At the Table With: Jamie Haller
Ft. Great shoes and a paloma
At The Table With is a monthly interview series that explores the ideas of creativity and personal taste through the eyes of my friends (or people I would like to be friends with.) This month’s guest is the very talented fashion, shoe, and interior designer, Jamie Haller!
A couple of years ago, I was having dinner on the patio at All Time in LA when I saw a well-dressed woman walk in wearing a very cool pair of leather shoes. I don’t remember who I was with or anything about the meal, but I remember these flats and their unique silhouette clear as day. On my way out I sheepishly swung by this woman’s table to ask about them and learned they were the Jutti Slippers by Jamie Haller.
If you spend any time on fashion Substack, you’re probably familiar with the cult following behind Jamie Haller’s shoes. I myself am a card-carrying member of her fan club, and since that night at All Time I’ve amassed quite a collection of the brand’s loafers and ballet flats. There’s a certain fervor around anything Jamie makes, whether it’s her buttery leather heels or a looks-vintage-but-isn’t sweatshirt from her new apparel collection, and for good reason: it’s all really, really special.
I don’t just throw my enthusiasm behind anything, you know. I’m someone that finds a very particular thing they love—a t-shirt, a sweatpant, a pair of socks—and buys multiples. I have my leather-bottomed shoes resoled before they even touch the sidewalk and use a sweater shaver on my knits between wears; I like to take care of my things in hope that they’ll last for decades.
So it’s no surprise that I’m drawn to Jamie’s sensibility, her clear point of view, and her appreciation for craftsmanship, which extends beyond the shoes and items of clothing she makes and into the homes she designs, too. Yep, she’s also an interior designer. The kitchen in one of Jamie’s projects, a 1929 Spanish colonial in LA, was just recently featured on Architectural Digest’s site last month. It’s a gorgeous space filled with Delft tiles, vintage light fixtures, and custom cabinetry in a style Jamie has coined “found cabinetry”, which looks like it’s been mix-and-matched over time. It’s thoughtful and intentional, inspired by design details you’d find in European homes that have been around for years and years. Just like with Jamie’s Penny Loafers or her Kenickie Jean (a 5-pocket style that looks vintage, but better,) her design perspective in interiors feels collected and timeless.
Anyway, I’ll stop love-lettering, but I’m so honored that Jamie was open to chatting with me about how she got here, the way she’s honed her point of view, and why it’s so important to really know who you are and how you live when you make things for other people. In a world filled with trend-driven design, Jamie Haller is a true respite for those of us looking to fill our lives with the types of things we’ll keep with us forever.
I asked Jamie a few questions…
Ali LaBelle: First things first, tell us a little about yourself!
Jamie Haller: I grew up in San Diego but moved to LA for college, where I got a job I loved right out of school at Wet Seal’s Corporate office. I started in production but quickly knew design was a better fit for me. I would’ve taken any job just to get my foot in the door, but I am so glad I started in production—it really prepared me for and gave me the understanding of what happens after a design is created. I spent the next 22 years in working for LA brands like Guess and BEBE. When I couldn’t handle another corporate retail job—they have a reputation for being intense, to put it lightly—I moved into working for small advanced contemporary wholesale brands Ever and NSF. At both brands I helped launch the women’s collection and oversaw every aspect of design and creative direction.
15 years later I got to a point where I didn’t really want to work for anyone anymore. When Covid happened I had something that I didn’t know I needed: silence, space, nothingness. I was able to reflect and think about what I wanted for the first time. From that space I started designing and creating the shoe line. It wasn’t premeditated, it just happened, one shoe at a time.
The last 4 years have been a whirlwind in the best way. About a year and a half ago I started feeling like something was missing in me, and I realized that it was the part of me that was a clothing designer for 22 years before I leapt into the unknown of shoes.
The shoes were this beautiful palate cleanser, something completely different that allowed my brain to expand in different ways. There was a trip to NYC where I went denim shopping and couldn’t really find anything that worked quite right for me. The more I leaned into the thought of someday making clothes, the more the universe just started putting it together for me. It was very serendipitous. The idea had been swirling around in my head, and when I decided to do something about it, these amazing people showed up in my life to help. Once they appeared, I took it as a sign. It all clicked.
One of the reasons I waited to create my own clothing was that I really wanted to understand who I was going to become after separating from the brands at which I worked for a decade of my life—I just assumed I would go through some big change. I kept waiting to change, and I kind of did, but I mostly didn’t. At some point I realized that I was forever me. Everything I ever did and liked was all authentic to the person I always was and still am. This realization allowed me to fully integrate as a solo designer.
AL: Your design perspective shines through your work so clearly; no matter what you do, it all feels like it’s a part of the same visual world. How do your creative processes between interiors, shoes, and apparel overlap? How are they different?
JH: They are all very personal. I don’t have a customer that I design for—I design for myself and it’s always through my lens. When I work on a home I am definitely keeping the needs of the client in mind, but it has my filter on it and it’s made up of what I like best. My lifestyle is casual, more West Coast-centric, and my needs are specific. I’m a mom, I’m in my 40s, I’m a career professional who is also a pure creative, and I’m someone who likes advanced silhouettes and elevated quality and fabrics, but I can’t really bother with extreme statement making or a precious sensibility anymore. I want to feel cool, beautiful, hip, and different, but I also want to feel at ease. I am very very specific in what I like, which has become my language. It doesn’t mean that someone younger won’t like what I am doing, it just means that fashion, for me, is filtered through a more realistic commentary. It meets women and women’s needs where they are. It’s not fashion week, it’s real life. It’s the everyday I am tuning into. I say I am outfitting a modern woman’s casual wardrobe… I think that fits.
AL: Something I love about your shoes—and really, everything you make—is that their silhouette and design details transcend any specific place, trend, or era. They’re truly timeless. Who are your biggest design influences? Who or what do you look to for inspiration?
JH: There is no true answer here, everything is just personal to me. The Jutti Slipper and other slipper silhouettes came from my own personal preferences and desires—I am just a slipper wearer. I used to buy Capezio shoes by the half dozen to wear as regular shoes. People would tell me that I shouldn’t do that—they aren’t meant to be worn outside—but I didn’t care. I collected and discovered shoes everywhere in the world; I bought slippers in India while traveling and I was obsessed with them. I also collected men’s and women’s vintage shoes, mostly Italian brands from the ‘70s and ‘80s.
My Penny Loafer was inspired by one of the mens ‘70s loafers I found and loved but weren’t my size. When I worked for very small companies I had to style photoshoots, and we never had a budget for shoes in all of the potential models’ sizes, so I used to collect extra loafers and heels. I began collecting cool styles at flea markets, and then I just had them.
It has always been my style to wear men’s clothes—men’s denim, men’s loafers—with women’s vintage high heels from the ‘80s. I typically pull from nostalgic parts of myself to inform my style.
I don’t look to other designers for inspiration or influence. I am always looking inward and I am always guided by what I am attracted to; my affections guide me to inspiration and, at this point, I trust that process. I think part of being a good designer is leaning into trusting your own voice and intuition and allowing those micro interests to percolate, because they become bigger. Even in denim, I can’t tell you all the things a denim aficionado might know, like the colors of vintage labels and what they mean, but I can spot a beautiful vintage wash from across the flea market. I can hold up a pair of jeans and tell you how to get that specific look, I can see the weave of the denim and understand if it will work, and I have been doing it long enough to know the “hows” behind everything. I am guided by beauty, but I am no expert collector. I find worn-out denim to be one of the most beautiful things; it’s like art to me, but art meant to be worn and lived in. An art that lives.
I like patina, story, and the becoming of something. I want something to fold into life. I think restoring historic homes and designing denim are parallels. Having an appreciation for original wood floors or authentic plumbing fixtures is the same as a great found denim wash that someone wore 50 years ago; it’s the story and the unfolding of it that creates the beauty.
AL: How do our homes and our wardrobes connect? Do you have any advice for someone who struggles to translate their personal style from their outfits to their interiors, or vice versa?
JH: I struggle the most when I look at and try to emulate other people’s work I like on Instagram, or when I see something I think I should be doing too. I think the best thing someone can do is really understand their needs and lean into them. Don’t look outside, look inwards.
AL: What’s next for Jamie Haller? (The brand and the person!)
JH: Well, I don’t know. I am a visualizer and a manifester, but everything happened a little fast and now I’m trying to catch up. I think it’s important to continue exploring this thing I have created and to be available for it. I just want to be present and continue to evolve and expand without too many rules attached. I know that the clothing line and the shoe line will continue to expand into additional categories. I’m doing more woven shirts and sweaters in future lines, as I have always designed for every category, not just denim. We just launched tailored pieces: a vest and trousers. I love doing relaxed tailored pieces that feel easy and cool but professional. I thought about what the suit I want to wear myself looks like, and I made it.
With my own website, I get to explore things for the sake of what I want to make, and I’m trying to lean into using my e-commerce as a platform to experiment. Denim is a specialty, and it has a special place in my design heart, but in shoes we are continuing to explore new things. I just want to do things that personally inspire and excite me.
AL: Let’s do a little visualization exercise! Imagine your dream dinner party. You can invite anyone (living or not, famous or not), serve anything, and host it anywhere. Where’s the party?
JH: On a large restaurant patio with twinkly lights and great cocktails.
AL: What’s on the table? How are you decorating?
JH: Margaritas with spicy salt, chips, and guacamole are on the table. I’m decorating with twinkly lights and easy florals. This describes every night I host. It’s just my style: not precious, lovely, casual.
AL: Who’s invited?
JH: I have been feeling very grateful; I look around and can’t believe what has developed. I’d invite my team and all of the people who have supported me on this journey. People from LA, NY, and Italy. Design, production, sales, PR. We are in a good place and I just want to be with all of the people who are here with me.
AL: What are you wearing?
JH: Anything summery—fun dinner party attire, but no pressure. Maybe an oversized semi-sheer silk button down from our line, the Slouch Jean, and our Knot Heels or slips.
AL: What’s on the menu? What are we drinking?
JH: Palomas and margaritas. I love grapefruit, so maybe that is part of it.
AL: What music is playing?
JH: Favorites, the kind of songs you end up wanting to sing to.
AL: Quick fire round. What’s your favorite scent or smell?
JH: I like the smell of the dishwasher, or I guess the smell of soap. I also like the smell of dryer sheets.
AL: Favorite artist?
JH: I’ll say my favorite museum: I love the Pitti Palace in Florence. The way the decoration and transitions roll from room to room is splendid. The color on the walls, the lighting, the flooring with marble colorful tiles and borders…All of it is perfection. I can spend hours wandering through it over and over.
AL: Last thing you read?
JH: All Fours by Miranda July. I read it twice. I also just finished The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah and I loved that too. I was at the beach for 2 weeks, and it was appropriately a very beachy book.
AL: Comfort food?
JH: Mexican food.
AL: Thing you bought recently?
JH: Vintage Coach bags, an Away suitcase, Tata Harper face oil cleanser (love), 3 bathing suits (from Left on Friday—love these too,) and $5 slip on jellies from the mercado on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park. I thought I would wear them at the beach, but in the end I never wore them once; they’re too trendy, even when no one is looking. I am just a Havianas girl at heart. A large Indonesian-style Bali wrap, the kind you knot around your waist at the beach. I’ve worn it 20 times this month, it’s so easy. I bought a 5 pack of cotton ribbed big butt underwear at Target and they make me really happy. They’re fairly thin and sheer, in white and nude… Perfect. I wish I could find nicer versions of this exact thing. I bought a floor-length silk smock dress on sale at Tibi and wore it to a dinner party at my house, which was amazing. I bought 100 things for my kids. I bought a very cool, large, 1970s lamp recently, which I put on my bedside table.
Jamie, thank you so much for being here! Enter your email above to subscribe to Jamie’s newsletter, where she’s sharing loads about her creative process and peeks behind the scenes. Follow Jamie Haller (the brand) on Instagram here and Jamie Haller (the designer) here.
I’m back with another round of my new column, Room Recipe, on Friday! I’ll see you then.
x
Ali
In case you missed it:
I adore Jamie's brand, and loved this soundbite: "I am very very specific in what I like, which has become my language. It doesn’t mean that someone younger won’t like what I am doing, it just means that fashion, for me, is filtered through a more realistic commentary. It meets women and women’s needs where they are. It’s not fashion week, it’s real life. It’s the everyday I am tuning into."
Thank you for writing such a lovely article Ali