LoveShackFancy: Fashion Editor to Empire with Rebecca Hessel Cohen

In this episode, Victoria sits down with Rebecca Hessel Cohen, founder of LoveShackFancy. They discuss how Rebecca went from working as a fashion editor at Cosmopolitan to building one of the most recognizable brands in fashion. Rebecca shares the story behind the original bridesmaid dress that launched the company, the early years before opening a retail store, and how LoveShackFancy evolved from a niche aesthetic into a full lifestyle universe. They also discuss the viral ruffle skirt that became one of the most copied fashion pieces online, navigating dupes and copycats, scaling without diluting the brand, building immersive retail experiences, and what makes collaborations actually work. Plus Rebecca’s advice for standing out in fashion, building a recognizable point of view, and turning aspiration into community.

Follow Fashion & Founders:

Podcast IG: @fashionandfounders

Podcast Substack: Fashion and Founders

Podcast Website: fashionandfounders.com

Podcast TikTok: @fashionandfounders

Podcast LinkedIn: Fashion and Founders

Podcast YouTube: Fashion and Founders

Podcast Links: Shop My

Follow LoveShackFancy:

IG: @loveshackfancy

TikTok: @loveshackfancy

Shop

Follow Rebecca:

IG: @becknyc

TikTok: @becknyc_

Glamsquad:

Code: FASHIONANDFOUNDERS for $20 off

Rent the Runway:

Use code: RTRXVSMITH50 and get 50% off your first month!

Thanks for listening! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Built such a fashion empire. How did that all begin? I started, I designed my bridesmaids' dresses because I couldn't find one that I loved.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Well, hi Rebecca. Hi. I'm so glad to have you on the podcast. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

I would love to start with your fashion career before Love Shack fans. You were a senior beauty and fashion editor at Cosmopolitan.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

How did being an editor and what you learned in that role set you up for being a founder?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

So I love that you put beauty before fashion, which no one actually ever has done because I because I was mostly fashion, then I started doing beauty. But so I started working in magazines. I mean, I grew up basically in the fashion closet. My mom was creative director at 17 Magazine for my entire life, for like 25 years. So I started interning when I was in high school and working all through college, different internships. And then when I started, my first job was at Glamour, my first official job for a year and a half. And then I went to Cosmopolitan. And I mean, I think I really just like I love telling stories. And I so I styled the shoots, I produced them, I did all of the clothing markets, so like finding all the new designers, things like that, and really just immersing myself in the world of magazines. And it was something that I mean, I lived, breathed, ate, slept magazines. So even when I was growing up, I had magazines all over my Laura Ashley wallpaper, and I just loved feeling a part of that story. So starting Love Shack Fancy was very much just it came out of a passion and for storytelling. And I designed my bridesmaids' dresses. So it was a very natural, organic, unplanned brand creation, basically. So I think the magazine worlds fully created that whole opportunity and just kind of guided me in the path.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Were there certain things that caught your eye as an editor that you knew to add in as a founder building a brand?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

I mean, I think always is just like having a strong identity, have which everyone who knows Love Shack Fancy, there's a very strong identity. You know, I've always loved vintage. I've loved femininity, romance, nostalgia, and so this sort of storytelling and like getting into where what is a girl feeling? What is she not only wearing, but like, you know, what music is she listening to? And what's her vibe? Is she feeling a little bit more sweet and feminine today, or a little more rock and roll, or a little more daring, or, you know, I don't know. I think so. It's always about that feeling too. So really in the world of Love Shack Fancy, I apply that to everything that we do. And it's very much, you know, across whether it's social media, hopefully it's across, you know, our editorial or not even editorials, I guess our ad our campaigns now. I still call them editorials, as you can see. But it's always about that feeling that we come back to and the story of it and what she's doing, where she's taking it. And I think that our customers and the girls and women who buy from Love Shack Fancy really have a piece and they like to have that sentiment and that story behind it, you know?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah, you become part of the world of Love Shock. And I'd love to hear about the first piece you ever designed. I know it was a bridesmaid's dress. Yes. How did that all begin?

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Because now you have an empire. So I started, I designed my bridesmaids' dresses because I couldn't find one that I loved. And so every dress I found, the girls were like, no, this is so ugly. This is so ugly. So I was like, okay, let's just design one. So there was an elastic. I had this one dress that I used to always wear. It was a vintage dress. And I want to do something similar. It was a halter dress. And basically, I designed this style that you could twist and tie the straps. So you could do it lower, you could do it more umpire based on your body type. I actually just did a little TikTok on it earlier with one of our models who's 5'11. I'm five foot two. So we work quite differently, but the dress was really meant to be like your best dancing partner. This feeling so romantic, ethereal, you know, just really when you move, it kind of dances with you. The original dress had a little too much side boob in the beginning. It wasn't perfect because I didn't really know what I was doing. I worked with the seamstress in the Garmin District. I went to Mood Fabrics to get the fabrics. I hand-dyed the dresses with my mom. We did beautiful, like kind of raw-edged sort of silk flowers, similar to what you're seeing a little in Dior right now, actually, or like Lombonne-esque for back in the Albert days. But so really just like I wanted the girls to feel like romantic, dreamy, like nymph vibes, you know, at the wedding. And so that one dress, I then wore the bridesmaid's dress from one of my friends to her wedding a few weeks later. I had the best night ever. I was like, this dress is it. Like, this is it. I wore the dress to surfage the next week. I wore a dress to a photo shoot into loom. And then I kept on making these, these sort of one-of-a-kind dresses for different occasions in that same style. And then that dress became now we still have it. And then I divided up by love, shock, and fancy. So the shock dress you could wear to the beach is like a cover-up. The love dress was like your day-to-night kind of an easy, like this kind of a silk, you know, easy day dress. And then the fancy was more voluminous and more chiffon or a charmous that was a more elevated, more evening. And that kind of became the idea of that first dress that we still actually make.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

So it started very organically. Yes. When did it become what it is today? Like when did it really start to feel like a full-on business?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

So I think, I mean, the timeline is I got married this June, 16 years ago. So that was when that first bridesmaids dress was made. Then I was still an editor at Cosmopolitan. I was doing this as a little side project, doing pop-ups in the Hamptons, little trunk shows, selling to friends. Then the story goes that I actually ended up going, Gweneth Paltra was doing a photo shoot at my mother-in-law's house, and my mother-in-law called and was like, You need to get here and bring those dress samples. They need to use this for the photo shoot. So I left Cosmo early. I just like pretended I had a doctor's appointment or something. And then got in the car, drove to the Hamptons, got all my samples, went to the photo shoot, and gave her the dresses, gave her stylist addresses. And then I got a call a few days later that she loved them and she wanted to do a collection to get a little capsule. So I, when I launched, we also did a little collection together. And then I think just organically over the years, then a few years later, 2013, I officially launched Love Shack Fancy. My first daughter, Scarlett, was born. I had no idea what I was doing in the business of fashion, but kind of learned as I went along. Then a few years later, I started selling to stores like Shop Up, Revolve, Free People, Bergdorf, even, but in the swim department. And then that was just, you know, a great learning experience. It was tough. It was just in wholesale, not direct to consumer. I had launched a website, but no one was really shopping on my website. And then we opened our first store in Sag Harbor, which this actually this weekend, six years. So was that six years ago? 2018. And eight years. Is it eight years? Eight years. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Eight years ago. Oh gosh. Eight years ago. Have I been saying six? Okay, it's eight years ago. And that is really when everything started to change. And I saw this line. I didn't think anyone was gonna come. It was a little tiny store. All of it, I had only connected through social media, really, with all of my customers. And then there was this huge line outside, mothers, daughters, sisters, like all ages. They came in. It was like I was having this crazy sample sale, and like it was it was insane, throwing everything up and down. And I was just like, oh wow. And I remember it hit me then. I had no idea what I was doing. Didn't I was doing the merchandising for the store? I was working with one freelance designer. I didn't have like a full-time team at all. And so that's kind of when things started to shift. And from that point on, over the next few years, I started to build, you know, a higher level team. We started to work and continue to open stores and having that kind of direct relationship, I think, with the customers. We started to open stores when everything else was closing. Now you'll see there are so many stores opening, so we're so many smaller brands. But we were really the first when everyone said retail is dead, retail is dead. We we were opening. And then we had our first collaboration launch with Target 2020. And that's when all over social everything blew up, you know, because people were buying online, they weren't going to the store. So it was really just over that moment. And then I really like connected with our customers during COVID through this like online community. So I think then, you know, and then the last few years, we've just continued to expand, continue to grow our partnerships, our collaborations, our ready-to-wear, our children's. We have this ongoing collaboration we do several times a year with Pottery Barn Kids, Teen, and adults, and my favorite Stanley's that I don't leave home without. And, you know, things that you just really connect that that reach so many different demographics.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

It sounds like it's been a lot in the making that now we see everything it is today, but so many smaller steps to it. Something that is so instantly recognizable to me is the Love Check Fancy ruffle skirt. And I think it just exploded at some point. It was on everybody, it was the it thing to be wearing. What do you think made it so viral and desired? Do you remember that time?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

I mean, I do. I feel like we need to wait, that needs to go in a museum. Because by the way, I worked for eight months on that one skirt. Because so when I was in my 20s, I wore mini skirts every single day. I had a mini skirt closet that was just, I remember we have to look back because Leandra, when she had man repeller, she did a whole story on my old closet. And I now I don't, I don't know, they're in boxes, but I had hundreds. I bought like inexpensive ones for $20, Isabel Morant on sale, whatever it was, any mini skirt, I just love them. Some with more ruffles, some with less. And that was kind of like my go-to look. And so when I was designing that first ruffle mini skirt, it was in silk in the beginning. And I really wanted it to be like, you know, your favorite pair of jeans, but it's a ruffle miniskirt. So it was really about having it goes up on the sides, it has a little pin tucking, it and it changes in all different fabrications. So, you know, I think there's so many that are cotton with laces. Once we started doing all of this sort of Victorian-inspired, that really took off. Originally it was silk. Now we rarely do silk, but then it was eyelets, cottons, lace trims, all different prints. And you just kind of collected it. It's like one of those styles that really never goes out of style and is meant to be, you know, girls roll them, and then younger girls, it was getting passed down from their mom's closet. Their mom maybe had it like for their go-to vacation piece. And then the younger girls started to borrow it from their moms, and then it became viral. And then the the Bamarush girls, the tick the those sorority girls really, then it went like, you know, from just, okay, if you know, you know, to okay, oh, T D, my love shack fancy, you know. Yeah. So that ruffle mini skirt, and it kind of is like the go-to. And it we really call it, we used to have this package that was like, oh shoot, what was the name? It was so good. We need to bring it back. It was like your Love Shack fancy, that first little, all the first pieces that you need. And the ruffle mini skirt was always the first. And it always starter package. Yeah, your starter package. So I always say if you don't have any Love Shuck Fancy piece, the first one you must have is the ruffle mini skirt. Any dad listening out there, or any, you know, like the one thing you get for your daughter or your friend or your sister if they like short skirts, is a ruffle mini skirt.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

There you go. That's where you start. How have you dealt with potential like dupes and copycats that come from that? Because I mean, there's so many.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

There are some really great ones. Like, I don't know if I should name names. I mean, there is. There are the American Eagle one, it's really good. I'm not gonna lie. Um, my daughters even have them. But I mean, they are the the thing is they are good, but they still don't have all of the details. And they don't have our laces are all one of a kind made just for us. So a lot of people don't know, you know, it's not just bought at the markets. It's really intricate and one-of-a-kind Love Shuck fancy laces or one-of-a-kind love shuck fancy prints. All of our prints are, we have thousands and thousands of them in the Love Shuck Fancy Library. So there might be Love Shuck Fancy style prints. My girls will wear whatever, you know. I'm like, oh gosh, can you not wear like the dupe around me, please? I'm like begging, but I can't even make enough for them to wear all the time. So I think that, you know, I again, it's like I've gotten so used to it, you kind of have to take it as a form of flattery at this point. And there, the world sometimes looks like a Love Shark Fancy world. And so what else can I do but kind of embrace it and just, you know, it's not something that's like trend driven for us. Like it just is the DNA. So right now, the worlds of Love Shark Fancy, the trends of this more vintage-inspired, delicate, romantic, you know, some ruffles, eyelets, laces happens to be trending. So it just is what it is. And it's kind of like join the party at this point. And I don't get mad anymore. I used to, not anymore. It's like, oh, cute. I'm like, let's let's see what what their interpretation is.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

I totally. I mean, you have built this whole world and it's so recognizable. Like, I don't think I even need to see a label to know something is love shack fancy, and that's kind of every founder's dream in a way. Do you have advice for people who are early stage building and they're like, okay, I can't afford to do everything right now, but I want to be recognized.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Yeah, well, I think in the beginning it was always like before we had home collections, before we everything evolved so organically. So it was like once I started to want to have friends over and entertain, even like with a few friends, and I had this beautiful dress, I was like, oh, I would love that as like a napkin. So I would take extra fabric scraps from something and I would like make little napkins from like cotton hand-dyed skirts or something, or you know, same for a tablecloth or same for dolls' clothes or clothes for my daughter or whatever it may be. So I kind of, I mean, the girls would just make Barbie clothes and American girl doll clothes, and then we made an American girl doll collection, you know. So everything like we used to, they used to make, I have two girls that are seventh grade and fourth grade now. But like when they were little, we were just had so much fun being creative and like having an imagination. And so I think that's and being creative together. So that was always we made used to do these Sapurga's shoes, and the shoeboxes were incredible. So we made dollhouses out of the shoe boxes. And then now we have pottery barn dollhouses, you know? So I think it's just this world of like dreaming and nostalgia and like kind of brand building. And the most important thing is to definitely carve out your own niche and have something that doesn't feel like somebody else's because nobody wants, I think it, you know, you you want to have your own identity, of course. It's the most important thing. And you want to be true to yourself and you want it to feel like your personal style, right? Like everyone wants to connect. If it is a founder, they want to connect to you directly and know that it's an authentic connection and not something that you're just being sold because there's so much being thrown at everyone right now. So I just, you know, it kind of I am. You see what you get and you get racist, you know, it is. I live, breathe, eat, sleep, this, like, and it's just a sensibility that is who I am. And if it changed, then the Love Shock Fancy would change, you know? So it's really just a direct reflection of what I love. Of course, as like we grow and expand and scale and all these things, it has to reach so many different customers and people and different styles. Like, and we still I might not wear so much black, but we still have a really good amount of black that we offer, like in what you're wearing. Well, we should wake those pants in black, actually. It's cute. But like my favorite topic, same as like that top. I love that top. We should make that. So when we see like neutrals as well, I'm like, oh, I love that. It's kind of a basic. Then we should also expand it to black, even though I want it in pink. The world might want it also in black, you know? So it's kind of just thinking about everyone else and understanding taking your own, your own identity and then seeing how to kind of scale it and grow it.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

This leads me into my next question because you're so recognizable, but you've grown so much. Was there a pressure at all to need to make it more mass market in a way and kind of dilute what made it so special?

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Or how do you think? Yeah, I mean, I think that that's like, I mean, we're up and down, like tariff price. I mean, there's like I can't even tell you every week, it's like another thing. So I think it's still going by. I mean, before we used to do all 100% silk, if it was up to me, we would do everything in beautiful 100% silk with massive sweeps and tool and everything would be in, you know, but it the prices are insane. Silk is so expensive. So you need to substitute sometimes. We never substitute or we try not to quality, but of course, certain things you're going to have, you know, different kinds of fabrics, and some are not going to be the most expensive because then the prices are going to be driven up and customers aren't going to want to spend that. So I think it's really just a balance and it's an ongoing conversation still because as we open now, we have, I think we have 20, did we just open our 28th store? Yes. 28 stores and we're still growing more. So I think just trying to get all the different price points to still have for the elevated customer, to still have the opening price point for a different customer and to try to please everyone is like an ongoing balance that we are trying to create. But and then in terms of like reaching a larger audience, we definitely use our collaborations for things like that. So price points for like a Stanley is so much less. We make wet brush here. We have a really insanely exciting collaboration everyone's gonna freak out over that comes out, I think, in July. That is great prices. So, you know, it really is just trying to have a balance and high low and a mix. So because we're we're aware, we're constantly like launching this, launching that, launching that. So you need to kind of balance it out.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

When brands come to you for a collaboration, how do you know and decipher this is additive, this makes sense, or we're not gonna put our name on that?

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Well, I think it needs to be something that I feel emotional about, that our team. I mean, I looked, we have so many amazing, like young 20-year-olds in our office. So I'm like, Do you love this? Or is this gonna get you? Because I asked my daughters, I ask, I really love to ask everyone what excites them. And it needs to feel like the brand itself also needs to have that kind of like it factor as well. And or also offer something that we don't already create. So I think it's really like the meeting of the two brands and the demand and the and the customer and really like the reach. So I think that's kind of how we go about it.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

And I saw you've partnered with Sephora. So you've got perfume.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Yes. So we have we launched our fragrances, I think it's like three, almost three years ago. So we have how many do we have now? Do we have six fragrances? And it's we're still growing that category. And it's great. You're wearing Secret Crush. You like it? I know, it doesn't matter. And Sephora is the best, best partner. Like they are so amazing that we get in the kitchen with them. They tell us what they love, they tell us what they hate. It's a little bit of a back and forth in the beginning. I wanted to do really soft pastels in the beginning. They were like, no, we want it brighter, happier, punchy. Like the Sephora customer and the fragrance and the beauty girl is like, you know, she loves to have fun. She loves pink. She loves to be at like she loves a party, and that's why she comes to Love Shack Fancy. It's an emotional connection too. So we're growing that business and they're, yeah, they're a great partner.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

You've touched on so many areas. I feel like food and drinks are the only one left.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Oh, we definitely should do that. I know. I always we I I love pasta and we have not done I always say every year, we'll just do like bow pasta. It's about I mean, we definitely need like a we definitely need a Starbucks drink. Starbucks? Yeah. We need that. Um they're definitely we definitely should be doing more of that. Actually, that I had two conversations I need to circle back on. Okay. We'll see in the future. Oh yeah. And we have Santa Margarita. Oh. We have Rose. So this is our Rose. Oh my god. We've been doing that a few years, so that's exciting. So that's coming out, I think June. Yeah. So, and then we have the huge, what's it called? What's the huge bottle? We're doing that one this year. Bigger than a magnum. It's massive, like this big.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

They bring it out usually at like clubs, like and something else around design is you've started showing at New York Fashion Week for several years now. How do you design the shows for each collection?

SPEAKER_00 20:32

So each, I mean, the shows also like again, I try to use it as something that feels like a cultural experience and something that I feel excited about, depending on the season, you know, for spring, which we show in the fall. It's coming out of summer. I usually love a party, I love music, I I and I love to get everybody involved and to just kind of think outside the box and not to take it too seriously. Like I was an editor, I went to so many fashion shows and I sat one after the other, after the other, which I I loved going to, but you know, they're all traditional runway shows. And so I think for us, I always said we would never fall into the, you know, fashion cal. I mean, I said so many things. But and then I was like, I really we started our first fashion week in New York, was really because I grew up in New York City. New York went through such a hard time with COVID. Everyone was leaving New York, and I was like, this is our city. We love it, we need to bring it back. So we started showing that first year we did the Cooper Hewitt, and it was supposed to be outside. It rained, so we got we did a tent, but it was like a fun party. It was like a tea party outside with the tent, and we had dancing, and it was really kind of just like this community building. So I think we're always looking to that. We have different performers, dancers, we bring in different entertainment, and always kind of you'll see something that we're feeling inspired by in each moment.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

As an editor, you said you attended Fashion Week shows. There's been such a shift in who attends these runways. Yeah. How has that led you to who you invite to your shows?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Well, interesting because we just actually did this show in Canada for the first time, which was amazing. And it was like this meandering old members' clubs, like mansion. Then we had so many RSVPs that we had to build a tent that attached to it. And that actually was really beautiful because it was all it wasn't influencers or some editors, but it was clients. And it was multi-generational. And it was like from teenage, actually, no, from 10-year-olds came with their moms who love the brand equally as much, teenagers, college girls. And so it was really nice to just be able to see everyone. And that actually we did more of a salon style show. It wasn't typical runway. It was a mix. But everyone was seated and that was really nice. So I think that, you know, we love to invite a whole mix. We love to include our clients. We love to include our customers, you know, who are big fans of the brand and who just get excited and just different because influencers, editors, they're going to so many anyway. And Fashion Week is always so packed. So I just think we want the spirit captured and we want people who really are excited to be there, not who have to be there.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Your shows sound fun. Yeah, you have to be. And I've heard you say multiple times that you have 10-year-olds to their moms, to I think I've heard you say babies to 80s. Yeah, babies to 80s.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Actually, babies to 100 and something, because we just had an amazing 103-year-olds wear Love Shack Fancy, yeah, to her granddaughter.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

But I think a common thing you hear in starting a business is if you're for everyone, you're for no one. Why do you think it's working for Love Shack Fancy?

SPEAKER_00 23:36

I think again, it was just like so organic how you know I became a mom and then I started making clothes for my daughters and then for their friends. And then the younger girls started the teenagers or the tweens, teenagers of my friends, they started borrowing from their moms and then their grandmas and everyone. And we really just have like a huge breadth of the collection, which there when we say there really is someone for something for everyone, there really is, even if it's a little sweater, even if it's a beautiful long skirt. So I think that, and also Love Shuck fans, it's different than like how Laura Ashley used to be when I was growing up, where my mom would make me wear a Laura Ashley dress and make us twin together and like in the print that I didn't like. We definitely are like we take our cues from what the younger girls want. So we're designing for them and with them. And if anyone has any design ideas, let me know. But you know, so and same for like the teenager, same for the 20-year-old, same for I'm listening to my mom, who I'm not gonna say her age, but she's like, Can you make more of this for us? Like, we need this in Palm Beach or in New York. So things like that. We're just definitely listening to everyone. And I think it's still a brand that, you know, generations love to share with one another. And there is that nostalgia piece, and there is, we always say it's dad approved too. It's feminine and beautiful and like sexy enough, but not too sexy. It's not slutty, you know. And so dads love to buy it for their daughters. We have a lot of like well-known actors that shop for their daughters in the store, which is so cute. So I think it's just like, I don't know, we have so many just different generations, and Love Shack Fancies becomes kind of like community sisterhood of like extension of, I don't know, it's just like kind of girl power, fun, creativity, confidence. And so everyone kind of loves to come together and be a part of it, which is so sweet.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

I think you can also see that and feel that in your stores, and they're so curated. You mentioned that you were one of the first to really start opening stores when everyone was moving online. The store experience is starting to get more innovative, a little updated. Is there anything that you've been thinking about or maybe have done already in your store that is different?

SPEAKER_00 25:48

Let's see. And we love, as I said before, I mean, we definitely love to have a good time. We love to have a party. We're always, it depends what store you're gonna go to. So in our stores, also, we have uh trunk shows every single weekend. So I started off doing trunk shows in stores. So I don't, it's something that it's if you walk into any Love Shack fancy store on weekends and or sometimes during the weekday, you'll see female-founded brands that have pop-ups at the stores, which is really cool. So we love that. We love to support smaller brands and female-founded brands. And we love to have parties and activations and DJs and drinks. And, you know, if you go into Dallas, like they're partying from 11 a.m. And we have custom embroidery and they're having drinks and they're dancing over there, and they're there's always something going on. So it really also takes on. We have a really fun, we just launched our collection with cotton with Carter Faith, the singer. She's coming to our Nashville store during, I think it's beginning of June. She's performing, we're having a party, you know. So I don't know. We try to have our stores also be kind of a place of culture and entertainment and fashion, community, all the different things. So I that's what gets me really excited. So it's not just about coming to buy the clothes, it's about like being a part of the world.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

It sounds like it's all over the US, potentially globally. Yes. Where do you have them?

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Internationally? Oh, internationally. We have a store in London, and oh right. When is this earring? Ooh. And maybe another one coming up and another insanely exciting international store that's opening. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I guess it's Paris. And we and we do sell to a lot of like different countries all over. We sell all over, like Europe, Israel, the mid, like all over.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Because I was gonna ask it. I've heard you mention Austin, Nashville, Palm Beach. I've have found that a lot of fashion mates only focus on New York and LA. Yeah. Was it an intentional choice to be in all these different states? I think it's so important that anyone can be a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yeah. I mean, we have a huge customer base in the South. Texas, we have, I think, four stores now. Dallas is amazing, you know, and very different from then Austin. So we kind of have something for everyone in the different. I mean, we could have so many. We're Florida, also, we have two now, but we will have more. Certain states where it's just like all year long, same as California. And in the South, we have Charleston, we have Charlotte, Arizona, where? Kioa. We just opened Chicago outside of Boston. Atlanta's opening next week. There's so many. And I used to go to every single opening. I'm going to Atlanta though, but I'm going to the next one that we haven't announced.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

No, we can't be named yet. But that is, I think, so important to not just focus on the obvious major hubs on the coast, but to bring in all those customers. I think I was once going to a small event, Timeless Pearlie, I think was popular. Yeah. At a Love Shack Fancy store. Oh, in Soho? Yes. And I think like in the fall or maybe Christmas time. And there were girls who were tourist visiting, and I think they were like dressed up to go into store. That happens in Soho.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Do you find that? Actually, that happens in a lot of our stores. Soho definitely is the more touristy because we have Madison Avenue and Leaker, and then we have Soho. But yeah, I mean, it's like an out and for sometimes they, I mean, they will take their little girl. Oh my God, they dress up their little babies sometimes and their little girls and the great, like during the holidays, especially to our store openings. It's like a whole situation. And people drive for a lot of our store openings hours. I mean, even to get there. So they are just so excited. They might live in like a little town. So they drive to their closest store. Yeah, and they get dressed up. And I mean, people tell me all the time, they like actually, I was just talking to someone in Soho. They're like, we live in the middle of nowhere, literally in the middle of America. But like we get dressed up when we go on vacation. We get dressed up when we come to the city. We love Love Shuck Fancy because we love taking it with us everywhere we travel. So, and they get dressed up to come to the store.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

What is it like to know so many people are wearing and partaking in your design?

SPEAKER_00 29:58

So funny, I mean, it's the most rewarding thing, especially seeing how everyone styles it differently and just everyone's, you know, I love seeing everyone's personal style and personal take and what everyone's gravitating to because it's such a huge process from beginning of inspiration, design, the whole thing. I mean, it takes, you know, it's a year at least. So then when you're finally seeing it on everyone, you're like, oh wow, I love that. And then you're like, oh, then I get ideas. Like, I'm already like, oh, we should make that top and do it longer, and maybe do it without the like all different ideas. So it's so fun. And I love those pants. I need to wear them too. No, these are maybe this weekend. I'm gonna bring them with me. Oh, it's supposed to be a little colder. I know. That's why they'll they'll be good.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Oh, you have built such a fashion empire. If someone's listening and they're at that beginning stage, they just designed their first dress and they're like, this could be fun. Do you have advice for how to actually take it to a next level?

SPEAKER_00 30:50

I mean, I think really by getting yourself out talking to as many people as you can, internships and working and learning, I think is really the best thing. So having that experience first to kind of take that in, see what you can apply to your own brand, career, whatever that is, because there are so many experts in the fields. And I think it's so hard to be able to do all of it. So, really just to be able to learn. And even if you're starting something else, like that doesn't mean you can probably still do that at the same time. Or I mean, now there's so much. I don't even know with like everything that's going on all the mark on my whole feed. It's like marketing this, market, it's like a million things being thrown at you, right? So I think just really finding a niche, like that's why I love that we do these trunk shows at our stores and like getting your foot in the door and networking with people. And, you know, I used to do pop-ups. I worked so hard. I would say, Oh, you love the dress? Like, would you want to host something for us? And then I would do a pop-up. I'd go to a friend's house. She'd host her friends over, and then the friend would, Oh, I have a house here. Do you want to come? And it's like that. So I think really having that one-to-one relationship with people, getting that feedback. That's why I love talking with our customers, being in our stores and just and seeing our clothes like in the wild, you know? So I think getting that feedback and is like the most important thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

A lot of people who listen as well are either trying to get into fashion or operators in this space, maybe want their next role. I'm sure you have hired, I don't even know, countless amounts of people for your company. What do you think makes somebody stand out today?

SPEAKER_00 32:27

I think just having ideas and like getting outside of just like your phone, you know, just really being creative, having ideas, thinking big picture, and then thinking, you know, just full story. The storytelling is so important. That's why what I always say is that, you know, how do brands and companies stand out? How is it more than just a dress? Like you're you want to buy into the world. You want to buy, you know, it has to feel emotional. You need a connection. So it's yes, of course, there's it's a great dress, but like you can also find great dresses for an eighth of the price. So, like, why do you want to buy this Love Shack fancy dress? Do you want to buy it because you want it to feel something? You want to be a part of this and you want to have this connection. You obviously want the quality, you want the fit, the style, all these things, but I think that's really where brands can stand apart. And I think that having this kind of creative storytelling. And also there's an opportunity. I mean, now with the worlds of AI and idea, like you could I have these conversations with Claude, my new best friend, and chat. I need a new name for chat. But like, I'm like, okay, I have all these ideas. For somebody like me who's just ideas, ideas, ideas. I give a few of my ideas, I'm like, can you now expand on it? When I get back, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like crazy. My brain up until three in the morning thinking of what I can do with all of it. So it's like you have this opportunity. You have to use these tools to kind of expand on what you know and to just kind of get out there and be creative and be innovative and be fresh and just whatever it is that like you have to feel excited by it too. So I think that's really important.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

How do you think the fashion industry, maybe the hiring landscape, has changed since you got your first job as an editor to now people are fresh out of school applying?

SPEAKER_00 34:13

I mean, when I was, I mean, we had to really like we called, you know, you had to like clap go up the ladder. Like it was very specific. And you had to, you know, spend a few years in one job, one position, and then get a fine, you know, slowly get get a little promotion. And then, but it was like tiny because there was such a hierarchy in magazines and everything. So I think now it's really just about proving yourself and obviously having the experience. It's so incredible and you need to learn that. And so by having the firsthand experiences and by just throwing yourself into these situations, you're gonna learn so much. So I think just never saying no, nothing is too small, always like yes. Like I used to just be like, yes, you I can, of course I can stay late. Of course I can go. You want me to go to LA in three hours? Of course I'll go on the plane, you know. Like of course, maybe I had a dinner, maybe I'd would, but it's just like always saying yes to any opportunity because you never know what you're gonna learn from that. And these experiences are invaluable. So I think just like having those real in-person experiences are are something that you can't take for granted.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

I'm really fascinated by your time at Cosmopolitan being an editor.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Yeah. I mean, it was crazy because it was so much fun, but we worked so hard, you know, and this was like we had little blackberries. So I slept with like my blackberry because like you, I had to sleep with it because if my fashion director, who I love, and you should come to our book party. We're doing a book party at our store in Soho early June for one of our old, one of our top editors, just wrote a book about the early days of Helen Girlie Brown. So we're all getting together and it's gonna be fun. But I love those, like my but my fashion director, she was tough, but she taught me like really well. We were so close, but it was like, you know, it was tough. And if she texted or whatever, needed something at like 12 at midnight, I was, you know, responding into that. Did The Devil Wears Prada feel accurate? Yes. I mean, I it totally did, but like we this is what's so funny is like because when I spent all these years at Cosmopolitan, I mean, we were just looking at the cover lines. Like it's actually crazy. So for us, it was, I mean, all the sex cover lines, all the fun fashion, all the covers with like how could you get the more cleavage? Like, I mean, I'm a cleavage expert from what I did for those cover shoots. Like it's crazy. So it was very sort of the antithesis of Vogue because Vogue is very serious and very, you know, high fashion. Not to say that Cosmo wasn't, because we also got great looks and everything, but we just had more fun with it. And we didn't take anything too seriously. It's similar to how I feel at Love Shack 2. Like it's a fashion, we're we make clothes. We've it's a lifestyle brand, it's happy, it's an escape. It's we're not supposed to be fun. Yeah, it's supposed to be fun. Like, don't take it too seriously and just like be creative and have fun with it. So the difference between Vogue and Cosmo and my friends who were, I have my good friend was an editor at W magazine, and she was like, Oh, if you're not in Yoji, I'm a mocha, whatever. And I was like, Oh God, what? Like, I'm wearing like my Top Shop Kate Moss and like my new Australian designer and whatever. So I was just like that, but it was fun. And we like the girls who we worked with were like best friends. We stayed late because we would get free dinner and town cars should take us home. And, you know, it was just like again, it was like a girls' club. It was like a sisterhood. So it was so fun.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

And your mom worked in editorial too.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

Yeah, she was a magazine 17 magazine during like the heyday of 17 when they, you know, so it was really like that was where all the younger actresses first had their cover shoots. So Alicia Silverstone before Clueless, like Cameron Diaz before she was huge, when they were all kind of rising teenagers. So that was really cool to see. Maybe they'll make Love Shack Fancy magazine. Maybe it will come back. I don't know. I would love that. Do they attend the shows with you? Yes, they do. My older, my 13-year-old, seventh grade, she's like loves it. Stella, the younger one, she likes it, but she still loves like going to the candy store and the toy store. Like she's like, she'll choose a toy store over a Love Shack event. Very like Blair Waldorf. Yeah, gossip girl. Scarlet, yeah. My older one is like obsessed with gossip girl, obsessed with all, like, loves all of that. So loves the OC, Gossip Girl. She's super nostalgic, loves hearing about magazine days, all that kind of I think Blair Waldorf would have worn Love Shack. Oh, 100%. She definitely would have. So would Elle Woods, we were talking about Elle Woods is coming back this summer. Yeah, chair, all the girls. Well, I have a few speed round questions for you. Do you have a fashion hot take? Okay, so fashion hot take is you don't need to wear black to be a cool fashion girl. And pink is always the best choice. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Very you.

unknown 39:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Do you have a fashion industry misconception? Fashion industry misconceptions that you don't need to be so serious and by the rules. You can break some rules and have fun and just not take fashion too seriously.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Is there a resource recommendation you have? Maybe like a book, podcast?

SPEAKER_00 39:25

A resource recommendation. I would say books, I would say go to the old magazines. Like start, like just get some old magazines, start reading them again. And not as much of resource, but I would just say travel, like culture, travel, get on the plane, go explore however you can. Like, you know, book the trip to Paris, go to London, go to the antique shows, go to museums, and just be immersed in culture and in different cities and different places. What is the best piece of advice you've received? The best piece of advice I've received is to follow my gut and to always listen to myself, which like an example is that of that is someone very important. Told the story before, told me that Love Shack Fancy will never succeed with this name. And I have to change it to LSF if we want to be taken seriously. And I contemplated that for like a good few months. And my mom was like, if you do that, like you are such a sellout, follow your gut. So I followed my gut and I kept the name Love Shack Fancy before we were, we had we had launched, but I was going to change it. And thank God I didn't because everyone loves it and it's become such a it's just so Love Shack Fancy. It's an adjective. Well, you kind of teased us a little bit. Do you have any upcoming announcements you could share? Upcoming announcements. So we have Carter Faith coming to our Nashville store June 6th, I think is the date, which I'm trying to get there, which is gonna be so fun. We have our new rose coming out. We have a really exciting collaboration that everyone is gonna freak out over that's coming in July. Can I say that it's like for back to school? Sure, that's a hint. It's for back to school. I'll just leave it at that. And it covers a lot of products. And what else? I mean, so many things. More store opening. We're opening Atlanta next week. I'm not sure what date this airs, but and then we have an international when is this live? This Sunday. Oh, okay. So we open Atlanta, which is gonna be really fun and fancy and beautiful store on Friday. And then we have another announcement of a new international store coming.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

Well, everyone's day too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

And where can everyone find you? You can find me at Beck NYC on Instagram and Beck NYC on TikTok. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming on. And soon my Substack.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, you're all gonna be on Substack. We're gonna do Sub Stack, you all of it. All of it. Love it. Well, thank you, Santa. Thank you so much.