Studio Sessions: Sandra Gungaloo and Linda-Rose Michel Jackson

Fashion tells a story. What we wear says something about who we are, but sometimes, the designs themselves have stories to tell, too. At Mabel Brempong, those stories take shape in sculptural silhouettes and delicate floral prints, with unexpected details that give the clothes an elegant yet whimsical quality. The Seattle-based luxury womenswear label creates ready-to-wear pieces, bridal couture, and evening wear, all made in Italy.

Behind the label are longtime friends Sandra Gungaloo and Linda-Rose Michel Jackson. The two met while attending college in Michigan, where Gungaloo was student government president. When Jackson stepped in to help her organize a large campus event, their friendship began. They soon became inseparable, making bow ties in Gungaloo’s dorm room and walking in fashion shows together. “We just became sisters,” Jackson recalls. “It didn’t matter where we were.”

Years later, their shared love of fashion became a creative partnership spanning continents (Gungaloo moved to Washington after teaching at a university in South Korea, while Jackson lives in Australia). “Beneath everything we create is a story, an inspiration drawn from someone or something we’ve encountered, experienced, or perhaps hope to encounter someday,” Gungaloo says.

Mabel Brempong designers Sandra Gungaloo (left) and Linda-Rose Michel Jackson wear pieces from their collection.

Courtesy of Mabel Brempong

After losing her mother in 2019, Gungaloo struggled with grief and even considered giving up the business. Then she learned about Namaqualand, a desert region in southern Africa where an otherwise dry landscape erupts in wildflowers each year. The transformation gave her hope and inspired the Wildflower collection, which took more than two years to create. “[It] means so much more to me than the garments themselves,” she says.

Mabel Brempong is named after Gungaloo’s parents (Mabel, her mother, and Brempong, her father), whose handwritten signatures are incorporated into its logo. Gungaloo and Jackson hope to eventually use the business to create opportunities for young people from underprivileged backgrounds through the Mabel Brempong Foundation. That ambition comes from Gungaloo’s own experience of being adopted and recognizing how profoundly that changed the course of her life. “So while we are absolutely passionate about creating beautiful clothes, I hope people also come to understand that there is a great deal of heart, intention, and purpose behind what we do,” she says.

Find Mabel Brempong’s collections at its boutique in Pacific Place in downtown Seattle or shop online at mabelbrempong.com.

Edited for length.

Name:

Sandra Gungaloo, founder and CEO; Linda-Rose Michel Jackson, partner and creative director.

Hometown:

Sandra: Kumasi, Ghana, in West Africa.

Linda-Rose: Brooklyn, New York.

Discipline:

Luxury womenswear, fashion design, storytelling, and creative direction.

Favorite spot in Seattle:

Sandra: I do love the waterfront quite a bit. There’s something about walking along the water with a friend on a warm spring or summer day that gives me one of the best feelings in the city.

Wildflowers: Flora Gown Orchid Cotton

Courtesy of Mabel Brempong

Describe your work in three words.

Sandra: Inspired. Meaningful. Beautiful.

Linda-Rose: Intentional. Heritage. Lore.

When did you know you wanted to be a fashion designer?

Sandra: If I’m being honest, I still sometimes struggle to see myself as a fashion designer. From the very beginning, I had convinced myself that I wasn’t one because I couldn’t draw the way I wanted to. I hadn’t gone to fashion school, and I hadn’t studied anything related to fashion design. I studied psychology and had my master’s in business and was teaching at a university in South Korea when I founded Mabel Brempong. It took years of working on the brand alongside several incredibly talented creatives before I began to see things differently. I remember one of them sitting me down and saying, in a rather disciplinary tone, “You are a fashion designer!” Haha! I think that was one of the first times it really began to sink in.

Over the years, I’ve come to understand that being a designer is about so much more than the ability to draw, although that is an incredibly important aspect of it. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I began to realize that I was, in fact, a designer. But that confidence continues to grow with every collection we create together.

As for when I knew I wanted to start a fashion business, that’s a different story entirely. I think it happened when the purpose of starting a business became much stronger than the business itself, or anything I might personally gain from it.

Wildflowers: Kiara Gown Daylily Orange Bloom Linen

Courtesy of Mabel Brempong

I was adopted, and during a visit home to Ghana, I found myself deeply affected by the lives of some of the young people I encountered. I saw circumstances that so closely resembled what my own life might have looked like had I not been adopted. It broke my heart.

I remember realizing that the opportunities I’d been given had changed the entire direction of my life. And I knew, almost immediately, that I wanted my life’s journey to include becoming that same kind of bridge for another young person. Just as my parents had been for me. That was the moment I decided I wanted to build a business of my own. Something I could dedicate myself to, grow over time, and eventually use to create opportunities for others.

Linda-Rose: My grandmother was an incredible dressmaker and creative in New York and could make absolutely anything with fabric. Every time we would visit, she would reveal beautiful garments that she had created just for me. We would always do a fitting, where she would use what felt like a million pins to tailor them to perfection. As a little girl, it felt like pure magic the way she was able to think of something she wanted to create or wear, and then bring it to life. Because of her, for as long as I can remember, I would always carry some paper and pencils when travelling to sketch pieces that I could only dream of wearing one day.

The funny thing is, though, it didn’t occur to me that I could actually be a fashion designer for my real job. I would watch sewing videos, curious to learn how clothes are constructed, and would dabble with my little sewing machine. I thought that it was just part of who I was in some way, and not necessarily what I would get to do. I really struggled with knowing exactly what I wanted to do for my career. I loved the idea of acting, writing, singing, and even social work, which I eventually pursued for a time. I knew that whatever it was, I wanted to make a difference in the world, to help others, and to tell stories.

It wasn’t until I joined Sandra with Mabel Brempong that I realised that I could design garments that would hold stories of heritage, bravery, and resilience that may inspire others. But what really stole my heart was the fact that we could also use the brand to truly make a difference in the world and change the trajectory of entire families and communities with what we build. When I realised that THIS is the impact I could have with fashion designing, I wept, because I remember being that little girl sketching in the backseat of the car. And now it feels like it was God preparing me all the time since then, and that maybe this was always who I was meant to become.

Wildflowers: Peony Corset Daisy White Cotton

Courtesy of Mabel Brempong

That being said, I still struggle with actually calling myself a designer, and am in absolute awe when I get to see someone wearing a garment I designed. I have no words to describe what it feels like to see something that only used to live inside of your head, out in the real world, walking around. “Surreal” comes pretty close for me, though.

Where do you find inspiration?

Sandra: We find inspiration in experiences we’ve had, experiences we’re having, and those we hope to have someday. We’re both deeply inspired by nature. Its beauty, its stories, its intricacies, and the endless things there are to discover about the world around us.

We’re also deeply inspired by people and their stories. The people we meet, the cultures we’ve lived in, the places we’ve experienced, and the things we continue to learn about the world. I think we’re both quite free-spirited in that sense. Sometimes the wind seems to pull us in a particular direction, and we simply follow it. We don’t always know at the beginning where inspiration will lead us, and I think that’s one of the most beautiful parts of creating.

Linda-Rose: Wow, it feels like everything inspires us, but nature and moving stories have a special hold on us. It’s funny because sometimes I will see a fish with a beautiful and unique pattern and can instantly imagine it on a beautiful gown. Or sometimes I read a story that is so moving I start dreaming of ways to encompass the story as a collection so it can continue to flow on to inspire others.

Reading forgotten historical accounts of people who were unbelievably brave, hearing lore passed down in our own families, cultures, and heritages, coming across narratives of nature, or even our own personal lived experiences—they all really shape what we want to put out into the world.

What draws you to the materials and techniques you work with?

Sandra: I think, first and foremost, it’s a desire to contribute something good to the world through what we create. I often think about just how much fashion and how many clothes already exist around us. And I feel that if we’re going to add to that, then we should do it well. We should create pieces that have a reason to exist, pieces that are thoughtfully made and that people will genuinely want to keep.

We work predominantly with beautiful natural fibers sourced from Italy and collaborate with our Italian manufacturers to bring our designs to life. We’re drawn to materials that feel wonderful against the skin, have beautiful movement, and can stand the test of time.

Linda-Rose: For me, there are a few things that really pull me in a certain direction when it comes to materials we incorporate, but the biggest thing is the impact they have on the wearer and on the environment. We want clothes that not only look beautiful from the outside but that feel beautiful on the skin, that breathe beautifully, and aren’t made up of harmful chemicals.

As for the techniques used, we really want to prioritise the quality and construction of our garments so they can be something truly beautiful for years and hopefully generations to come. We want our garments to be treasured and passed down, holding stories of those who came before, so that when the time comes the wearer will invest in repairs and not replacements, making the garment more unique and beautiful with the history it captures. In this way, the garment becomes a unique and irreplaceable part of their family’s history. “You see this repair here? This is where your great grandfather stepped on your great grandmother’s gown at that gala. He stepped so hard that he caused a small tear, and felt so bad that he offered to repair it. That’s how they met.”

Wildflowers: Kiara Gown Fresh Sage Linen

Courtesy of Mabel Brempong

What are you working on now?

Sandra: We’re currently heavily focused on our upcoming collections and preparing for their presentation in Manhattan, New York, in mid-December 2026. It’s going to be quite a big step for us, so we’re heads down working incredibly hard alongside our teams in Italy and New York to bring everything together.

Tell us about your proudest moment as a designer.

Sandra: One of the first that comes to mind is our very first fashion show in Seoul, South Korea. It was the first time the designs we’d been working on for so long were presented to hundreds of people, on a stage I hadn’t even imagined for the brand at that point. But what made it especially meaningful was that it was the first time I got to show my parents what I’d been dreaming of and working toward for so long and why I didn’t want to become a doctor, haha. Hearing them say they were proud of me meant absolutely everything.

It was also the first and last time my mother, Mabel, got to see our work presented before her passing, so that moment has become something I treasure very deeply. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

Linda-Rose: I think it can be challenging with us being so far apart, as many times either one of us will experience our wins remotely, depending on where and what is happening. But moments when we have been together, to hear the joy people have due to our garments, to see them twirl around in them, to hear the stories of why they are buying them and what it means to them…those are moments that really fill my heart.

Wildflowers: Floral Bloom Silk Organza

Courtesy of Mabel Brempong

There are a few incredible highlights for me. I would have to say seeing Sandra walk down the aisle wearing a gown I designed for her together over the phone, while holding her veil wearing one of our dresses as her maid of honor—that was one of my top experiences. The most surreal part of it was years before we were in the same garden but in swapped positions as she was my maid of honour, and it was in that garden that she met her groom, our M.C. It was such a full circle moment for me.

Define success on your terms:

Sandra: Hmm, I’d have to say having the opportunity to build enough to give back. I’d say that’s one thing that keeps me going.

Linda-Rose: Fulfilling my purpose, being overwhelmed with peace and joy, and knowing that our journey made an impact in this world in some way.