THOMAS WYLDE
BLACK AND WHITE SKULLS
CHANCERY
COMES IN
SMALL, MEDIUM OR LARGE
Tags included
It's not every designer whose first collection lands in Maxfield, L.A.'s temple to high fashion. Not everyone gets a full page in Elle magazine right out of the gate either, or creates a scarf — covered with regiments of skulls — that's so chic it's been photographed draped over Lindsay Lohan's shoulders and wrapped around Sienna Miller's waist.
But Paula Thomas has paid her dues as a model, stylist and shadow designer, and her new neo-gothic line Thomas Wylde proves it was worth it. In a mere two months, the label has become the must-have for young Hollywood. Alicia Keys, Cameron Diaz and Charlize Theron are also going wild for Wylde.
Sure, skulls are everywhere (on Vans sneakers, on Lucien Pellat-Finet cashmere sweaters and in Luella Bartley's forthcoming line for Target). And rock 'n' roll is being heralded as a big trend going forward into spring. But Thomas' designs are subtle enough to make fans out of the most refined women — silk caftans and chiffon baby-doll dresses in skull prints, lambskin bolero jackets with detachable sleeves suspended from silk ribbons, whisper-weight T-shirts screen-printed with abstracted blood cells and slouchy leather hobo bags with skull stud work.
"We see a lot of rock 'n' roll clothes," says Sarah Stewart, head buyer for Maxfield. "But this line has a feminine edge and a specific point of view."
Stewart said the spring collection, called "Black Summer," shipped in December and is almost sold out. "The bags were gone in a day and a half."
The line has been quickly snapped up by other stores too, including Linda Dresner in New York, L'Eclaireur in Paris, Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong and Browns in London.
