Every issue, GRAZIA USA highlights Game Changers who inspire, educate, and celebrate individuality, beauty and style. Meet Ulla Johnson, the fashion designer of her beloved eponymous brand that knows inspiration comes from a culmination of sources.
Ulla Johnson started her namesake brand at 24 years old and the self-taught designer quickly learned that business savvy is just as important as creativity. She got an early endorsement from Barneys New York and has grown to have the support of retailers across the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. “I started small, and since then it’s been a decision of mine to make sure that the brand is growing deliberately and doesn’t lose what made it feel special,” the designer tells GRAZIA USA.
Johnson says she’s been “fairly obsessed” with fashion from a young age. “I always loved dressing up, but it was important to my parents that I have a proper liberal arts education,” the designer shares, so she studied women’s studies and psychology. “Within my work, I was very interested in fashion theory and the way clothes make women feel — how they can serve to empower the wearer.” After, she “quickly” fell into a career in fashion – but building her brand came with “many roadblocks ” along the way.
Through it all, her studies impact “every single thing about the way that I design and why I create clothes for and by women.”
As the child of archaeologists, Johnson began traveling early on in life, and those experiences are still part of what also informs her work today. “My design process often starts with an aggregate of inspirations; a trip, an artwork, a textile, and evolves from there,” she explains. “I try to make things that feel joyful and transporting. From a young age, I’ve always been exposed to different points of view, and I think that led to my love of craft and collaborating with artisans globally. Exploration and preservation of local traditions is something I find very inspiring and is at the heart of my designs.”
Being a collector at heart helps too. “I’m also very much into gathering; my process of designing a new collection is like gathering and building upon touchstones.”
Read GRAZIA USA’s Summer issue featuring cover star Priyanka Chopra Jonas:
