Liberty Ross’ Newest Project Isn’t Just A Fashion Line — It’s A Legacy

She cut her teeth as a model in the ‘90s and 2000s, but these days, Liberty Ross is more concerned with roller skating.

Ross’ history with the sport runs deep: In 1979, her father Ian founded Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace, a popular L.A. rink that quickly became home to future Academy Award-winning actors and West Hollywood locals alike. Years of collecting heartwarming and hilarious tales from former guests inspired Ross to publish a book commemorating the space in 2021, and since then, she’s revived Flipper’s with pop-ups in New York City, Las Vegas, and London. Now, in her latest act of legacy preservation, Ross is bringing the brand into the world of fashion with a new clothing line.

For the Fall/Winter 2025 collection, Ross covered a bomber jacket, a favorite of hers, in a newspaper print and made a cheeky “Hot Wheels” T-shirt. But while a quick thumb through the book can explain some of the lore behind these pieces, Ross says this is not a retro line. “This is more about culture and community, how we all dress today,” she tells NYLON. “Everything down to the hang tag tells a story ... but it feels very modern and fresh.”

We recently caught up Ross over Zoom, during which she gave us a peek into the design process and shared her favorite story from former Flipper’s regular Laura Dern.

I was wondering if you could share how your history with Flipper's led you to this moment.

If you think of every other sport, they all have apparel, and somehow roller skating's been entirely overlooked. So I've taken it upon myself now to build out the next arm of Flipper's and create apparel that is not only inspired by the legacy story, but from my community today.

Was difficult to adapt those nostalgic designs for a modern audience?

It wasn't difficult because I'm with skaters every day and none look like they've dropped out of the ‘70s. It's built for everybody, whether you've got wheels on or not. It's just cool clothing.

I noticed there isn't any tactical gear. Can you speak on the decision not to include that in the collection?

I would love to do all of that, and I'm going to get to that, but it takes a long time to develop those things. So that whole accessory area of protective layers, I'm excited to actually explore. I have great photos from the past of people with really big ones that just look really kind of mad and cool. So yes, I'm excited to get into it. We're just starting and it's going to be quite the journey, but a super exciting one.

I know you were pretty young when your father opened the rink, but do you had any favorite memories from Flipper's?

It's not a direct memory, but when I started to learn to roller skate just before COVID, I was going out to [a roller rink in] Long Beach, and one [member] of the community, it took him about two or three weeks of me going there, and suddenly he looked at me and he was like, "Wait a minute, are you Lettice Lark?" And I'm like, “How do you know my middle names?" Because my name is Liberty Lettice Lark. And he was like, "Oh, I remember at Flipper's your dad used to pass you around the rink and tell everybody, 'This is Lettice Lark.'" I was this little baby being passed around the rink.

You’ve said before that you're constantly running into people with a Flipper’s story. Is there a story that's stuck with you all these years?

The first one that springs to mind is Laura Dern's story. She spent her formative teenage years at Flipper's. She was an only child, both of her parents are obviously actors, so she spent a lot of time alone. She said she formed her family at Flipper's because it was this kind of like boundaryless world where you would meet people you would never usually come across. It opened her eyes to a world she didn't know existed. She told me when Flipper's closed down, she and her Flipper's family all held hands around the corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica, and they were chanting, "We want Flipper's." And they were all streaming in tears.

Supposedly, Quentin Tarantino handed skates out there. Paul Thomas Anderson was in there with Laura Dern. My brother Atticus, who's now probably one of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood, said he learned how to mix records — he still uses those techniques he learned from the DJs at Flipper's. So it just had a tremendous impact on a lot of people, and those are the people who are the inspiration for me to do everything that I'm doing today.

Is there a specific song or playlist you love to skate to?

There's actually a song we created. Dr. Dre did the beats. It's by DJ Snake and DJ SPINALL, and Summer Walker sings on it. It's called “Power (Remember Who You Are).” I wanted to try to create a skate anthem, so that was our attempt, but it means a lot because it was just such a moment, and we released it around the same time we opened London.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.