something blue
Ella Goodine-Richardson

Ella Goodine-Richardson captures the shapes and forms of the East River at her store something blue. With a knack for working outside of the conventions of craft or discipline, Ella sews custom slips and chemisettes evoking a mixture of natural motifs and historical trends of times passed. The striking vintage silks and buttons amplify the artist’s Dionysian compositions.  The craft is collaboration with archetypal forms of elegance.  The line between her creative expression and highly technical, intricate sewing techniques inspire a bold sensual engagement with the world around us. Care and wonder are invoked by each custom piece.

Unique in her practice, Ella combines independence and tradition with a wild dance of object making that captures the quality of the historical moment. She desires to at once cut through and flow away from the fixations of perfection in contemporary fashion. Limitlessness and hidden faults are her secret necessities. “I am inspired to start with what is unconventional about being alive, and about design. Being brutally honest and having integrity is the most elegant to me. It makes it easier to make the beautiful thing and then let it go.”

Bound only by her imagination, Ella’s designs are influenced by the natural landscapes and waterways of the region as well as the history of the beloved Seaport neighborhood. Down by the river’s deltas, having never had the water blush her skin she imagines its depth and its meanderings. Her mind’s eye considers the secrets giving way to the endless growing and receding riverbank. Can this flowing body of water be compared to craft or the art of making a fine thing? She is compelled by its poetic form. A step into something blue at 220 Front St. is a step into the joy of making hand-crafted clothing with the finest vintage materials.

About the Business:

Ella Goodine-Richardson is an artist and designer based in New York City. Every incident endows a structural intimacy that acts like a story or picture.

Ella is devoted to the care and wonder that comes from these very real and relevant parts of our lives. Ella yearns to divine the sculptural content of the past in an exacting iteration. The thongs and camisoles made become refracted emanations; they appear as if engraved in a watery mirror- a place where someone can experience their own sensuality and excitement. All the ritual and ceremony of garment-making throughout history has been in some sense an act of service. There is inarguably an ethic of care in a craft that is as necessary as the needle and thread. For Ella, making lingerie retrieves and ransoms a historical tradition.

For more information on something blue visit their website here or follow them on Instagram.

Photo credit: Lucas Brito

something blue is part of Chashama’s Storefront Startup program, which is made possible by our partnership with the NYC Department of Small Business Services.