Minnie Mortimer was raised in Manhattan, Palm Beach, and Southampton. After attending Brearley, Sacred Heart and Saint Marks (a boarding prep school outside of Boston) Minnie landed in Paris. She studied there for a year before returning to New York to attend ICP, one of the nation’s best photography schools. She dropped out to travel the world, shooting with Italian photographer Oberto Gili. Along her travels she met and fell in love with her Oscar-winning filmmaker husband Stephen Gaghan. He taught her to surf and took her to live in Malibu where she began her line with only a few pieces in the spring of 2009. That fall she released her first complete collection. “I grew up going to all girl private schools in Manhattan and we always had these very cute uniforms but you’d only have so much sway over how to “customize” them. I would line my blazers, dart my skirts, I’d change all of the buttons, I would do anything I could to make them unique. And when I started designing I found myself referencing those roots.”

Pieces from her line have landed in boutiques across America and Japan. As their popularity continues to grow Minnie does her best to keep up with demand. “I design every piece my self. I make clothes to fill a gap in my own wardrobe. It’s very simple; if I want to wear it I make it. That is how the collection evolves.”

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