All-Natural Beauty

Dallas teen launches all-natural line to soothe skin like never before

Soothe your skin with Mali Mali skin care.

Photo courtesy of Mail Mali

Sophia Stener grew up with sensitive skin and eczema, made worse by chemical-filled products. She tried cortisone cream and diphenhydramine, only to discover both have negative impacts on the human body. So the 16-year-old Dallas resident founded a skincare company called Mali Mali, and made her own moisturizer.

“I wanted to find a natural solution,” Stener says. “I searched the web and found all these products, but none made without harmful ingredients.” She researched formulas and worked with a local laboratory to create her ideal moisturizer.

Through ethnopharmacology, the study of substances used for medicinal purposes by cultural groups, Stener uses tamanu oil as the signature ingredient in her Soothing All-Over Moisturizer. The formula utilizes all-natural oils and ingredients to hydrate skin. The moisturizer has an earthy, guava-like scent.

Stener founded the company about one year ago and began selling online last fall. Next week, she’ll launch a second product — lip oil. “It’s a refreshing lip oil that’s easy to apply over lipstick or alone,” she says. “It has a little shimmer like gloss, but it’s all natural.”

And Mali Mali doesn’t just use ingredients wholesome for our bodies, the company also partners with philanthropic organizations. A percentage of Mali Mali’s profits benefit Cool Earth, a charity that works with indigenous villages to keep rainforests intact. Cosmetic pouches (perfect for holding your moisturizer and lip oil) are made my Freeset, a fair trade business that gives employment to former sex trafficked women.

Mali Mali products can be purchased at Park Cities Skin Care and Park Cities Allergy & Asthma and online. Stener is open to different products in the future but wants the brand to remain specialty. Stener says many of Mali Mali’s customers use the moisturizer to replace cortisone cream.

“I believe we can learn a lot from the natural world,” Stener says. “My friend has an interesting philosophy. She says we should be able to remember landscape artists for the art they create, not because they showed us what our world used to look like.”

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Fashion on display

Rare Halston fashion exhibition now on display in unlikely Texas city

Halston: Inventing American Fashion exhibit Ellen Noël Art Museum

Photo courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

An colorful eveningwear grouping takes advantage of Ellen Noël Art Museum's curved walls.

A rare exhibition honoring fashion pioneer Halston has popped up in an unexpected place: West Texas. Dallas fashionistas who are fans of the designer can make a five-hour pilgrimage to Odessa’s newly revamped Ellen Noël Art Museum to view "Halston: Inventing American Fashion."

Halston’s minimalistic fashions are rarely the subjects of retrospectives, although the designer’s dramatic life story recently had a pop-cultural resurgence through a 2021 Ryan Murphy miniseries. "Halston: Inventing American Fashion" assesses the talent that made him a household name.

Known now for outfitting 1970s icons like Liza Minelli and Bianca Jagger, Halston changed the international reputation of American sportswear as part of the famous 1973 “Battle of Versailles” fashion show, holding his own against Paris’ most lauded couturiers. His uniquely louche style still influences contemporary brands like Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, and Tom Ford, who was briefly the creative director for a revised Halston label.

The mannequins in the Odessa display are outfitted with 75 ensembles from flowing Ultrasuede daywear to more dramatic draped gowns. The pieces “illustrate how Halston revolutionized fashion by prioritizing comfort, confidence, and modern femininity,” according to a release.

Although Odessa may seem an odd choice for the show, Halston had deep Texas connections. After he moved on from hat making, Amarillo millionaire Estelle Marsh was his sole backer willing to fund his first Madison Avenue boutique.

$Ellen No\u00ebl Art Museum, Odessa, new facade.$ The new facade at Ellen Noël Art MuseumPhoto courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

$Halston: Inventing American Fashion exhibit Ellen No\u00ebl Art Museum$

Photo courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

An colorful eveningwear grouping takes advantage of Ellen Noël Art Museum's curved walls.

And the recently completed renovation of Odessa's Ellen Noël Art Museum has some of the designer’s signature sleek. Designed by architect R.J. Lopez, the renovation includes new galleries and improved circulation, but the centerpiece is a striking transparent façade, replacing the original brick of the 1985 building.

“The renovation project has been over 10 years in the making and in the construction phase for the past two years,” says the museum’s buildings manager, Steve Patton, via a release. “The completion of the project has resulted in an incredible facility that is a shining star in West Texas, offering programs and exhibits that will be a destination point for people all over the world!”

"Halston: Inventing American Fashion" will run through March 22. Admission to the Ellen Noël Art Museum is free.

exhibits odessa fashion west texas museums designer texas