Who are you?
Pamela Love, jewelry designer.

How did you get here?
From my mother’s uterus.

How did we meet?
We met on the subway platform in Williamsburg. I’d been an incredibly huge fan of [Mara’s] brand and had been asking a mutual friend of ours to introduce us, but she’d never gotten around to it for some reason. I owned a lot of [Mara’s] stuff and worn a lot of it to my fashion shows…I don’t know how [Mara] knew me or my work but [Mara] tapped me on the subway platform and we became extremely close like, immediately. Subway platform!

What’s your sign? Tell me about your connection to it and what you’ve found to be true/false in yourself?
I’m a Pisces. I’ve been told that I’m a true Pisces and that everything about me is in line with my sign. The thing I connect with is the emotional side; I’m definitely very emotional and sensitive, which is very much a Pisces thing. It’s so funny- people always assume that I am really into astrology. I’m into a lot of different elements of mysticism and alternative faith but I actually never got super into astrology. When I’ve read about my sign I definitely feel imaginative and a strong connection to the water. I grew up on the water; my first memory when I was 2 or 3 was almost drowning. I almost drowned several times. Even now I have to take baths twice a day; I wake up early so I can sit in the bath for 20 minutes and after work I immediately have to strip down and take a bath.  Sylvia Plath said “there’s nothing in this world that a hot bath couldn’t cure…” but then she killed herself.

If you could commission any artist (living or dead) to do your portrait, who would it be?
Francesco Clemente. He was my mentor for many, many years and still kind of is.  I love his portraits, the way he paints people and the way he sees them.  I always imagined that one day I would ask him to do my portrait. He married my husband and me; he officiated our wedding.  Very rad.

Where do you find your inspiration?
I find my inspiration from everywhere but also sort of nowhere at the same time, you know what I mean? I feel like I’m always drawing from the same places and coming up with new ways to reinterpret those things. I think that something I find really interesting about the fashion world every season is that you’re expected to come up with new inspiration every season. It’s very manic and bipolar and I am just drawn to the same things over and over again. A lot of times it has to do with magic, mysticism, luck, and superstition, charms, what these things mean to different cultures, so it’s sort of me looking at these things and trying to reinterpret them. Obviously travel plays a big role too; I’ve been very inspired by Mexico, Morocco, the Southwest, Africa, even places I’ve never been- India is somewhere I’d really love to travel to because the jewelry is so beautiful.  One season I might be in one region of the world, but sometimes it’s looking at a period of time, like one season we were even looking at the Art Deco period and looking at these motifs that were found all around the world but were from Egypt. It’s hard to say but it’s really about retelling these same stories but pulling from these places.

What makes you the happiest?
My husband and my cats and making jewelry and painting and playing music. A lot of things make me the happiest!

What’s your biggest dream?
My biggest goal is to continue what I’m doing and to be able to do it forever and to be able to create as many jobs as I humanly can and to create an alternative option from the run of the mill jewelry that’s out there and to hopefully inspire people.

If you could do anything in the world what would it be? There are NO limits.
Fly.

Who’s your style icon?
You (laughs)! No, Neil Young when he was young…not now.

Make three wishes…
I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller, and I wish my husband wasn’t allergic to our cats. Not too broad.

I love you (I love you too!)

Shop Pam’s faves plus check out our exclusive Pamela Love for Mara Hoffman collar collab.

Ever dreamt of attending New York Fashion Week and seeing a new collection on the runway? Now’s your chance! We’re giving away two tickets plus backstage access to our show on February 9th!

Show us what the Mara Hoffman vibe means to you! Tag @Marahoffman with the hashtag #MHFashionWeek on Instagram/Twitter and you could win two tickets to attend the Mara Hoffman Fall/Winter 2013 fashion show during New York Fashion Week plus backstage access!

(Photo: Finraz)

Anyone who witnessed our Fall 2012 show during New York Fashion Week knows that we have an affinity for Little Dragon. If you listen to music, you probably are very familiar with this electronic/downtempo band by now. But somehow everywhere we look we keep coming across new songs that feature this Swedish gem. Lead singer Yukimi Nagano not only has one of those seductively smooth and unique voices that stops you in your tracks, but she also has a bold style that steps outside of mainstream trends and perfectly straddles the line between crazy and cool. We think she’d look seriously rad in some Mara Hoffman on stage!  She’s lent her vocals to everyone from Gorillaz to SBTRKT and is only moving on up from here. To spread the love, we put together a Spotify playlist with a few of our favorite Little Dragon jams.  Enjoy!

(all photos courtesy of Vieweird.com)

Came across an image of the Green Lake in Tragoess and immediately wanted to pack up my scuba gear and go. In the cold months, this Austrian valley is a traditional park frequented by hikers. During the spring and summer, the mountains’ ice caps melt and create an underwater park, giving divers a chance to swim among the trees and take a seat on submerged park benches. The blue of the water mixed with green of the grass makes for a pretty amazing sight.