Bailey Hunter Is A Quiet Genius Who Will Change The Way You Think

Bailey Hunter is an anomaly. As the creative director of LA-based knitwear brand The Elder Statesman and founder of her own line, Tigra Tigra, she is what some might call a quiet genius. Her Instagram is private and her roles and titles are not listed in her bio. She shares her work online, but her true output lives off social media and on billboards, in shop windows, and in Tigra Tigra boxes. Her processes take place in her studio, on set, and in collaboration with friends and other makers. Bailey is behind the scenes, where most quiet geniuses are. In other words, she embodies the definition of an aspirational creative person today: She exists online, but her work and life are unfolding offline, in real time.

The designer’s aforementioned approach is not calculated — this is just how Bailey’s brain works. “I think a lot about how when you are a child, you don’t have all these constructs and pressures to create artwork. You just do what feels right and you focus on simple pleasures,” she says. “Then, you are confronted with real life… I think the question of whether or not art and money are symbiotic or a paradox is a constant theme in my work. I like to create entire worlds that I feel represent an idea or feeling, and then I work through the elements of fabric, texture, clothing, character, time, and place.”