Well Suited

Whether you’re super skinny or super curvy, Malia Mills has the perfect swimsuit for you. Though she designs a full line of ready-to-wear clothing, Mills is best known for her swimsuits which have appeared everywhere from the cover of Sports Illustrated to Elle magazines. She creates her versatile and figure-flattering 2 piece swimsuits for bodies of all shapes and sizes, under the motto of Love Thy Differences and designs her tops and bottoms as separates, making it possible for her chic clientele to split styles and colors to their liking. Having launched her company 20 years ago, the Hawaii native runs the business with her sister Carol in their new world headquarters in Brooklyn, where she will often hand off her sketches to her seamstresses and pattern maker when inspiration strikes…which usually comes by way of lingerie, or random photos and videos.

Mills studied fashion at Cornell and La Chambre Syndicale de la haute Couture Parisienne in Paris, and moved to New York from San Francisco in 1990 where she had been working as an assistant to Jessica McClintock at the time. She started out working from home in the mid 1990’s and although she hit a rough patch brought on by the 2008 financial crisis, her business has now expanded to 13 stores- 5 in California, 7 in New York, and 1 in Texas. Mills opens her stores in vibrant neighborhoods with a strong sense of community and history- including my Brentwood ‘hood- and the collection now includes resort, making her sought after suits available year round. Which makes her fans, like Elle MacPherson and Cindy Crawford, very happy. www.maliamills.com