Jenisa Washington is an hour late for her appointment with a reporter. As she sits in her loft office in downtown L.A., the phone never seems to stop ringing, her assistant pops in every few minutes to shout another question, and her 4-month-old infant Isaiah is demanding to be breast-fed. Washington doesn’t miss a beat. The 30-year-old designer is a remarkably serene presence amid the chaos that is her everyday life, now that she has become one of those whirlwind, overnight successes that are a hallmark of the fashion industry. “You just learn to take one day at a time and do the best you can,” said Washington, whose butter-soft leather lines make up Los Angeles-based Sold Apparel LLC. “It’s like, if I’m running late for meetings, there’s not much I can do but just go along with it.” In just 12 months, Washington’s leather fashions, which range from powder-blue capris to bubble-gum-pink tunics, have transformed a dining-room-table concept into a serious fashion presence. She will be awarded the emerging designer of the year award from CaliforniaMart on Oct. 3. Just three weeks ago, Washington moved her home office to a 2,000-square-foot work space, which she furnished with bamboo plants, a black leather couch and four sleek glass-and-metal desks. “Contemporary designers with fresh, updated, ageless styling are hot right now, and Jenisa is a very young and exciting designer,” said Sue Scheimann, president of CaliforniaMart. “She’s transformed a textile into a new fashion trend.” Sold’s high-end Black Label line is all leather, including wide-leg capri pants and boot-cut slacks with zipper bottoms. Tops run from $350 (retail), skirts $700 and jackets $1,800. White Label items, which cost about half as much, combine fabrics and elements such as a tube top consisting of a leather front with a black pinstripe gabardine back. Not many designers have made leather a fashion staple, even though some upscale labels, such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton, have dabbled in leather accessories and purses. “She’s filled a void in the marketplace by giving leather a fashion element to it,” said Sherry Drobnik, merchandise manager of contemporary sportswear for Directives West, a retail consulting firm. “She treats leather like a fabric, whereas others think of leather as outerwear. She puts it in sexy silhouettes and makes it very wearable.” Washington spent a few months shopping her clothing around until fashion buyer John Eshaya at Fred Segal decided to take a chance. Now her wares can be found at Fred Segal, American Rag CIE, Maxfield, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. “It’s fresh. It gives a customer a reason to buy something new and different,” said Eula Smith, a buyer in the contemporary department at Nordstrom, which just began carrying the line this fall. “We’ve already had a 65 percent sell-through in a week. That’s fast compared to an average of 25 percent.” Getting her clothes on the backs of celebrities has provided a major marketing boost. Madonna wore a leather crewneck fitted-waist jacket designed by Washington in her “Beautiful Stranger” video. Diana Ross recently wore one of the designer’s black tube dresses to the MTV Music Awards. And Courtney Love, Gwyneth Paltrow and Winona Ryder have been photographed in her A-line skirts. Washington, who grew up on a 43-acre ashram in Agoura Hills, where life alternated between periods of learning, prayer and communal meals, got her start in a high school home economics course. After a stint in Japan as an exchange student, where she learned about business management, Washington returned to the United States and worked in sales at Agnes B and Laura Urbinati. There, she cultivated relationships with stylists and wardrobe designers who would frequent the stores. Eventually, she secured jobs as a designer for Rebecca De Mornay in “The Shining,” and Will Smith during his performance last year in the American Music Awards. Tired of retail, she pressed ahead into design. It took about $10,000 to start the business. In the last two months alone, she has sold $200,000 worth of clothing. Washington estimates she took in $500,000 in sales during the past summer season. “It’s a huge surprise. I had no idea it would take off so quickly,” she said.
