At the end of the first chapter of her memoir Glitter Saints, creator of international clothing company Magnolia Pearl, Robin Brown, is whisked up to the top of a Ferris Wheel by her carnival-circuit grandpa at the Strawberry Festival in Poteet, Texas. It was the eve of her and her parents moving to LA in the early 1960s.
It’s a fitting beginning for a story that quilts influences from the nation’s two largest states in a tale only their nature could nurture. Traipsing through the trappings of early 1960s California, Brown recounts her father safe-cracking on the Sunset Strip, her mother shimmying at the Pink Pussycat in Hollywood and the whole family having Thanksgiving with the Hell’s Angels in Sebastopol.
At the end of Glitter Saints, Brown sits at her kitchen table back in Bandera, Texas – a heart full of grief and only some kite string at hand. With this she sewed Magnolia Pearl’s first official item, and from there she’s built a burgeoning business from the art of her two home states.
With two museum-quality flagship stores in Malibu, CA and Fredericksburg, TX, the blending of influences is quite literal. Still, the aesthetic is all Brown’s own.
Palm tree motifs play with tattered lace and yellow roses roll across post-surf-perfect flannels, but the comingling isn’t always so obvious. The vibe of two states known for all that sunshine surges through each stitch because that light is often all Brown had to cling to – the glowing warmth of something steady amidst a childhood scarred by severe abuse, neglect, and bouts of homelessness.
That basic gratitude is the real muse at the heart of this brand, echoed in Magnolia Pearl’s signature fading, stitching and mending – the scars of the hard-worn and hard-won, loved-through and lived-in. It’s what Brown focuses on amidst the thrills and the trials of running a global fashion brand, and what guides the ethos of her company across every facet from design to distribution.
The Magnolia Pearl Peace Warrior Foundation was founded by Brown and her partner, John Gray, amidst the 2020 lockdowns. It had always been the centerpiece of what Brown hoped to achieve through Magnolia Pearl, and has grown into a force for good in communities in both her beloved states, as well as across the country and the world.
Funded by special collaborations with recording artists and various celebrity fans of the brand, the Foundation’s capacities are also greatly enhanced by the brand’s in-house resale platform, Magnolia Pearl Trade. Through this site, MP fans can list their own pre-loved items for sale with the security of moderator oversight and buyers can bid on or purchase outright with the safeguard of authenticators. A portion of each of these sales – as well as 100% of site fees – go to the Peace Warrior Foundation. Additionally, Magnolia Pearl lists one-offs, samples and other highly-collectible pieces for auction on MP Trade, with 25% of the final item price going to charity via the Foundation.
It’s an innovative loop of community and sustainability (many brands’ clothing samples go to landfills) that has resulted in over $450,000 (to date) in donations to charities that feed and house many of America’s Indigenous Veteran population, the unhoused and their pets, disaster victims and first responders, and many more.
Like many of us here, the California arm of Magnolia Pearl was affected by the recent wildfires and mudslides. And while the Peace Foundation has donated to organizations serving this population, what’s most impactful is the brand’s devotion to holding dear the lessons we all learn through these trials – that no matter what we wear, or where we live or what we look like, we all need each other so much.
It’s that little bit of inspiration that’s the running thread through every Magnolia Pearl piece and output. From deep in the heart of Texas to the lip of the Pacific, it’s a company with its eyes on the horizon.
Magnolia Pearl started in 2002 at the kitchen table of Robin Brown and John Gray. Now, the brand is sold in over 400 boutiques across the globe, as well as through retail behemoth Free People‘s website and Magnolia Pearl’s two flagship stores in Fredericksburg, TX and Malibu, CA. Magnolia Pearl clothing is frequently worn by celebrities as varied as Daryl Hanna, Paris Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Blake Lively and more, and has been featured in various music videos and album artwork for Taylor Swift.
Brown’s memoirs, Glitter Saints: the Cosmic Art of Forgiveness, is a bestseller on Amazon and creating ripples for its unflinching portrait of one woman’s survival of severe abuse through creative acts. It carries praise by Johnny Depp, Daryl Hannah, designer Betsey Johnson and Grammy-winning singer/songwriter, Patty Griffin.
