LELAN

Lelan is an Emmy Award-winning, industry lauded costume designer who has worked as Mother Plucker’s Design Production Manager for over 18 years. Lelan originally met Willy over 40 years ago, when Willy was starting out his business. Lelan had just revolutionized the bathing suit industry when she created deer skin bathing suits that were waterproof and was selling her creations at the same Westwood market that Willy was selling his feathers and feather earrings. Eventually, Willy brought Lelan in to design our amazing custom products.

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Lelan was raised in a household of artistically driven and talented people. Her mother was a designer for Bergdorf Goodman and spoke six languages, while her father was a Danish aristocrat who was a writer and artist in his own right. While predominantly raised in NYC, at 18, she left for the west coast. At 21, with help from some investors, she opened two leather/feather stores, one on the east coast and one on the west coast, catering to rock and roll musicians such as Lee Mallory.

In the 70s, Lelan toured the U.S. for over two years with the cast of the hippie Broadway musical Hair, creating clothing for the cast, while continuing to create clothing for her stores. In the mid-70s, she moved to Hawaii, where she learned to boutique fabric, fabricate exotic hats and refine her leather and feather skills, building a following of customers who desired her work.

In the late-70s, she partnered with Barbara Strom and White Rose Productions in Seattle to promote and produce shows with headliners. Some of these acts included Frank Sinatra, Prince, Liza Minelli, and many others. For 15 years, she was the exclusive designer for the famous Leathers & Treasures brand, with customers such as Michael Jackson, Kiss, ZZ Top, Charlie Sheen, Bruce Springsteen, the Judds, Madonna, and Sylvester Stallone.

Soon she started fabricating costume and props for the Film and Television industry, where she not only created the pieces, but was hired to work on set as prop and art department. Prominent art directors found their way to her door looking for every sort of unusual and difficult item that they required for their projects. One of which was Zoobilee Zoo, a children’s television series hosted by Ben Vereen, for which Lelan won the 1987 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costume Design. Soon after, Lelan moved to Sedona for eight years, and opened a gallery. While there, in collaboration with Robert Shields of Shields and Yarnell, she worked to create feather masterpieces. Returning to L.A., Lelan worked on several movies, videos, and other TV projects, before joining the team at Mother Plucker Feather Company.

In addition to being our Design Production Manager, Lelan is our expert in dyeing feathers. She has been an expert in dyeing for most of her career. She learned to mix dyes at the age of 16, while working at the Chandlers Shoe store in NYC, mixing dyes for silk shoes for wedding parties. She has an incredible eye for color and the ability to match colors, spot on, using just about any medium. She is considered one of the best feather dyers in the country.

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In addition to the entertainment industry, Lelan has also been hired by companies such as Nobu Global to paint the famous silhouettes on the Beverly Hills Nobu restaurant walls, and also to paint in the Marvin Gaye studio on Sunset Boulevard.