<text class="_textbox_1gl8y_17" direction="ltr" height="11.8999938964844" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="235.975280761719" x="713.963134765625" y="-269.5" data-test="textbox">Tracing the century-old path of the </text><text class="_textbox_1gl8y_17" direction="ltr" height="11.8829956054688" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="42.9318237304688" x="953.610473632812" y="-269.5" data-test="textbox">storied </text><text class="_textbox_1gl8y_17" direction="ltr" height="11.8659973144531" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="132.996154785156" x="999.069763183594" y="-269.5" data-test="textbox">leather goods brand </text><text class="_textbox_1gl8y_17" direction="ltr" height="11.8829956054688" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="73.17138671875" x="747.831665039062" y="-253.5" data-test="textbox">Mark Cross f</text><text class="_textbox_1gl8y_17" direction="ltr" height="11.8829956054688" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="163.716796875" x="825.728271484375" y="-253.5" data-test="textbox">rom America to France, and back</text><text class="_textbox_1gl8y_17" direction="ltr" height="11.8659973144531" lengthadjust="spacingAndGlyphs" textlength="74.5042114257812" x="1021.79888916016" y="-253.5" data-test="textbox">&nbsp;again.</text>

Luxury brand Mark Cross has a long and winding American-French history. Founded in Boston in 1845 by Henry W. Cross and named after his only son, the company began its life as a luxury <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/vegan-leather-sustainability-stella-mccartney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leather-goods</a> outfitter for the equestrian set. It was acquired in the late 1800s by an employee, Patrick Murphy, who moved the brand&rsquo;s headquarters from Boston to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/french-girl-nyc-guide-french-restaurants-bakeries-shopping" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York City</a>. Murphy&rsquo;s son, Gerald, and his wife Sara&mdash;who together fully took over the company in 1934&mdash;relocated themselves and the brand itself to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/christian-dior-reopening-paris-flagship-boutique-30-avenue-montaigne-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paris</a> in the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/return-of-the-roaring-20s-for-fashion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1920s</a>, where they were quickly established as representatives of an effortless, indelibly American spirit. It is Gerald and Sara who serve as the sources of inspiration for the brand&rsquo;s new creative director, Rebeca Mendoza, as she sets out to reintroduce the iconic American brand to a new generation.

Mendoza, who previously worked at New York-centric labels like <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/proenza-schouler-hampden-charleston-15th-anniversary">Proenza Schouler</a> and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/brooke-shields-barbara-walters-interview-controversial-1980-calvin-klein-campaign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Calvin Klein</a>, in addition to running her own label RYE alongside her now-husband Ryan Clements, saw a chance to bring new light to a label that emerged when James K. Polk was president, more than a decade before the Civil War.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Heritage brands don&rsquo;t have to make a story because we have a story; we just need to tell it and educate people about why it is luxury, why it is worth it, and what it&rsquo;s worth,&rdquo; Mendoza says to me via Zoom from her New York office. Behind her sits a board of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/euphoria-color-makeup-beauty-trends-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">color</a> swatches, what she calls a &ldquo;Mark Cross color wheel.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a compilation of what&rsquo;s been done, and where she wants to take things. Tasked with navigating the fine line between preservation and experimentation, Mendoza is finding ways to contextualize the brand&rsquo;s structured, often formal-feeling <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/celebrities-who-have-bags-named-after-them" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bags</a> for the modern era.&nbsp;

When the Murphys moved to Paris in 1921, they quickly fell in with a chic set of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/new-young-artists-to-watch-2022-gallery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">artists</a> and writers, including Cole Porter, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/moschino-spring-summer-2020-collection-jeremy-scott" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pablo Picasso</a>, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose classic work Tender Is the Night was based on the Murphys.
&ldquo;Every day was different,&rdquo; Gerald Murphy said of the couple&rsquo;s time in Paris in a 1962 New Yorker profile. &ldquo;There was a tension and an excitement in the air that was almost physical. Always a new exhibition, or a recital of the new music, or a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/loewe-men-fall-winter-2022-collection-jonathan-anderson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dadaist</a> manifestation, or a costume ball in Montparnasse, or a premi&egrave;re of a new play or <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/shopping/shop-the-ultimate-balletcore-shoe-trend-ballet-flat-miu-miu-chanel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ballet</a>, or one of Etienne de Beaumont&rsquo;s fantastic &lsquo;Soir&eacute;es de Paris&rsquo; in Montmartre&mdash;and you&rsquo;d go to each one and find everybody else there, too.&rdquo;
Inspired by Picasso, the couple took up painting, and Gerald went on to have his work exhibited in 1923 in the Salon des Ind&eacute;pendants, receiving critical acclaim. Meanwhile, Gerald and Sara continued to expand their social circle among the city&rsquo;s artistic and literary minds. &ldquo;The Murphys were among the first Americans I ever met,&rdquo; composer Igor Stravinsky said. &ldquo;And they gave me the most agreeable impression of the United States.&rdquo;&nbsp;

In 1922, the couple followed Porter to the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/french-riviera-summer-travel-inspiration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">French Riviera</a>. Previously, Cap d&rsquo;Antibes had not been considered a summer haven, but the duo convinced the owners of the H&ocirc;tel du Cap to keep it open past its usual May 1st closure, helping to transform the coast into a popular tourist destination. As they continued to return to the Riviera, they eventually bought their own home, dubbed Villa America, where they hosted the era&rsquo;s greatest artists.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Their friend John Dos Passos, the American writer, said people were the best versions of themselves among the Murphys,&rdquo; says Mendoza, &ldquo;which I think is the best compliment anyone can give anyone.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Today, the world&rsquo;s biggest fashion labels call <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/celebs-front-row-paris-haute-couture-fashion-week-fall-winter-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paris</a> home, and &ldquo;<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/french-girl-style-icons-brigitte-bardot-vintage-fashion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">French girl</a>&rdquo; style is something aspirational to many Americans. But Sara and Gerald Murphy&rsquo;s uniquely American sensibilities were much admired by their French compatriots.

&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to be so precious about our heritage that we can&rsquo;t move the needle forward.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Picasso painted Sara a lot,&rdquo; explains Mendoza. &ldquo;Most of the paintings you see by Picasso of women wearing pearls, specifically <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/pearls-jewelry-2022-fashion-trend-nails-makeup" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pearls</a> draped around their back, are of Sara. For our first season, I incorporated a little bit of that pearl story because I thought it was really sweet. She would wear her pearls to the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/tarnish-free-jewelry-for-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beach</a> and she called it &lsquo;sunning her pearls,&rsquo; which also tells you she had a sense of humor. She didn&rsquo;t take [luxury too] seriously.&rdquo;
This relaxed attitude is something Mendoza hopes to embody in her contemporary vision for Mark Cross. &ldquo;Americans have this way of living and this way of interacting with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/nfts-luxury-fashion-collaborations-gucci-louis-vuitton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">luxury</a> that&rsquo;s much more casual, which also feels right for where we&rsquo;re at now,&rdquo; she explains.

This means honoring the brand&rsquo;s iconic styles like the Grace&mdash;a box bag inspired by the case created for <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/styling-tricks-to-learn-from-grace-kelly" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grace Kelly</a> in Rear Window&mdash;while finding ways to infuse playful touches that attract a younger, perhaps more adventurous customer. Namely by way of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/bottega-veneta-announces-salon-02-collection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">feathers</a>, rhinestones, and the addition of playful new colors. &ldquo;Whatever is an icon, I&rsquo;m leaving it be,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not touching it. But, those icons can also be offered in really fun colors for people who like that. I&rsquo;m one of those people. We are an American brand. We don&rsquo;t want to be so precious about our heritage that we can&rsquo;t move the needle forward.&rdquo;
Mendoza adds that Gerald&rsquo;s frequent use of the Spanish proverb &ldquo;Living well is the best revenge,&rdquo; which he used to describe his wife&rsquo;s sensibility, is a phrase that also fits Mark Cross&rsquo; new era, a cap on a rather peripatetic history marked by transatlantic moves, closure, and reacquisition. &ldquo;The more I learn about it, the more I see that the people who have left a mark on this company have done it very elegantly,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;The company has never been compromised. It&rsquo;s always been a luxury brand.&rdquo; While Mark Cross may not be a ubiquitous household name in the same way some other luxury brands are, its influence is not to be understated. &ldquo;Every company I&rsquo;ve worked at has always had Mark Cross in their <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/instagram-best-vintage-pop-culture-accounts-2000s-90s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vintage</a> archive,&rdquo; says Mendoza.&nbsp;
Today, items are produced in the same Italian factories that were used 40 years ago. &ldquo;We have the luxury of being more <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/sustainable-swimwear-eco-friendly-bikinis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sustainable</a>. We don&rsquo;t overproduce, we vet who we work with, and we buy and sell our vintage,&rdquo; the designer explains. &ldquo;We get reports from the store of what&rsquo;s in, and we always see someone who brought in their great-grandfather&rsquo;s clock or their great-grandmother&rsquo;s bag.&rdquo; It is this legacy of authenticity, luxury, and, indeed, living well that has propelled Mark Cross through the decades. &ldquo;There is this ad that Mark Cross ran in the New York Times in the &lsquo;80s that said &lsquo;Mark Cross&mdash;Here Today, Here Tomorrow,&rsquo; that I&rsquo;ve always loved. It&rsquo;s powerful,&rdquo; says Mendoza.

Mark Cross Creative Director Rebeca Mendoza Takes on the Brand's History

Mark Cross Creative Director Rebeca Mendoza Takes on the Brand's History

Tags

Related Articles

Fashion

Van Cleef & Arpels' New Perlée Watch Collection Embraces More Delicate Timepieces

Beauty

The Ultimate Guide To The French Girl Red Lip

Fashion

What Does It Mean to Be French?

Recommended posts for you

Fashion

11 Beaded Bags to Add a Playful Twist to Any Outfit

Film & TV

8 Upcoming Celebrity Biopics to Add to Your 2025 Watchlist

Fashion

L'HISTOIRE: Thierry Mugler's Outrageously Elaborate Fall 1995 Couture Show

Fashion

Lily-Rose Depp Wears Vampy Red Chanel for 'Nosferatu' in NYC

Fashion

How Haute Couture Blends Drama and Ease in 2024

Travel & Living

Markarian Puts a Holiday Touch on This Chic Connecticut Hotel

Travel & Living

Experience Ultimate Luxury: Onefinestay’s Most Exquisite Stays and Dream Destinations

Pop culture

Looking Back on 16 Young Jodie Foster Photos