Looking at MOTHER’s signature 70s-tinged styles, vintage washes and nostalgic storytelling, it’s easy to see how Autumn Dumont’s journey led her here. Today, Autumn leads a global team across multiple showrooms as the VP of Sales, but rewind to the beginning of her story, and you’d meet a free-spirited young girl obsessed with all things vintage. Growing up in the sleepy Northern California town of Sonoma, Autumn met and became fast friends with MOTHER co-founder Lela Becker at a young age. Though they started out as just two kids hanging out, causing trouble in suburbia, a seed was planted that would grow into a lifetime of collaborating and creating together. That partnership took many colorful forms over the years, and in 2010 culminated in the conception of an exciting new brand called MOTHER. In the interview that follows, Autumn chats with art director Jay Steiner about growing up in NorCal with Lela, the early days of MOTHER, and dives into their shared love for vintage and the rebellious spirit that continues to define the brand.

JS: We started MOTHER together many, many years ago. It’s a project that we could never have anticipated becoming what it is today. So, Autumn, I love your stories from your past, like being best friends with Lela. Can you just give us a little history of your time in NorCal and what you and Lela were up to before you guys made it down to L.A.? 

AD: So we were both hippie kids with single moms. Our moms actually knew each other in San Francisco when we were babies, but we reconnected in about fifth grade. I have a really vivid memory of the first day I went to Lela's house. I walked up to the door and I saw a skateboard propped up against the door. And it was very much one of those houses that was so perfectly chaotic, but sort of like chaotic matriarchy, you know, three sisters, a single mom, a big house where the door was never locked. You could expect to walk through the door, meet Lela's mom for the first time, and have her tell you to empty the dishwasher or take the trash out. But I remember seeing that skateboard, wondering whose it was and then coming to understand that it was Lela's. From then on, we were just really good friends. We went to different elementary schools and then we went to the same junior high and high school. But we were connected. We both loved clothes. 

JS: So from the few pictures that I've seen, that are rad by the way, you two seem to have come from different styles. My best friend too, we were not the same, but like brothers…

AD: That like-mindedness.

JS: Yeah.

AD: Yeah, Lela definitely was a little bit more luxury-leaning, even at a very young age. 

JS: Is that right? 

AD: With her Clinique lip liner and her YSL Paris perfume. I was a little bit more vintage. I had grown up going to the thrift stores near my grandma's house and would come back with, you know, polyester mock turtlenecks. So, we had this shared love of clothing, but yeah, really different styles. But I think we really appreciated that about each other. One of our favorite pastimes was, well, I'd go to her house on a Friday night; I’d walk through the door and she would basically convince me that she should wear what I had on and she’d make me change and give it to her. And then we would ride doubles on her bike down to Round Table Pizza and we'd get a mini pepperoni pizza and then go to 7-Eleven. You know, all the things that you do when you're in a small town. 

My mom would take us to San Francisco in junior high and high school and we would go to the American Rag before it even had new clothing, when it was like, not even on Van Ness, it was on Bush. And you would drive down the back, take a right, and it was just a warehouse full of vintage clothes. So then, you know, it just started from there.

JS: Were you guys, like, pickers going through stuff?

AD: No, so that was a little bit later. We lived together for a few years in San Francisco and that's when I was working in vintage. I had moved from working at the very first Crossroads to working for a friend who was a vintage dealer and sourcer. So my job was literally to go through bags of clothes, separate them, hand wash them, and sew buttons on. And then we’d pack them—this one goes to Wasteland, this one goes to Crossroads… And then Lela would come pick up the bags, go take them in and sell them. 

JS: That’s amazing.

AD: And she'd get like a percentage of the cut, which was probably like, a precursor to becoming a rep and taking a bunch of shit on the road constantly. Then Lela moved to L.A. and started working in a showroom, and very soon after that, she realized like, “I can do this myself.” I had introduced her to my other best friend Rebecca, who then started working for Lela. And then Lela was like, you should move to L.A. But it was sort of, not the right time. And then she asked me again at very much the right time because I was at a place in San Francisco where I was just bartending and needed a change, needed something new. And yeah, she offered me a job at her showroom, and I moved my life to L.A. I very much thought it was gonna be an in and out…

JS: Me too.

AD: It's gonna be a quick in and out. Two years in L.A., make some money and come back… But here I am, almost 22 years later. 

JS: So Autumn, I think that you’re an incredibly authentic person. Sometimes, that gets people into trouble. Have you ever gotten into trouble being authentic? Maybe like being honest or being direct?

AD: Yeah. I mean, I think that when you are comfortable being authentic, you're less worried about the repercussions. But then there can also be an inability to control your impulses. I think that, combined with my intolerance at times, can get me in trouble, and I’ve really had to work on understanding that I’m not perfect, no one is. Just moving forward and recognizing, OK, that was not the right approach. I'm gonna do better next time. All I can do is sort of recognize that, you know?

JS: But to me, that's better than beating around the bush or not being direct. Because then, you're not being your authentic self.

AD: 1000% AGREE. You do have to be willing to be misunderstood. Delivery is important.

JS: Right. I think for MOTHER, we're a strong company, we have a strong face, and I love that. So I love knowing that I've got a bad bitch out there that's going to rep this brand.

AD: [Laughing.] Well, it's interesting that you say that because often I'm talking to accounts or partners, big and small, and I tell them how proud I feel that we can be loud about what we feel most passionate about. Using our voice to support and speak out on political or social issues that mean something to us, approaching all aspects of the business in our way. After many years of approaching everything we do with authenticity, people now appreciate that we color outside the lines. That’s one of our many secret sauces. 

JS: That's great. That's what makes us, us. I was just thinking, in the world that we work in, fashion or whatever, do you feel that it's more important to be influential than relevant?

AD: Influential. Being a global brand with this incredible reach and success on our own terms hopefully shows that it can be done. You can give zero fucks and infinite hyper-focused fucks at the same time.

JS: On your own terms.

AD: Yeah. It kind of started in the beginning when all the things we did were literally all the things that people thought we were crazy for. You’re gonna put a signature on the back of your pocket again? What? You're gonna have washes again? You're gonna do a bootcut or a wide leg? When everyone's doing skinnies, you're gonna change the trim and the tag for every single wash? All of the things that we chose to do, knowing that they were the road less traveled and would be more difficult in the beginning, are all of the things that differentiated us from every other brand. 

JS: We also have an ethos in design where we say, “MOTHER likes it hard.” Because we do things that are just the harder path. 

AD: Yeah. But I think all of those things took a little while, whether it's how the name of our washes are too long, how we don’t use flashers on back pockets, how our themes change from month to month instead of season to season. We may not make it easy, but we make it interesting. We've never taken shortcuts. Tim talks about this a lot, it was sort of like creating our own language and now that there is fluency, it feels like everyone knew words the whole time.

JS: Alright, let's do some easy ones. What's your morning routine? 

AD: I wake up and make lunch for my kids. Andy does the liquids, I do the solids. Then get in the car and I take my daughter to school which is my favorite time of day. I think as a working mother, you can feel like you're missing out, but in the mundane there's so much connection. Even in that like 45 minutes to and from school, there's just so much that can happen. And then my second favorite time in that morning is when she gets out of the car and she crosses the street and I watch her go inside. The first day I watched her walking into middle school, I saw my little girl going from a very small Montessori to this big, brave, big world. Seeing the bravery that she has… I don't think that I ever had that. It's this mundane thing, but I’m watching this beautiful, amazing magical little person go off into the world every day. Plus, I like to see her outfits because she's so inspirational on so many levels.

JS: She will no doubt be following in mom's footsteps. The kid’s got style. 

AD: Yeah. So, then I drive home and then I start my other day.

JS: What makes work fun?

AD: I mean, so many different things—the people, the relationships, the excitement of it all. You know, we always joke that every season we say, “This is the best season. This is my favorite.” I’m close to 14 years in and still feel so excited. The awe of what we create, it's not common. And it's also really fun to be in a company where the core decision makers are a small group without ego, with synergy and like-mindedness. Everyone has their place to contribute. I mean, we just have the best people, we really do, from top to bottom. 

JS: So, you speak in metaphor a lot. Your references are deep and wide. I think it's a great way to illustrate your point. Without being literal, you can be so much more accurate. So what are some metaphors you would use to describe MOTHER? What would be some references you would throw out – what's fresh on your mind? 

AD: I think what you're talking about is like, how I can sort of paint that perfect reference? OK, so it's generally based on a movie character, person or experience. It's sometimes easier to say that’s Spicoli meets Alice in Wonderland. That can paint that picture a lot easier than using some string of individual descriptives. And then you get it, unless you haven't seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High. But that's sort of your own problem. 

JS: Sometimes you gotta Google it.

AD: [Laughing.] You know, I guess I'm really drawn to people and characters that are comical or otherworldly, or just encapsulate a vibe. And a lot of it's nostalgia too. You know, generally, my references don't come from current situations, they come from nostalgia.

JS: Well, yeah. I mean, MOTHER has a bit of nostalgia as an aesthetic. Also, as I was writing that question, I was imagining you, Lela, Tim and I as characters from the Breakfast Club. Who would we be?

AD: Lela's definitely Molly Ringwald, hard stop. Jay, I think you would be Anthony Michael Hall… maybe you’re a cross between Hall and Ally Sheedy, the outsider creative.

JS: [Laughing.] I'm stoked on that.

AD: So now we're left with Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez…

JS: Tim's pretty Emilio Estevez because he's a bit preppy… like very traditional… and also very committed to his sport. And most importantly, to his uniform.

AD: Yeah, Tim really commits. Like the clothes he wears, he's really committed to those black Chucks.

JS: So Autumn, I mean, you've got some Claire and a little bit of Ally Sheedy.

AD: Yeah, I mean, I was definitely goth in junior high and a little bit of high school. I realized that I can actually relate to Claire because I can be judgmental and make assumptions about people prematurely. I'm right, 98% of the time [laughing], but that other 2% of the time will land me in the closet with reconsidered judgment, giving away a diamond earring.

JS: [Laughing.] That's beautiful. So how would you paint a picture, from your end, of how we started MOTHER?

AD: I mean, I have vivid memories of the first time I met Tim and the first time I met you. 

JS: Side note, both Autumn and Lela thought that I was some emo kid from Pittsburgh only to find out that nope, I'm from Marin County, right next door. Surprise!

AD: Once we knew you were from Corte Madera, it was over. I just remember how exciting it was for me to be a part of something since day one. We were there before we even had a name, when you guys were deciding between MOTHER and Happy. And for someone who is not generally comfortable in the unknown, it was really fun to be a part of that. I remember Tim walked in with one pair of jeans and that was enough to know we were on to something. I had all this excitement about something so emergent and premature that hadn't even materialized yet. But I had comfort in knowing that, when it does, it's gonna be so fucking amazing. I felt so proud before we even went to market. And I think that feeling was inspired by the people, by all of you, and by the excitement of starting something new. 

JS: Well, that speaks a lot to your character too.

AD: And then coming back to the name, I always tell the story about how people hated it. They were like, what? It's awful. I don't understand it. And I can't remember which buyer or which person it was, but then they told me, “I just stood here for the last 20 minutes talking shit to someone about like how much I hate the name and now I want to go look at it.” And I think that curiosity is at the core, you know? And here we are. You know, it's the fucking most badass name ever. 

JS: So speaking to that, what's your favorite cuss word? You’ve got some good ones.

AD: Maybe sick fuck.

JS: [Laughing.] Nice. Circling back real quick on your love of vintage and the world of vintage, that you know better than anybody, is there anything throughout your life that you still think, ‘That's my favorite piece I've ever got?’

AD: Or it's more like, “Why the fuck did I get rid of that?”

JS: What's the piece? 

AD: There was a PUCCI dress that I loved. All my girlfriends and I worked at the very first Crossroads in Pacific Heights in San Francisco and we’re the reason there is a dress code to this day. I’m still friends with every single one, I mean it was just a girl gang. But there was this purple PUCCI maxi dress that buttoned up the side… and maybe some really good, old Frye boots. I feel like you can't find the perfect stacked Frye boots anymore.

JS: Beautiful. Well thanks for your time, Autumn. I love talking to you all the time and I think that people are gonna find a lot of joy in this.

AD: I'm just so happy because I found so much joy and pride in your blog story and getting to know you over the years. 

JS: Well, I get so lifted up by the whole team. Our core team is so kind to me. I always felt that. 

AD: Yeah, I care deeply for you and I appreciate how vulnerable, observant and empathetic you are. I was so proud to send that blog story to everyone because I wanted everyone to have a little glimpse into someone that I consider to be a friend for life.

JS: Thanks. Jay and Autumn signing off.

AD: Signing off, MOTHER fuckers.

THIS IS HOW IT STARTED / THIS IS HOW IT’S GOING

Autumn Dumont's journey from a hippie kid in Sonoma to VP of Sales at MOTHER reflects a lifelong friendship with co-founder Lela Becker. In the following Q&A, Autumn explores their shared love for vintage fashion, MOTHER's early days and its rebellious spirit.

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