Skingraft's Jonny Cota Strikes a Balance Between Uptown Chic and Downtown Freak
I want people to see what was in my head. It’s not just about parading stale jackets walking down the runway. I want there to be smell, lighting, sound.
If you ask any one in Los Angeles with a shred of fashion sense who is on the cutting edge of LA fashion, the first name out of their mouth is Skingraft. The line and its ever-eclectic designer Jonny Cota are clearly LA’s design darling. One look at the line and it’s easy to see why.
Cota cut his couture teeth in the circus making costumes for him and eventually others in the show. Rest assured it was a far cry from a Ringling thing. The San Francisco based El Circo was vaudeville styled circus with a definitive urban edge. That’s Cota to the core, who claims, “My designs come from a dark place. They are modern, urban and edgy.”
Making the leap in 2005 from his stilt walking to cat walking with his Skingraft collection for men and women, was a seamless one. “It was a natural evolution that made a lot of sense.” He moved from time consuming custom designs to a collection. “I was still interested in keeping that uniqueness.”
Cota is largely inspired by the anatomy of insects and animals. His designs subtly mimic scales, bones and feathers of his many muses. His aesthetic is a unique one; “uptown chic meets downtown freak” wrapped in a couture package.
Cota spends half of his time in Seminyak Bali. Although it would be cheaper to manufacture elsewhere, the local artisans, craft-makers and materials readily available, such as skins and silver make the island and the level of creativity an unrivaled option.
One expansion of the brand and the business is Cota’s brother Chris who joined him a few years ago. “Creatively, I do everything. He takes care of the business. It’s a dream come true. We overlap a few days in Bali and a few weeks in LA. We never have to check in with each other.
Together they manage their manufacturing in Bali and the flagship Skingraft boutique in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. “Initially, I was not about it. I’ve never been in retail, but the store gives us a tangible identity. This is our vision and they get it.” Other stores may pop up in other markets, possibly in Tokyo as the edgy aesthetic resonates with the Asian market.
With an LA show on the horizon the creative pilots are high. The designer and DJ Cota says, “There’s always a huge amount of music infused in to the collection. Right now I’m in to really cheesy dance music. Is this me? Who is that person I’m creating? Yet, if I don’t play this music at the show I won’t be true to the collection.”
His shows are a sensorial experience. “I want people to see what was in my head. It’s not just about parading stale jackets walking down the runway. I want there to be smell, lighting, sound.”
Skingraft is always LA Fashion Week’s “it” show. Local celebs and stage savvy performers with a definitive edge like Janet Jackson, Juliette Lewis, Black Eyed Peas and good friend Adam Lambert have donned the line as has Nicki Minaj who wears specially created designs.
Cota doesn’t want to be boxed in to one market as no one believes he’s from America, let alone LA. That shouldn’t be a problem as it’s hard to explain the inspired line, let alone pigeon hole it.
