Lost & Found

Like many of our ideas at Image, the one guiding this issue came from a conversation with the team. We were sharing a meal over at El Pollo Inka when I shared how I had discovered my mother’s long-lost drawing from the early ’80s on Etsy. The posting showed her drawing (of a gorgeous and surreal Kenzo window display) hanging in a man’s Brooklyn bedroom. Long story short, I eventually acquired the drawing, and now it’s hanging in my dining room. This story sent our conversation down the road of all the things that get lost and found — the many lives our objects have, the many stories that are still waiting to be unearthed.

In this spirit, for Issue 31, we’ve taken a special focus on vintage and upcycled fashion. For any item of clothing that gets passed down, there is a memory and person associated with it. In conversation with Astrid Kayembe, various vintage store sellers around L.A. shared the anecdotes behind their most cherished items — the ones they can’t bring themselves to sell. One of these has made the cover: a 2004 Dior coat, chosen by Brynn Jones Saban of Aralda Vintage, a store that is familiar to any vintage lover. You’ll find several of Aralda’s pieces in a dreamy fashion editorial styled by contributing editor Romany Williams, in which she took a basketful of secondhand clothes to Malibu and got lost with photographer India Sleem and model Sandrine Malary. Upcycled clothing is not only artful and beautiful but is becoming the new norm — Romany has conveniently drawn up a list of 12 brands currently doing some of the most exciting work (I’m personally obsessed with the patchwork designs from L.A.-based Compost).

For our Outro column — for which we commissioned an artist to create an original artwork for the issue — Darren Romanelli made an incredible lounge chair out of merch from the ’84 Olympics, the last time the Games were held in L.A. The experience of sifting through recycled sweaters, T-shirts, hats and pins from that time resurfaced memories from Romanelli’s childhood and the year he moved out to this city that he now calls home. You’ll find more stories from Angelenos reconnecting with their pasts in this issue, including a moving essay by Jason Parham on the bird of paradise (L.A.’s city flower), and an interview with Suppa Club host Asia White on how she got into the ceremonial tradition of sharing food.

If you have any lost and found stories that you think we should know about, especially as they pertain to L.A., I’d love to hear from you.

Elisa Wouk Almino
Editorial Director

Image logo by Dakarai Akil For The Times