloria Lee’s 2023 SS collection is inspired by the war happening in Ukraine and the WWII movie, “Schindler’s List.” Directed by Steven Spielberg, “Schindler’s List” documented the life of Oskar Schindler, who was a German industrialist and a member of the Nazi party during WWII. As the war progressed, Schindler changed his focus from making more money to saving more lives because he learned that true greatness meant giving life. In this collection, Gloria Lee interprets Schindler’s transformation with circles and stripes. The blue-white stripes symbolized WWII prisoners’ uniforms and the lives trapped in concentration camps. The focus is on the circles. The collection begins with gold circles, which represent coins and wealth. When the gold turns to black, it signifies the moment when Schindler realizes the sins of taking away people’s lives and hopes. Slowly, the circles open up, as Schindler sets eyes on the prisoned Jews and decides to save as many people as he can. Schindler’s heroic and holy acts of saving lives give light and life to the circles again, so the circles become lively, golden, and energetic again. Ukrainian cultures are represented through the prints of their national flower, sunflowers. The world-renowned Ukrainian’ s embroidery motifs are being adapted and displayed as the golden all-over diamond print, filled with crosses, circles, and poppy flowers that signify protection.
Through this collection, Gloria Lee hopes to encourage everyone to support each other, help lives in need, and stop wars together. Life is light and equals endless possibilities. We don’t want to take away people’s lives so casually… [and] we never know who will be the next Einstein, the next Mother Teresa, or the next Elon Musk.
How do you see the fashion industry changing?
Fashion industry as a whole is becoming more digitized and people are becoming more eco-conscious. Technology advancements are great as they help simplify the production process and generate less waste, such as 3D modeling, 3D pattern making, and laser cutting machines. There are also technologies that allow everyone to virtually view fashion shows without traveling, which decreases CO2 emission from large groups of people’s transportation vehicles.
When you’re on the East End, what does your perfect day look like?
I imagine that my perfect day will start with a visit at LongHouse Reserve with my family. Breathing in all the fresh air and enjoying the breathtaking sculptures and the beautiful garden sounds like a perfect healthy morning. If there is enough time, I will find a place to sit in the garden and meditate for 10 minutes. As noon approaches, I will drive down to The Maidstone and get a quick brunch with friends. One veggie omelette and a Bloody Mary sounds like a delicious combination. After brunch, we might grab a few snacks from The Living Room, change into our swimsuits, and spend the entire afternoon relaxing at the Main Beach. The Hamptons has the prettiest beach of all, and it is fun to snorkel in the ocean and observe life under the sea. After sunset, we will pack all of our stuff and head back to the house, where we’ll continue the evening with a nice bottle of wine, a charcuterie board, and some s’mores for our bonfire party in the backyard.
To learn more about Gloria Lee, visit GloriaLee.com.
