"As a young girl growing up in the UK and then in Santa Barbara, I fell in love with folklore. My love of make believe has infiltrated my work and play for as long as I can remember and ultimately helped inspire my previous clothing line, WILDFOX."

In Irish, Scottish, Icelandic and Scandinavian folklore, the Selkie is a woman of the ocean who lives inside a seal skin. When she comes up to the rocks she slips out of her skin to bask in the sun. If a man is able to steal her skin while she sleeps, she is forced to become his wife and live on land. But, if the selkie finds her skin again, she transforms back into her true form and immediately returns to the sea, free.

This was Gordon's favorite tale her mom would tell her as a child, and after losing Wildfox, during her darkest moments, she remembered it. "I thought, it's a new beginning story, this is kind of like the second chapter," she explains. "And I thought, there have to be so many women out there who want to find themselves, or are looking for themselves again, and maybe this company can be a representation of my age group, who are looking for joy later on." Like the selkies of folklore, Gordon found her skin and regained control of her life. Now, she's free.

@selkie

meet the creative director KIMBERLEY GORDON

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