La DoubleJ moves upmarket, launches capsule collection with Carolyn Murphy

La DoubleJ is gaining ground in the high-end market and broadening the wardrobe for its clientele, long accustomed to the brand’s sophisticated maximalism. “We are 100% made in Italy. Most of our fabrics come from Como. But we also have suppliers in Umbria, the Marche, and Milan. We want to offer our customers a premium product. Especially now that the luxury market has capitalised on the situation by pushing prices higher,” founder and entrepreneur J.J. Martin tells FashionNetwork.com.

A journalist by training (formerly of The Wall Street Journal and Harper’s Bazaar), J.J. Martin was born in Los Angeles, US but launched her brand in Milan in 2015, her adopted city, where she had settled 25 years earlier. “It all started with my vintage collection, photographed on some of Milan’s leading creative women, such as Rosanna Orlandi and Angela Missoni,” recalls J.J. Martin. “Following the sales boom, we introduced a new dress — which went on to become La DoubleJ’s bestseller — the Swing Dress, most recently reinterpreted in Milan by model Carolyn Murphy.”

The capsule collection, co-designed with the American model and activist, a long-standing face of Prada and the Estée Lauder beauty brand, opened the brand’s presentation at the latest fashion week and will be available in shops from November 5. “I asked her to look at the Swing Dress through her own lens, which is more minimal than La DoubleJ’s,” continues J.J. Martin. The result is seven variations in which the brand’s colours and prints make way for exquisitely crafted embellishment, featuring jacquard, fil coupé, sequins, and hand embroidery.

Over the past three years, the brand has worked hard on streamlining, softening its prints, and expanding the collection with new shirts, suiting, and tailoring. “The aim is to dress women at different stages of their lives, from 18 to 78,” notes J.J. Martin, who, from spring/summer 2027, is also expanding the accessories range with new sculptural pochettes and clutches, hand-embellished with sequins.

Among the projects in the pipeline, the brand will publish the book ‘Table Energy’ at the end of October, dedicated to the art of the table as interpreted by La DoubleJ, reflected in the latest collection through exquisite Murano vases.

Following last year’s openings in Capri, Dallas, and Palm Beach, in May the brand inaugurated a six-storey townhouse in New York named ‘The Lighthouse’, featuring a two-level shop, offices, and storage space. “We strive to convey this energy,” concludes J.J. Martin.