Powell River-Born Stylist Karla Welch is in Vogue… Again
Photo: Matthew Welch
That’s right. Karla Welch, who was Powell River born-and-raised (not Vancouver, like other publications are saying… tsk, tsk), is back in the media for creating a line of perfect white t-shirts with Justin Beiber. And she’s not just gracing any old media outlet–she’s in Vogue–which is basically the fashion bible.
Welch originally created these tees as a request from Justin Bieber, who wanted extra long white t-shirts for his 2012 Believe Tour, but they didn’t exist at the time. So what did she do? She made them, using Hanes tees.
Stylist Karla Welch remembers exactly why she first got into reworking classic men’s Hanes white tees: Her client Justin Bieber “wanted them tomorrow.” And what Justin Bieber wants, Justin Bieber gets. “He was so fearless. [He said], ‘I want T-shirts that are long,’ and they literally didn’t exist in the marketplace. It was a bit of a nightmare.” Like any stylist worth her salt, Welch rolled up her sleeves, went to the local Kmart, and stocked up on mountains of triple-XL tees before taking them apart and remaking them using a pattern she had created. The results, which Bieber went on to wear for his Purpose tour, ignited the x Karla collection, a series of seven white T-shirt styles—all reimagined by Welch using Hanes components—retailing for $30 and available starting tomorrow exclusively on xKarla.com (and in Los Angeles at a Maxfield pop-up starting on August 6th: “I thought, wouldn’t it be funny to take $30 T-shirts and sell them there?”). Bieber agreed. “Karla and I have always pushed boundaries together and this collaboration is a continuation of that,” he says.
Read more in the article in Vogue.
Photo: Matthew Welch
We think Karla is pretty rad, don’t you?
You can find the t-shirts and purchase one of your own at xkarla.com
