When you're running your own business, the very concept of maternity leave is a laughable proposition—something fashion designer Ulla Johnson found out shortly after giving birth to her son, Soren, last year. Within three weeks of becoming a mom, the native New Yorker was riding the subway and making factory visits with Soren slung across her chest. "I think one of the results of having a baby is I've gotten incredibly efficient," she says. "After Soren, the M.O. of my working life became 'Get it done and get out the door.'"
The balancing act for Johnson, 33, has continued to intensify since she moved to Los Angeles for her husband's job (Zach Miner is a postwar- and contemporary-art specialist for Christie's). She has already made four bicoastal trips, most of them with Soren in tow, between her new home and the showroom for her eponymous women's collection and her baby line, Albert, which remains in New York City.
The designer has always been a dedicated do-it-yourselfer. She launched her first collection at the age of 25, schlepping garment bags to buyers around the city and shipping orders from her apartment. Starting out in just a few local boutiques, her line—with its modern feminine silhouettes and delicious fabrics—has made its way into roughly 50 stores across the country, including Ron Herman in Los Angeles and P-45 in Chicago. "I don't dream of having 100 employees or being in every major store," Johnson says. "I work with people I believe in. I need to feel like the business is really mine."
She first came up with the idea for Albert two years ago—before she had Soren—with friend Edie Ure, a British print designer who had collaborated with Johnson on her women's line. "We loved this sort of old-fashioned idea for a baby line that was really romantic and soft," she explains, adding that the name is meant to reference the line's Victorian feel. "We wanted something that felt precious but wasn't insanely priced."
True to her word, Albert's lineup is packed with gently ruffled voile dresses and dreamy pale onesies, all with price tags that won't make moms reach for the smelling salts. A similarly sweet boys' collection is in the works. Johnson, who currently dresses 15-month-old Soren in organic-cotton clothing from lines like Under the Nile (as well as in rare European pieces she unearths from the discount store Daffy's), is clearly pleased at the prospect of outfitting her son in her own designs. She does admit, though, that "if we lived in a different time, I swear I'd put Soren in a lacy Victorian dress."
It was during the course of launching Albert that Johnson became pregnant, shortly after marrying Miner, her college sweetheart. For the first several months of motherhood, she relied heavily on her own mom. "She came with me to the office and took care of him; then I would work and nurse him," she says. "It was wonderful. I wouldn't have wanted him to be with anyone else that early on."
These days, Johnson continues to eschew a home-office setup, favoring a nearby studio in her Silver Lake neighborhood. "I need to have some remove," she says. "I want to be able to come home and be excited to see Soren, instead of trying to do everything at once." And although a nanny now watches her son on weekdays, she is looking into day care: "When he's around other kids, Soren is so happy and excited. I think babies thrive when there's a lot going on."
For now, Johnson's biggest priority is settling into life on the West Coast. Moving across the country to an unknown city with a new baby was a decision that she and her husband came to over the course of six months and three trips west. "With a baby, you want to have your friends and family around you," Johnson says. "But everyone I talked to said, 'Just try it. Why not?' Now I look at it as more of an adventure."
