I’m obsessed with the British flag. I think it may even be more than that… I’m pretty sure I’m just obsessed with Britain and I’m absolutely positive that I was British in a past life.  I even slip into a British accent every once in a while. It’s really strange… like it’s calling me. Oddly enough, I’ve never been but I’ve got a huge Brit Flag hanging in a $4500 frame in the hallway of my apartment. I’ve got buttons I put on every red blazer I make with little British flags on them, I’ve painted the British flag a million different ways on canvas, it’s the backdrop of my twitter and tumblr pages and the cover image on Facebook. It has completely taken over my life. And now I find myself branding Isabella Louis with the flag. The Brits might get a little angry with me but look, I’ll probably end up living there and I’m definitely going to open shop there so eh…

But my roommate/graphic designer/assistant extraordinaire said something the other day as he created the top image for my labels. The actual construction, geommetrics, architecture… whatever is pretty insanely complex.  And I agree! Like I said, I used to paint them all the time and once you start paying some attention you’re surprised.  You look at the Brit flag and you think: easy… It’s a cross with a line through it but no… the British flag is definitely difficult to imitate.  There are details that you would not even notice. It just looks so effortless… so cool. But look at it. Look at it closely… They put a bit of detail in the flag and clearly didn’t want you to know.

So, that’s kind of the story of my life and definitely my clothing line. I, myself, like to dress a way, portray myself in a way, style my hair in a way that looks effortless (exclude my hair…that is in fact effortless. You couldn’t pay me to put much effort into my hair) BUT there are details that make it all a little more complex than it seems. My arm candy, for example, looks like stacked-on wrist of trinkets. Yes, I’m used to it now… I roll out of bed with it but, you know, the lions go on the bottom because they frame my wrist the best. The multi is tight so I place it under the cut-out bangle, the spikes always go above the lions… blah blah etc… you get me.

Even personality wise, it may be a flaw, but whenever I’m extremely nervous, excited, etc I go into this hyper-cool, relaxed, laid back, nonchalant, “I’m too cool for school” mode even if I’m screaming and jumping on the inside.  “Oh, yea, Jessie J totally wants my Spiked jacket… no big deal” (waiting for that to really happen).

It’s the same exact way when I’m writing or making clothes. You will be holding one of my pieces in your hands and have an “oh shit” moment once you start to realize the details. I pay CLOSE attention to detail. Everything – like, “oh, did you realize this little baby centimeter button has a British flag on it.”

“Whoa, no… bonkers.”

You know it takes me almost an hour and a half to distress a pair of shorts. It doesn’t even take me that long to cut and make them. But I sit there pulling each strand and measuring the distance of each tear so these things will last forever.

There are details in my collection. In every single piece I make – that I spend hours with to create a look that looks effortless. Effortless coolness is the best. When people make it look easy, you just trust them.

And that’s why I think I feel such a strong connection to the British flag. They just made it look so easy. Hell, the British make life look so easy. They’re really remarkable.