Los Angeles brand Mimchik has only been around since October 2022, but in that time they’ve managed to rack up a roster of celebrity clientele. But the brand’s founders—childhood friends Mia Kazovsky and Emma Marciano—still pinch themselves when they see the likes of Emily Ratajkowski, Addison Rae, and SZA wearing their clothes. “Pictures turn up on the internet and we’re just like, Oh my God. We see it in real time, the way that everybody else sees it,” Marciano says. “It’s always crazy.”
On any given day, a Mimchik girl can feel an inclination to wear an oversized distressed leather bomber, a matching denim motorcycle jacket and miniskirt, or a slinky, lace-lined slip. So it’s no surprise that celebrities with a singular sense of style would be drawn to a label that eschews trends. “It’s not trend driven, and we’re not trying to get everybody’s attention with shock value,” Marciano says. “It’s something that can live in your closet forever, or something that’s timeless with this really unique twist.”
There is an innate sexiness to Mimchik, with an emphasis on confidence. “There’s freedom, if one day you want to be sexy and powerful in a mini dress, and the next day you feel your best in a really oversized jacket,” she adds. Take their collection of skirts, which feature a belt around the waist and the apex of the hip—an unconventional styling trick made to look haphazardly chic. “We like to keep things a little bit funny like a slight bit of quirk, while focusing on making the body look good with long lines and exaggerated curves,” Kazovsky says.
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By that same virtue, the brand offers unisex sizing in many of their denim and leather products. “Growing up, such a huge part of my life [was spent] going into my dad’s closet and stealing absolutely everything he had,” Marciano. (While this may be a widely shared experience, Marciano was raiding wardrobes much more robust than most. Her father is Maurice Marciano, one of the founders of Guess.) She knew that she wanted her label to cater to people who had longed for that space in their wardrobes too.
The Mimchik customer is described as the “conscious hot girl,” though the founders note that the designation is more an attitude than a physical existence; Customers range from teens to grandmothers. “We’ve really focused on is making clothes that just you feel your best and your most confident, your most powerful in, which is why the range of our customer is pretty broad,” Kazovsky says. “A common thread between all of our customers is a strong point of view, a sense of self, and a good sense of humor.”
The founders’ philosophy is that pieces should only get better with age. “We want it to have this sense of character and not be taken seriously, in a way,” Marciano adds. She doesn’t want Mimchik to produce clothing that is better kept hermetically sealed. “It’s like, ‘Oh, well, I just paid $2,000 for this thing, I can’t wear it.’ [Clothes should be] worn, lived in, and messed up.”
To achieve this, they source deadstock wools and hand-distressed leather from Italian tanneries. “Nothing about what we’re doing is fast fashion,” Kazovsky says. They are also concerned with keeping production close to home. “Thus far, we’ve manufactured everything locally in Los Angeles so we keep a close watch on the quality to make sure everything is up to our standards, as well as making sure that there’s fair labor wages and living wages that are being paid,” she adds.
Now entering its second year of business, Mimchik is well on its way to becoming a hallmark Los Angeles label, with no intentions of leaving. “LA is pretty conducive to being a small brand: going downtown, or going to the factories, if you want to manufacture locally,” Kazovsky says. But beyond a business perspective, their love of their hometown shines through in their work. “We re both LA girls, through and through.”
