Rainbow crystal eyes. Nails sprouting moss. Pipe-cleaner crowns. Packing tape bracelets. These were all elements of the merry mayhem backstage at Libertine’s Fall 2019 show, presented at an old-school women’s club in Hancock Park, Los Angeles. Among those documenting this flurry of activity was stylist B. Åkerlund, who recently added Johnson Hartig to her list of clients and friends. “I’ve always known of Libertine,” she said at a sit-down in the showroom she co-owns with Kent Belden, The Residency Experience, “but it never registered in my mind that it was like, a really good match.” At a recent sample sale, Åkerlund picked up a few pieces, including a Dior jumpsuit, that had been Libertinized. “I wore it to a LACMA event, and I tagged Libertine, and Johnson saw it and he was like, ‘Oh, my God, you understand my vision!’ and we sort of became friends from there.”
Despite already having her hands full with a roster of clients (including Madonna), Åkerlund is open to new adventures. She’s mentoring aspiring designers at Otis College of Art and Design and hopes to take up photography in a more serious way. Some of the snaps you’ll find on the stylist’s account are taken by her twin daughters and “personal paparazzi,” but a good number are her own, finessed with a timer, et cetera. “I really just, like, love taking photos, and I feel like Instagram gives you the inspiration to want to keep taking [them]. Photography is definitely something I’m aspiring to do, and I think it’s definitely in my future.”
Here, she presents in-the-moment snaps of her first full-on Libertine experience.