<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

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