Models Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Romee Strijd, Hailey Baldwin and influencer Camille Charrière have gravitated toward the same floor-length maxi as their dress of choice for lockdown. Designed by label Cult Gaia, the Serita Dress may have achieved viral success status, but with cut out sides and woven-knit fabric it won’t be for everyone. The Thera dress had the same effect on Chrissy Teigen, as she wrote "I dub this the dress of the summer".

Cult Gaia's list of celebrity fans is long: Beyoncé, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Jessica Alba...Even during a summer with no events, they only needed an iPhone to promote the brand.

Thera Dress

Created in 2012 by LA based designer Jasmin Larian, Cult Gaia is committed to sustainable practices. She draws inspiration from beautiful heirloom vintage pieces, with both holidays and city life in mind. They want you to keep them in your wardrobe forever.

The name Gaia comes from the goddess of Mother Earth and the daughter of chaos.

Born to an artist mother and an Iranian-American father Isaac Larian, the creator of famous Bratz dolls, Larian was exposed to creativity at an early age.

While studying fashion design in New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology and interning at Jason Wu, she wanted to make dresses at first, but then started making hair accessories: Go-to for festival fashion with whimsical floral crowns and colorful turbans, before falling into the handbag category.

Cult Gaia Bamboo Bag

The brand rose to fashion fame with their iconic 'Ark' geometric statement bamboo bags but not without drama. In March 2018, Larian had filed a trade dress infringement lawsuit against Steve Madden for manufacturing and selling lookalike bags. In January 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed all of Cult Gaia’s allegations. They found that the evidence submitted before the Court was not enough.

Since its inception, the company has grown into a full-fledged lifestyle brand, selling everything from Ready-to-Wear Footwear, Swimwear, and Accessories - all available from the online shop and multiple stockists around the world.

Top of my shopping list would be this ‘Ziba’ chain, the ‘Amara’ earrings, the ‘Aurel’ top and shorts, and the ‘Tilda dress’.




The summer sale is on now, so there is even more opportunity to bag some iconic pieces for a lifetime of use.

August 2020
By Anna Bance

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