A CONVERSATION BETWEEN DESIGNER LIZZIE OWENS AND 6397 FOUNDER STELLA ISHII.
Each piece of 6397 clothing goes through a lively roundtable between Stella Ishii, the founder, Lizzie Owens, head of design, Jenny Smith, head of sales and Judy Collinson, former EVP of the legendary store Barneys New York. Behind the scenes, a fitting is chance for each to share their experience at different ages to debate the fit, color, fabric, and feel - in detail.
Below, a conversation between Stella Ishii and Lizzie Owens, on Lizzie’s upbringing, their shared language of clothes, and some of their favorites from the 6397 Spring-Summer 2025 collection.
(Stella) This is how I can tell you grew up in the country and I grew up in the city. A few weeks ago we had a pigeon that flew into the showroom. It was frantic and trying to get out and banging into the windows. I was so scared and hid in the back like, What do we do?! Then you came out with these deerskin gloves, took the bird to a window and set it free. You just walked out so calmly like, No this bird is just in trouble.
(Lizzie) It was a real…team-building experience (laughing).
(Stella) You were so gentle about it while everyone else was hiding or screaming — you knew what to do!
(Lizzie) I’m from Salt Lake City, Utah, where my family all still live. They’re a non-Mormon family. In Utah you really have to take a stance to be a non-Mormon: like when I was little there were playdates that would get cancelled when people realized we weren’t churchgoers. I had to identify as “an outsider” but I took it in stride. Stella, you have that “outsider” identity, too.
My family loved Nature so I skied, hiked, and camped from a very young age. There are parts of the Utah desert between Escalante and Capitol Reef that I really grew up going to as a neighborhood, with insane rock formations right outside your tent—just golden.
In Utah you’d find clothes made for the elements, not for “fashion”. I had a hard time in the women’s racks, like, What is this blouse with ruffles and a wrap, what are these clothes?! So I was always in the men’s section. Everything felt so naive. You’d find ‘70s Patagonias with the old massive label. I’d find Western-anything.
(Stella) When someone decides to buy something from 6397, I hope they wear it a lot. The more you wear something, the more it becomes part of your identity.
(Lizzie) It’s also through the design. We’re considering a lot of things in the design, because we want people to integrate it into their wardrobe.
(Stella) Exactly, so it can really become part of a person’s wardrobe and world. I have so many clothes in my closet but I really only wear from here to here (gestures with hands a few feet) on a rack. Then suddenly something will return and come back into my daily wardrobe. I hope our pieces can be like that for our customers.
(Lizzie) I feel like we’re both shaped more by boyish clothes, and wear men’s clothes and feel most comfortable in men’s clothes. We’re always probably on the casual side of things. We both got there from different ways —
(Stella) But at the core we’re very similar in what we like —
(Lizzie) And in our version of femininity. It’s hard to pinpoint and very intuitive.
(Stella) I want to make clothes I can be proud of and that I want to wear myself. At the beginning, 6397 was a capsule of easy basics, t-shirts and jeans, because that’s what I like and live in. You intuitively understand what I like but take it much further in the way only a designer like you can.
(Lizzie) The t-shirts and jeans still stay true to you and your point of view. By now I have all of the 6397 codes in me, it’s a shared intuition— part of invisible language that we share with each other. When I first came to 6397 I started going through your archive (“The Barn”) as a way to research. My anthropological approach — to get in touch with a city and the people in the city is to sift through seeing all of their discarded clothes and rotation; that’s how I learned more about you. There’s an amazing hodgepodge of museum-quality artisanal Margiela, Comme des Garcons, sprinklings of the brands you’ve represented. There’s a lot of menswear, a lot of quieter pieces.
(Stella) I own many similar things. Most people don’t see the difference but there are slight differences in the proportions, the fabrics. There are a lot of jeans, slips and t shirts—
(Lizzie) Like 30-plus years of jeans, slips and t-shirts. (Laughs). But also a black dress from the 80s made of four different viscose dresses that are hand-stitched together. Iconic, familiar outerwear pieces like the bomber, the trench coat, the 70s shearling, but all best in category and in highly-considered fabrics. Everything feels amazing.
SOME OF OUR PERSONAL FAVORITES FROM S/S25 -
THE SHIRTDRESS
(Lizzie) Spring feels soft, really embracing cottons and wools and natural fibers. And with the leopard print — a thread of punk. The collarless shirtdress is one of my favorites, with a fun placket that keeps going and going around the neck; you don’t get to a (standard) collar. It’s a nice balance of good design and not-too-tricky.
(Stella) Same — the shirtdress is a favorite, in black cotton, chambray and leopard. There’s a subtle oddness to that dress that I really like. That’s something that we’re both attracted to - to things that are just a little bit off, something not-perfect.
(Lizzie) I designed the dress to be slightly pulled to the back, which gives a slight drape at the front where you can hide a lot — like in the leopard one you could take care of a toddler and not think about stains and it’s got pockets to play with and throw things in.
(Stella) I got the leopard one for myself but now I have to get the black one!
LEOPARD – LEOPARD
(Lizzie) The leopard t-shirt is another favorite from Spring. There are all of these subtle seams that break up the print — interrupting it in an interesting way — so that there’s a little bit of humor to discover what’s cloaked in the familiar. (Like double camouflage).
(Stella) You don’t even see the seams at first. But when you put it on, you feel the difference — it’s subtle but there is a difference.
(Lizzie) And you’ve always worn a leopard Supreme t-shirt as part of your uniform. But when my version came out, you said this t-shirt rivals that one…
(Stella) It’s better !
(Lizzie) So that’s a win!
(Stella) I’ve always liked leopard; maybe it is a punk thing — I have a lot of that sensibility. Most of the time I wear solid colors but then one day you wake up and chose leopard in reaction to that. It could be what you’re feeling or the weather. It’s always interesting what you choose to wear and why each day.
(Lizzie) The bronze painted jeans are a favorite too. They have a patina, with subtle greens layered in like oxidized copper. They feel like a nice manifestation of New York City and things people come to 6397 for — denim done in an approachable, everyday way.
KAFTAN
(Stella) I’ve always liked kaftans; own several. I love textiles from different countries — everyday textiles that come from a place with an intricate, rich culture.
(Lizzie) So when you play with these traditional fabrics in a modern context, they have a new life and meaning. Our kaftan is made from a Japanese mill that makes fabrics for kimonos —
(Stella) For house kimonos, daily wear kimonos. So it’s cotton, and not precious.
(Stella) When I was very, very young (in Japan) my mother would do all her chores wearing a kimono. She would cook and wash dishes in her kimono, with an apron that she’d wear over it to keep it clean.
She didn’t wear “slacks” until she was much older - a generational shift. So our kaftan is more from an everyday place — I love ours— I wear it with the LES men’s blazer and then over jeans as a new uniform.
BASKETBALL SHORTS
(Lizzie) big, long boyish shorts always do well for 6397, a testament to our customers’ loyalty and familiarity with the brand. We’ve been doing baggy shorts for so long. And you have to have a lot of confidence to wear them — an attitude. The blue basketball shorts are surprising. The fabric is a beautiful Italian viscose that feels familiar, like an Indian lamé cotton shirting, but it drapes and feels familiar like an iridescent sport short. I’ve worn baggier shorts since joining 6397 because I get inspired by how you wear them.
(Stella) I’ve always worn long, baggy shorts when it’s hot in the summer. You feel more free, you feel cooler. And I always hate it when summer comes to an end…
(Lizzie) It takes a certain confidence in a woman to carry this level of boyishness. You could say they’re “frumpy” by standard ideas about what’s flattering on a woman, but you have to break through that. It’s not all about your body— it’s about the fabric, proportion and attitude. And it’s so cool when you find like-minded people who are willing to go there.
