Meet Cleo

We get asked all the time, “What’s the story behind the pencil skirt style names in your collection?” Well, today seemed like as good a day as any to start answering that. WRITTEN Apparel is built around women telling their stories in life and looking and feeling good while doing it. Meet Cleo, the sequin pencil skirt stunner from our Debut Collection. See Cleo for yourself here.

Cleo was designed with a combination of two personas in mind: Cleopatra, one of the most powerful women of all times, and Cleo Madison, a silent film actress and pioneering female film director. I loved elements of both women and decided to incorporate them into the namesake design from the Debut Collection.

Cleopatra was known to be well educated and clever. In addition, I’ve read stories about her exotic beauty and powers of seduction. Based on that, it’s no mystery to me why she was such an impactful leader. The WRITTEN woman shares these qualities and the Cleo skirt is the perfect culmination of beauty and seduction.

Coming from a different era was Cleo Madison. She may be less known by the masses, but she still was a pioneer in her day and a perfect muse for the Cleo pencil skirt. I immediately pictured the silver screen meeting sequins when considering one of the women at the forefront of film directing in Hollywood. A quote of hers from a Photoplay magazine article way back in 1916 really resonated with me and the strength I envision the WRITTEN woman to have. “One of these days, men are going to get over the fool idea that women have no brains and quit getting insulted at the thought that a skirt-wearer can do their work quite as well as they can. And I don’t believe that day is very far off”. Clearly fearless in paving her own path, I see her spirit in parallel with the WRITTEN woman… and of course I can’t help but love that she mentions skirts!

Cleo: A clever combination of beauty, seduction, fearlessness, and confidence. Shop Cleo here