erly Hills backyard. It was love at first sight over grilled chicken and couscous when she was introduced to Stephen Gaghan, the Academy Award winning screenwriter and director of Syriana and Traffic. “He’s tall and very handsome,” she says with a smile of Gaghan. It didn’t hurt that Gaghan was also smart, charming and whisked Mortimer off to Europe for three months, where he taught her how to surf in Biarritz, France for the first time. He also proposed in Biarritz. Talk about a jet-set romantic fairy tale. The couple married on May 19th 2007 at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue. Mortimer wore an Oscar de la Renta (who is an old family friend) dress and writer/director Wes Anderson was a groomsman. These days, they hit the ocean as a couple regularly. “Its something we do together,” she says. “Surfing, skiing and tennis are lifetime sports. I love that and love doing them with Steve. I want to still be doing all three when I’m 100.” Now ensconced in California, Mortimer goes back to New York constantly. She made sure to tackle the foreign terrain of LA fashion and in the end grew to adore it. “I hate to be the master of the obvious, but Los Angeles is more casual and that’s not who I am. I love being smartly outfitted and have fun getting dressed everyday. This is the flip side to the uniform argument. Los Angeles has high highs and low lows regarding style. The surf and skate culture are true sources of inspiration for me.” Mortimer does embrace her East Coast heritage and even loves being considered “a fish out of water,” in Hollywood but says the initial move was intense. “The culture shock of moving from New York to LA was greater for me than when I moved to Paris. LA is très democratic—a total meritocracy and the popular currency in this town is creative.” Though she doesn’t necessarily prefer the hierarchy of Los Angeles to New York, Mortimer adds, “I really love both. In LA, people will take bigger risks creatively and that’s inspiring to me.” Once settled in LA, Mortimer was ready to get down to business. Though an unlikely point of inspiration for such a feminine character, Mortimer assumed her husband’s closet, specifically Charvet dress shirts, as a muse for her next endeavor, designing a line of shirt-dresses, all produced in Los Angeles. And before she even wanted to launch her own line, a fashionable friend at Vogue wore a piece Mortimer created to a meeting with Wintour. Vogue’s queen immediately requested a story on the label that wasn’t even a real brand yet. The first time she saw her dress in Vogue, Mortimer admits “was surreal” and adds: “I still have 50 copies of the issue.” Mortimer had grown up altering the typical into something terrific, as she often redid her Sacred Heart school uniforms into something more interesting and often daring. In 2008, Mortimer officially launched her collection of effortless, timeless pieces for a customer she describes as “a bright young thing on the go.” Starlets like Taylor Swift and Reese Witherspoon are fans and the line was quickly picked up by SCOOP and every hip, pretty girl on both coasts. Mortimer also makes dresses for the enormously successful label Three Dots. “They approached me and I said yes right away. I have been wearing Three Dots since I was in boarding school. The collection is ten dresses in lots of colors and stripes—the perfect pieces for a weekend getaway.” Mortimer’s hometown is clearly embedded in her habits and wardrobe as she clings onto her New York roots while incorporating her “breathe easy” LA life into the mix. Case in point: she’s “crazy” for fancy evening dresses by Valentino, Ferregamo and Carven, but will mix in trendier, newer labels like Suno, Acne and anything from Opening Ceremony, which is her all-time favorite shop. Though she considers herself “so inconsistent, I’m constant,” if Mortimer had to wear one look for the rest of her life she would pull inspiration from Angela Davis and sport a uniform of a “‘70s feminist, denim on denim: tight blue jean bell bottoms with a denim button down and horn rimmed glasses.” More than a designer, Mortimer is also a mother to her four-year-old daughter, Tuesday, who has an affinity for tutu skirts and headbands. The two regularly surf together. Well, Tuesday sits at the end of the board for the time being. On being a mom, Mortimer proclaims, “It’s amazing how big your heart gets. The capacity for love is just unreal.” When asked if she sees herself and her brand developing into something like Carolina Herrera or Tory Burch, Mortimer humbly responds “It’s hard for me to think in those terms, but I’m addicted to designing. And I really only know how to be me.”
“WHEN ASKED IF SHE SEES [...] HER BRAND DEVELOPING INTO SOMETHING LIKE CAROLINA HERRERA OR TORY BURCH, MORTIMER HUMBLY RESPONDS ‘IT’S HARD FOR ME TO THINK IN THOSE TERMS, BUT I’M ADDICTED TO DESIGNING.’”
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