Christy Plott Redd says she likes to take the fancy out of fashion, but on a recent afternoon in Manhattan—her auburn hair falling in carefully curled waves beneath a mink hat, her eyelashes pressed into thick half-moons over shadowed lids, her teeth flashing white in an outline of Smashbox fuchsia lipstick—the fancy was very much on display.
She wheeled behind her a suitcase the size of a small car. Inside were dozens of alligator skins, samples she was toting around to sell to big-name fashion designers—Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta—for their next collections. Redd is 36 and the creative director, head of global sales, and co-owner of American Tanning and Leather , a family tannery based in Griffin, Georgia, 40 miles south of Atlanta.
But she introduces herself by a far more flamboyant title: the Queen of Gator. The title is self-appointed. Several years ago, Redd heard about an alligator buyer from Italy working in Florida and calling himself the King. This was annoying. For one thing, there are no alligators in Italy. Live ones, anyway. American Tanning is the oldest and largest alligator tannery in the country—and one of the only major ones in the world.
Alligator mississippiensis , the American alligator, has been establishing its foothold in what is now the southern United States—its sole habitat—for million years. In New York, Redd had scheduled back-to-back appointments: One hour, she had a meeting at a flashy Madison Avenue headquarters; the next, she was in a streamlined downtown studio with a young designer.
But she refuses to be intimidated, a gator out of water. Redd used one hide to tie back the drapes to let in more sun. The general scaliness, compounded by colors not found in nature, could prompt a shudder in the uninitiated. One potential customer was an Upper East Side handbag maker who had never bought alligator before.
