We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lori Luxury a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lori thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

The art of styling is about more than just clothing—it’s a delicate balance of creativity, personal expression, and an intuitive understanding of how to bring out the best in someone’s unique identity, and not to sound boastful but the art of styling is simply in me and I don’t believe it’s something that can be taught you either got it or you don’t. 98 percent of the time I can look at a piece and immediately see a vision of how I want to style it as well as who I know would execute the look. Sure you can learn to sew and cut up a few garments but having that keen eye is something only a select few were blessed with and I happen to be one of them. Styling people is not easy you really have to learn who the person is they’re likes, dislikes, body shape, trends , thinking out the box, building relationships with designers etc. My eye for detail sharpens with every client I style, as each new experience deepens my ability to fine-tune the nuances that make every individual’s look truly distinct. Knowing what I know now I wish I would’ve invested sooner into a mentor to learn more about the business behind it. Shopping is literally 2% of what styling actually is it’s very complex so I wish I invested in someone to guide me instead of teaching myself but experience is the best teacher you have to fail forward in order to learn what not to do again. Everyone has their own lane and own talents if you wish to succeed, and this is with anything in life you have to believe there’s no competition and you’re the best to ever do it. There may be 100 people doing the same thing as you but no one is you and that’s something I think a lot of us forget sometimes. Attention to detail is one of the most important skill sets you should possess in this line of work as well as interpersonal communication . For example let’s say you have this gorgeous coat with 3D texture that’s your statement piece and the star of the show you don’t want to take attention off that piece so you incorporate small details such as accessories and hair and make up to compliment that piece to tell a story. Networking is also an important skill and for those that are reading if there’s anything you take from this remember who you know can open doors, but what you know—and how you apply it—will keep you in the room and take you even further. Also if you don’t know how to work under pressure this is not the job for you, things move really fast so you always have to know how to pivot. To be very transparent money was a big obstacle for me at one point until I shifted my perspective from looking at things as a cost vs an investment. I am only one person I don’t have a team I’m 100% independent so a lot falls on me when it comes to investing in my business and brand as well as creating looks. I take that back I actually have a friend who’s a photographer I always tell him when I have the budget I’m going to pay him to travel with me and shoot content for my clients. I do wish I had a partner to help me with the load or to even just ask their opinion preferably another creative because they understand and more sensitive to art vs the average person and you get farther when you have a partner vs when you’re alone a lot of people don’t understand that either you’re nothing without a solid team behind you. As harsh as it may sound as of right now I don’t have the luxury of time to spend with everyone while building a successful, profitable career, and anyone who stands in the way of that has no place in my life I don’t have time for anyone who I believe is a liability to not only my brand but personal life as well.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Of course ! For those who don’t know me Im Lori Luxury, some call me LLUXX for short, and I’m a Personal Stylist and Personal shopper. Unbeknownst to me before I started taking my talent seriously I used to style my friend for her birthday every year until one day she told me I should style people because I was good at putting things together and turning nothing into something. Fast Forward a year or 2 later I took a 1 on 1 with Naya Ashley, just hearing her story and seeing how passionate she was about her work my soul knew I was on the right path. She gave me a lot of great advice which I still practice to this day and from there I landed my first assistant job assisting with wardrobe for Baddies East. Life was moving very fast it didn’t seem real. One minute I was sitting in a cubicle craving more out of my career and knowing there’s more to life than this, next I was on a plane on the way to DC to assist with the #1 show on Zeus network all expenses paid if that’s not God I don’t know what is. Before I left to DC I vividly remember sitting at my desk and I had to choose between staying at a job I really didn’t like & felt I was settling for or taking a risk & seizing a once in a lifetime opportunity. I literally heard a voice in my head clear as day say “Move” so I did I didn’t question it. I lost my day job but it was completely worth it. You have to believe in yourself with anything you do because if you don’t who will ? I help people become who they truly are via fashion you have to dress how you want to be addressed and that doesn’t always mean spending thousands of dollars on your wardrobe it’s more so finding what makes you feel confident and comfortable.I love speaking life into my clients aside from shopping it’s my favorite part I don’t allow anyone to speak negatively of themselves in my presence I’m quick to remind someone who they are. I naturally connect and empathize with people too which is a part of dressing someone how can you style someone you haven’t taken the time to have a genuine conversation with you know & I think that’s where “bad” looks come in because the stylist doesn’t take the time to study the muse even if it’s a last minute booking always take the time to study your client. I’m most proud of my resilience, the things I’ve been through I honestly could’ve stopped pursuing my dream a long time ago but instead I used that pain to fuel my passion God wouldn’t even allow me to stop even if I wanted to so for that I’m very grateful. I constantly remind myself that slow motion is better than no motion. I would like everyone to know I’m very passionate and a perfectionist so I would never have you walk outside in something I believe didn’t flatter you it’s my job to make sure you look good you’re going to get your money’s worth when you book me anyone who’s ever shopped with me or gotten styled by me will let you know I’m the truth you’re going to love what I pull. I also don’t like fitting in so I love when I work with people who trust my creativity I mean after all you have to be odd to be number 1.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

There’s a lot of things non creatives don’t necessarily understand but I think one of the biggest things they don’t care to understand is that it takes money to make money and I’m constantly taking risks and betting on myself, you have to be delusional to turn your dreams to reality. As a creative there are times when I quite literally had to use my last dollar to bet on myself. I had to change my perspective from looking at things as a cost to instead looking at them as an investment with an ROI. As a Personal stylist I’m a walking billboard and business card if I’m attending an event I have to look my best I don’t care if it’s a kids birthday party and I have on sweats I will make sweats look so chic. I promote myself without always having to speak. I let my outfit and aura speak for itself which naturally draws people in so sometimes when people feel like I’m doing too much over “clothes” it frustrates me because this is my passion and career and something that’s going to generate me a lot of money so saying I’m doing too much makes me think well maybe you’re not doing enough. Another thing non creatives do that can be offensive at times is they don’t believe what you do is a job which is crazy because I work more than the average person it just doesn’t look like it because I like my job and I have fun while doing it. There’s times where I’ve been in the club or at a girls night emailing a client, editing content, and putting a look together work literally never stops my brain is always thinking of something. Erykah badu famously said “I’m an artist and I’m sensitive about my…..” you know the rest and that’s so true people always give their unwarranted opinions and sometimes it’s like um I’d like to see you put a last minute look together in 15 minutes, film the content, edit it and have it ready to post within the next 24 hours it sounds easy but imagine you also have to be up by 6am to do a 10 hour shoot and you have someone else who needs a look for an important event in 3 days….exactly. Do you know how dedicated and disciplined you have to be to work for yourself we make it look easy but we’re running off Matcha, energy drinks, and sometimes a few shots of tequila to keep us going.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I deleted my very first Instagram when I used to go by @_laaaaaur and you know I had a lot of people tell me I was dumb for deleting it and I should’ve just logged off and took a social break. However for me it was bigger than that I no longer wanted to be that version of myself. I had just gotten out of a really toxic long term relationship and I didn’t really like her anymore, by her I mean me, nor did I resonate with her anymore so I had to let her go in order to fully become the woman I am today. I was at a very low point in my life I quite literally lost everything including myself. It was tough to start over but it was something I knew I had to do I didn’t want to be attached to anyone who knew that old version of me. I was off the grid for a good 6 months it was much needed. I think everyone should take a break from social media sometimes and I mean a real break like you delete your apps and just grow through life and pop back out a better version of yourself. Now when I was thinking of a new Instagram name for my return I was going to go with LaLa but that still didn’t resonate with this glamorous successful woman I had envisioned in my head. I loved how Dess Dior & Mina Monroe’s name sounded so I went from Laur to Lori , from a marketing standpoint my actual name just didn’t sound memorable it sounds very corporate and that’s not what I was going for so after days of brainstorming I decided on lorithestylist and that soon transitioned to Lori Luxury. I like my name to speak for itself and Lori Luxury rolls off the tongue well. As far as advice on how to grow I’m still growing myself but I will say just post the content people are going to talk and judge you regardless you might as well give them something good to look at. It takes courage to put yourself out there so never feel embarrassed for posting your content. I can’t stress this enough and this is something I’m slowly getting better with, consistency, thinking you can post twice a week and the clients are going to come rolling in is crazy no matter how good your work is. Also people forget the social aspect of social media I’ve had plenty of people DM me saying they love my content or asking for advice or tips which turns into us following each other, so stop acting like you’re too good or too “exclusive” to be social on social media that’s so dull mainly for when you’re first building your platform, you don’t really have the luxury to post and disappear that’s not how you build an audience. Just remember everyone starts somewhere Amazon used to literally only sell books now look at them. I also have a friend who has a social media management company, Chic Media Co, and she’s always texting me giving me tips or calling me out when I make excuses for not posting. She’s helped me understand the true value in building a loyal audience and to stop overthinking and just post but also make sure it’s quality content . Lastly you can take inspiration from someone but don’t copy that just shows you have no creativity and no authenticity and people can see right through that so just be yourself you’d be surprised how many people love raw and uncut content. I like to be transparent with my audience too everything isn’t always perfect and that’s ok.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @loriluxury
• Other: Tik Tok : @Loriluxury

Image Credits

@dapasho (All denim outfit)
@Kwalityphotos( Cher Couture Renaissance Campaign)
@wayneduece ( Cori Grunge Outfit)
@reemworks.co ( All white outfit)