Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with John McDavid Lehman III of Los Angeles

John McDavid Lehman III shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

John McDavid, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: When was the last time you felt true joy?
This idea of “joy” is something that I think about and constantly try to achieve daily. For me it is about focusing on all of the small joys in life and being able to witness as much beauty in the world as possible.

The process of making coffee in the morning is a grand little joy, from grinding the beans, filling up the moka pot, to the subtle gurgling noise the pot makes letting me know that my coffee is ready. Even during these chaotic times I truly believe that joy and beauty is all around, one just has to aggressively seek it out on a daily basis and let’s be honest, being fortunate enough to live here in Los Angeles makes seeking joy a lot easier.

Another “petite joie”, humming birds! I pause for all humming birds that cross my path. There is something just so incredibly perfect and beautiful about a hovering humming bird right before it darts off and it always brings a smile to my face.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello, my name is John McDavid Lehman and I am the artistic director and founder of McMarden, an American luxury ready-to-wear fashion label based in Los Angeles. As we inch closer and closer towards our 10 year anniversary I think now is the perfect time to highlight the brand and celebrate what makes us special and unique within the fashion and design space. As a third generation Los Angeles native my designs by default are executed via a “home base” lens which is something I take extreme pride in. There is an ease and confidence that is organically apart of the DNA when discussing LA fashion, regardless of location which for many outsiders becomes a tad confusing and quite frankly overwhelming.

For whenever you begin the dialogue regarding style and trends here in Los Angeles I am quick to ask the important question, “where in Los Angeles?” People forget how extremely large this city is, with almost 4 million people spread out over 500 miles. That is almost 200 square miles larger than New York City and with half of their population we have plenty of room to create specific “pockets” with unique narratives and fashion cues. The Silver Lake person taps into a different energy compared to the Venice folk, which might be saying something completely different from the person based in Malibu. It is a great lengthy conversation, which is a lot of fun for me but often gets overlooked or underappreciated, which as a native can get very frustrating.

With McMarden, I wanted to elevate the voice a tad and focus a lot of our attention on fabrication and subtle details. Many of our garments are casual in design but that doesn’t mean that they cannot be elegant as well. I find casual to be important and what we wear on a daily basis is very important. The skill set and time that goes into couture is extremely sexy and shall always be the belle of the ball (pun intended) but the thoughtfulness and craftsmanship that goes into ready-to-wear brings be a great deal of joy and grants me extreme purpose.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
The world has become a very tricky place, with all of the tools and apparatus at our finger tips, it can be a challenge to know who we are versus what the world wants us to be. Sometimes they are one and the same but many times the noise created by the tools distract and we lose sight of self and assume that the loud world has our best interests at heart.

I think the world has always told me that “it” wants me to be a designer, for I have always been a very curious soul. I want to know how things are made, I want to know what’s missing from the conversation and add my unique voice to the dialogue. In my personal experience the world has been very loud at telling me the “what” and often whisper quiet in regards to the “how” and navigating the how has at times been quite challenging. The fashion industry is all about resources, the world can say, “you are a designer, go design a collection!” but how do you create said collection? I think that was the major question that was eating away at me when I was younger and because I didn’t have an answer I tried to ignore my true calling when I was younger.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
One of the greatest truths is the simple fact that there is no success without suffering and success is NEVER overnight. We are taught to celebrate success which makes perfect sense for we should always call out the wins (both big and small) but we also need to call out the failures and set aside time to examine why the plan didn’t work. Through the suffering you can gain clarity, sometimes you realize that the plan wasn’t poorly executed but that it was poor timing and the suffering grants you the proper strength to pick up the pieces and do it all over again…hopefully with better results.

I am also a huge believer in what I call “smart suffering” I don’t always need to touch the hot stove and get burned. Surround yourself with good people and learn from their suffering, mentors that got burned so that you can skip that step, which allows you to inch closer to success.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
In many ways the growth of the McMarden brand has suffered because I am not a loud person and my design aesthetic is not very loud. McMarden is for public consumption, the clothing is a very real and honest extension of me. I love everything that we make and nothing gets pushed out into the world unless I or someone that I care about would wear it personally, with pride and that is the extent of my public voice. I am uncomfortable with how “real” we have become and how everything is expected to be on display. The “real me” is not a marketing tool, however an authentic me is very much tied into the fabric of the brand. The form of fashion and style that I have always been attracted to is deeply rooted in mystery for at its core that is fashion, that is design, playing up ones own strengths and the art of subtly hiding those things you don’t want on display.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. How do you know when you’re out of your depth?
I think in many ways I am always out of my depth! I tend to thrive in uncomfortable situations. I don’t know how one grows without challenging ones self. The deep end of the pool…how far is too far if you know how to swim? I don’t know what it means to be the greatest designer, how does one even quantify that? What I do know is that at this point in my career I have an amazing set of design skills and the goal is always to go further and not just in design but as a business and as a community.

I don’t think it has been intentional and I hope that I am able to articulate this properly but I am always a little “underwater” which is more personal and less a branding and marketing point, but also isn’t that what fashion is in its truest form, a chic flotation device? Fashion, true style is the armor we put on when the waters are choppy. Oui?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mcmarden.com
• Instagram: @mcmarden
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/royalbankofmcd
• Twitter: @mcmardenamerica
• Facebook: @mcmarden
• Youtube: @americangreyincolor
• Other: TikTok/@mc_marden

Image Credits
Model: Lou Goss