ladyhawk love | RITUAL adornments - Cadencia Photography

a multi-dimensional artisan and facilitator, Morgen Ladyhawk Love has been creating unique hand-crafted clothing and one-of-a-kind talismanic jewelry, collaborating with other creatives on artful styling and editorial work, and masterminding fashion shows that incorporate diverse elements of counterculture and performance art to feature human beauty in its myriad forms. I got to get down with Morgen about art and life — check it out alongside of our Maui ladyhawk adventure.

how was ladyhawk love born

ladyhawk love is the is the embodiment of the badass superheroine that always lived in me from the time i was a child. honestly, she’s a bit of a late bloomer…she took a while to show herself because she needed time to incubate in the shadows and grow in strength before her big debut, but ever since i moved to the west coast she’s really begun to blossom. one of her greatest superpowers is affirming others in their strength and badassery. she’s a living reminder that we can be simultaneously tender and fierce…both delicately human and bossy AF. her name became the name of my business because the adornments i create are affirmations in physical form. powerful…fierce…sexy…strength…protection…safety…courage…these are all words that customers have reflected back to me about what it feels like to wear my creations. they’re personal power pieces…made to ignite the wearer’s own inner medicine. your personal style can be like your own superhero suit. when i feel like the weight of the world is coming down on me, it’s amazing what healing i can give myself simply by expressing myself through style. i take a shower, suit up in my weirdest outfit, put on a body chain that makes me feel like a queen, and even if that weight is still coming down, i show up to meet it with greater strength and face it with more moxie. in the end, fashion/swag/material things…they’re all just gilding the lily…but since we’re only here for a limited time, why not wear things that make us feel totally fucking awesome all the time?

why Oakland

if i tried to tell you all the reasons i love oakland, we’d be here all week.

the bay feeds me. BIG TIME. from the moment i landed here 4 years ago, this place felt like home – more than any other place i’ve ever lived. when i lived on the east coast, i took myself WAY too seriously…like, detrimental-to-my-health-type serious. i was so caught up in trying to be taken seriously by others in the fashion industry in new york, trying to paint a picture of myself that measured up to other people’s standards of what a “professional” was, that i forgot how to be playful and silly…how to have the kind of unbridled expressive fun that gives zero fucks. i had disconnected from parts of myself that were crucial to my MEness, my weirdness, my happiness. oakland gave this gift back to me…it gave me a new lens through which to view the world, and my own life. it showed me the value of shenanigans. it lightened up my spirit and gave me permission to express myself in ways i was too blocked or afraid to at other points in time, and has inspired me to make some big changes in my life and my art. more than anything, this place continuously encourages me to grow.

5 words that describe you

pretty ridiculous at all times.

what do you love most about festivals

laughing till my whole face and head are aching…dancing till i almost puke…breaking down and breaking through…being inspired by the people around me…being challenged to grow…feeling held in being at home and free in my weirdness, freakiness, and self-expression.

whats a day in your life like

on average right now: music, art, art, gym, laundry, music, sex, art while listening to TED talks, music, social media, dance class, maybe a shower, D&M (deep & meaningful) reflection/conversation time, art, shenanigans, spontaneous livingroom dance party, turn up, turn down…not necessarily in that order.

what’s next for ladyhawk love

i’m switching gears creatively in a big way right now. at the beginning of this year i shelved my dream of having a clothing production line in favor of listening to all these other ways the world was urging me, calling me, and – in some instances begging me – to show up. there were a lot of opportunities i overlooked and said no to these past few years because i had major tunnel vision. i mean, the world loves that i design clothes, but what the world is calling for me to do with myself is something completely different. the “if not now, when?” got so loud that i couldn’t resist anymore, so i let that project go for now and decided to focus my energy on expanding out of my comfort zone and doing some weird passion projects that are super vulnerable and straight from my heart. i’m gambling big time, but apparently taking big risks inspires me more than anything else in life…soooo…right now i’m part of a performance posse of urban clowns called Freaks En Flique, i’m sharing my dance on stages for the first time in my life, developing a Therapeutic Swag Coaching business that supports people in developing a unique personal style and changing their lives through creative self-expression, and i’m collaborating with a styling team and working to get photoshoots published that feature creations from all our independent designer homies. there are so many amazing things going on in the fashion underground that need to be visible on a larger scale, so we’re putting in work to make this happen! also on my radar this fall/winter is event production with the Freaks En Flique crew, music video styling, a t-shirt company, and a radical all-girl queer political R&B group called CUNTESSA. suffice it to say, this is definitely NOT what i thought i’d be doing with my life 8 years after i graduated art school…but i’m definitely STOKED about it!