Liz Abbott of Leatherette Heart

*Peter pan stripe shit by House of Dang.  DeLorean pant by Leatherette Heart.  

Photographer Mindy Bryd, stylist Andrew Bayer and hair/make-up artist Ashley Robinson transformed the delightful Remy from Wallflower Management

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Liz Abbott left to go to school in San Francisco. While in SF, she joined some bands and worked various jobs, such as go-go dancing and making custom clothes for her band and other musicians, strippers and all around fabulous people. After doing this for some time, she decided to move to NYC to finish her fashion design degree. Liz enrolled at FIT, and continued to break the rules by sneaking into 7th on 6th fashion week, participating in a renegade fashion show featuring the 7th on 6th crew. After graduation, Liz made like LL Cool J and went back to Cali. For the next 2 years she worked for various companies with animal logos in the American Spots Retail market. Realizing she wanted to get back to designing and making rock n roll clothes that she and her friends wore, she left the corporate world and Leatherette Heart was born. She then joined up with the Long Beach Craft Mafia and has been selling her hand silkscreened clothing, jewelry and her signature car & bird barrettes, at independent design shows for the last few years, and the mafia were featured in an article in the OC weekly for which Liz was on the cover! (It helps to have a few cocktails before a photo shoot ;)) In 2010 the Leatherette Heart show was taken on the road to Vegas for the POOL trade show and the line has been in stores across the US including the infamous Patricia Field store in NYC.

Q&A with Liz:

Do you have a notebook?  And what is on the first page? 
I have many notebooks as I am borderline hoarder. there is probably a to do list or a design idea on the first page
Favorite source of transpiration? 

Vespa or plane as I love to travel
What is your favorite cocktail? 

Mojitos when i'm feeling fancy, cape cods when i'm just kicking it, and jamie & ginger when i wanna get in trouble ;) i'm good at trouble...
Strobe lights or disco ball? 

Strobe light. i'm a lady of the 80s
Fur…chic or not chic? 

Vintage fur is chic cuz the poor lil animal would've died by now and I don't like to be wasteful. New fur, still chic but I just can't. If only mink and fox were tasty...

HiFi Jewelry

Love your music and fashion with a little passion? So does Jacky Sylvie, vinyl vixen extraordinaire! Marching to the beat of her own drummer, Jacky wanted a way to make the music go on forever and find a way to make nice with Mother Earth. Her dedication to a better environment and her creative obsessions led to clever experimentation and the Hi Fi Jewelry brand was born.

Since 2007, Jacky has been creating wearable art from recycled materials with a fun, funky, rock-n-roll edge. The foundation of her line is reclaimed vinyl records. From the first cut and shaping to the final gentle sanding, Jacky employs an exclusive process. Albums are revamped into one-of-a-kind jewelry and while some are sprinkled with metal and vintage chains others get new life from charms findings. No matter the design, each funkdified version has its very own appeal, making them not only unique, but earth-friendly. Indulge guiltlessly with Hi Fi Jewelry!

Q&A with Jacky

Where is your favorite place on Earth? 

Floating down the river in an inner tube in New Bruanfels, Texas

What is your favorite word? 

"Word", I love how you can start and end a sentence with it and use it for emphasis or to agree

What is your favorite color ink to write in? 

Orange, it makes even writing a check for a bill festive

If you could bring back anyone from the dead, who would that be? 

Chris Farley, just so we could hang out and he could make me laugh

Strobe lights or disco ball? 

Strobe lights so I can do the Robot and it makes even the worst dancer look awesome!

Grand Opening!!!

She Was an American Girl is a pop-up retail and

gallery shop featuring 16 designers, 8 artists, 4 musi-

cians and one record label. 100% Made in America!

Think American cowboy silhouettes, pop art passport

covers, Native American ponchos, hipster screen

printed T-shirts, studded rock ‘n’ roll dresses, jewelry designed out of vintage records, stewardess inspired swimwear

and romantic accessories constructed from nature.

Grand Opening Party!!!

Friday June 3rd 7-10pm

Muskauer straße 49, 10997 Berlin

RSVP: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152183434850617

11:11

I met Jamila at Maker Faire two years ago...wow how time flys! I was visually stimulated with her handmade notebooks, passport holders and card holders. Jamila was selling her creations and I was so impressed by her warm smile and optimistic outlook on life. Since then, I have become an advocate of 11:11. Two years later I am still carrying the card slide in my handbag and continue to receive compliments on it.

She Was an American Girl carries 11:11 enterprises passport holders, cardholders and condom cases!

Get to know a little more about the creator of 11:11 enterprises:

Hi My name is Jamila and I started 11:11 enterprises 7 years ago as a way to make a living from my art. Little did I know that I had begun the adventure of a lifetime! 11:11 started very small with a folding table and a bunch of crazy wallets on a busy corner near the metro stop inWilliamsburg Brooklyn in 2003. We are still small but we now sell in over 150 stores worldwide and on Amazon.com. 11:11 has always been about enjoying and expressing the many amazing details of life! Lets celebrate the mundane together! Lets love it all!

www.eleveneleven.net

Quick Fire Q&A with Jamila:

*Would you rather make out with John Lennon or Bob Dylan?

ROBERT PLANT

*Cat or dog?

BIRD

*Out of jail free card. What crime would you commit?

I WOULD SPRING ALL INNOCENT PRISONERS FROM ALL JAILS

*What is your favorite decade?

THIS ONE

*Do you have a notebook? And what is on the first page?

YES. A LOVE NOTE

Take a Drag or Two

*Photograph by Heather Key

Creative Media Manager, Photographer, Artist, and Fashion Enthusiast Fred Holston, is one of the most inspirational people I have met in my life. I am so honored to have his electric enthusiasm and creative mind involved in SHE WAS AN AMERICAN GIRL. For the store, Fred has hand created deconstructed knit shirts and dresses. But his talents go far beyond apparel. Fred was recently interviewed by Stylelikeu.com, he has created a series of photographs for Pamela Love's FW 2011 presentation while in New York for fashion week and continues to enspire his readers though his blog Take a Drag or Two.

*Deconstructed Knit dress by Take a Drag or Two. Preserved insect jewelry by Tetanu

Photography:Mindy Byrd, Styling:Andrew Bayer Hair/MU:Ashley Robinson Model: Remy Ryan

*What keeps you motivated?

Psych rock, Patti Smith, goat cheese, and puppies.

*How would you like to spend your last day on earth?

I'd spend it with some good friends and a bottle of whiskey.

*Polyester….chic or not chic?

Typically I'd say no, but I'll make an exception for Nudie Suits.

*Out of jail free card. What crime would you commit?

Shopping like a diseased person.

*What is your favorite color ink to write in?

Black.

Gary Farrelly

Meet the Artist:

Gary Farrelly is an Irish born based between Ireland, France and The United States. His drawings, collages, diagrams, paintings and charts are highly inspired by transliteration and the man made world. Typical subject matters include: urban cartography, bureaucracy, transport infrastructure, aviation, cryptography and statistics. Farrelly typically produces works that are superficially emphatic with latent layers of complicated, frequently autobiographical detail. The work may also contain obsessive, absurd and rhetorical aspects. Farrelly's work has been exhibited in Turkey, Serbia, France, Iran and The United States. The aviation artworks on display we produced specifically for SHE WAS AN AMERICAN GIRL, BERLIN. The series is entitled Plane Spotting in the Early Trilateral Era (2020-2035).

Visit: www.garyfarrelly.blogspot.com

(Image) ELITE FLIGHT PLAN (2008), private collection, Ireland.

Gary is also a contributing writer at the following blogs:

New Obsessive

Airport 6565

Q&A Quick fire with the King of Q&A:

*If you had to make an entire outfit out of one material, what would it be? Sequines or rheinstones?
Rhinestones
*What would be your second career choice?

Air accident investigator.
Out of jail free card. What crime would you commit?

Espionage
What is your guilty pleasure?

Classified
What is your favorite color ink to write in?

Black

THIS COMMUNICATION WAS DISPATCHED BY GARY FARRELLY (1983-2077) DURING THE PERIOD OF THE ARTISTS 4TH 2 YEAR DEVELOPMENT PLAN (2011-2013).

Tetanus Jewelry

Benjamin Hubert creates sometimes creepy, always beautiful, accessories made from bugs, bones, teeth, fire, stones, found objects, antique and oxidized metals. His one of a kind pieces are inspired by both the dark and the light.

He works from his home studio in Dallas, Tx with his partner, Ariella Villa.

Tetanus Jewelry is carried at Dolly Python (Dallas, Texas), Shampoo Salon (Ft. Worth, Texas), on-line at www.Tetanusjewelry.com and of course at She Was an American Girl in Berlin!

Vagabond Bison Tooth Charm

Scorpio Rising Necklace

Inverted Pendant necklace

Scorpion Cameo necklace

*All images have been sourced from the companies website. www.tetanusjewerly.com

Quick Fire Q&A with the designer:

* What keeps you motivated?

Pussy
* What would be your second career choice?

Cab Driver
* Would you rather make out with Elvis or Jimmy Hendrix?

ELVIS
* If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?

Miniature Bull Terrier
* Where is your favorite place on Earth?

Hawaii