For 15 years, Andrea Lieberman, the founder of A.L.C., has been the design force behind the contemporary ready-to-wear label known for its quality fabrics and sophisticated styles created for real women.
The company, whose pieces have been worn by Jennifer Lopez, Taylor Swift, Kate Hudson and Chrissy Teigen, has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past few years. “We’ve doubled our business in the last four years,” Lieberman said, declining to reveal revenues. But that revenue growth, she said, has been boosted by opening seven stores across the country in the past six years. In June, a new store will be unveiled in Beverly Hills.
With so much growth and change since the venture was launched in 2009 from headquarters in the Los Angeles Fashion District, Lieberman has hired Christine Hyun Mi Nielsen as the new vice president of design.
The new design director, who grew up in Denmark, has an extensive background working with European luxury brands after studying at two fashion schools: Denmark’s Design School in Copenhagen where she got her bachelor’s degree and the Royal College of Art in London where she received her master’s.
Before arriving at A.L.C., Nielsen previously led the apparel team at Alexander Wang in New York and has worked with several fashion houses around the world, including Givenchy, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Max Mara and Burberry Prorsum.
“I feel like this is an amazing opportunity to evolve the brand,” Nielsen said from inside her design office with inspirational photos pinned to a bulletin board behind her. Those photos will help her evolve the A.L.C. collection and create aspirational clothing that real women want to wear. “I would like it to be gorgeous, beautiful and high quality,” she explained.
Lieberman’s company has spent years developing evolved classics with a modern twist. Each collection is built on a foundation of exclusive fabrications from European mills, world-class construction, and thoughtful-yet-subtle design details. Collections are typically anchored around artisan craftsmanship and fabrications selected for their artistic history. Styles sell in the $250 to $800 range.
A look from the pre-fall 2024 collection. Courtesy: A.L.C.
In December, the pre-fall 2024 collection seen on the runway in New York took inspiration from a trip Lieberman and her family made to Colombia. The colors, architecture and the arts seen in that South American country led to skirts with long fringe accents similar to Colombia’s distinctive shawls. There were also bold strips on dresses and skirts.
The label has a wide range of customers, who often span two generations and is a dynamic woman who wants accessible luxury for work and play.
With more time, Lieberman, who started her fashion career as a stylist for such A-list celebrities as Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Mary J. Blige, will remain A.L.C.’s creative director. She wants to explore other business facets to foster growth. “I now have the luxury to dive into other areas,” she said. “We do things very organically here. Right now, we have a few handbags that are doing very well. So, we are going to slowly lean into that category. And denim will be a bigger presence, a category that is right in our own back yard.”
Retail expansion in the United States will continue. The brand’s store presence started in 2018 with one location in the SoHo district of Manhattan, one store in downtown L.A. which has been closed and another at Palisades Village in Pacific Palisades.
Since then, four more stores had been added. There was one on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, another unit in East Hampton, N.Y., and outposts in Miami and Houston. The Beverly Hills store will debut soon on Beverly Drive, one block over from Rodeo Drive. “Stores are the future of our company,” Lieberman said. “It is a really great opportunity to touch base with our customer and create the full expression of our brand.”