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

Lauren , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I can sit here and say I should have started sooner, but I know I started exactly when I was supposed to. I have been sewing since I was a little girl, altering my hand-me-downs to make them unique and my own. I owned a boutique for 4 years and a lot of my customers were musicians, rodeo queens and rodeo goers who wanted something extra or unique for stage, rodeos and concerts. So I started adding flare and creating here and there custom pieces for clients but never advertised is publically. I decided to create my own unique piece 3 years ago for our local music awards to bring attention to my boutique. It didn’t go viral on social platforms, but it grabbed the attention of a well known brand photographer who requested an entire custom collection for a photoshoot in Montana. This photoshoot was with some of the most influential names in my industry and it was astounding. So, with a lot of encouragement, a “what do I have to loose” mentality, and a big city dream- the rest is history.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hello, my name is Lauren Gibson and I am the designer behind The Rhinestoned Gypsy. I am a wife and mother of 2 kids and we live on a hobby farm with goats in a small town of South Carolina. We are big in supporting our agricultural community all while conquering our big city dreams.

My background in western fashion is deeply rooted in southern culture and is centered around rodeos and redneck ingenuity. I like to claim I specialize in “Yeehaw Couture” and it fits brilliantly. I am where modern trends meet western culture, and the sparkles and fringe dont stop. By creating designs inspired by Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker and Reba, I feel like its my duty to carry on the yeehaw legacy of fashion from the greatest women of my time. By incorporating western design elements with each piece, i feel it also carries on the legacy of trailblazers who helped shape America as we know it. Rhinestones and fringe have always been my kryptonite and I have brought that love to all of my designs as a major element.

I started sewing at a very young age, and felt my design creativity was too wild for every day fashion. I spent many years making only halloween costumes, quilts and special event pieces. I unintentionally limited my creativity to thinking that I needed to have a special occasion for something that felt so “fancy”. The truth is, fashion is art, and life is too short to limit yourself to feeling like a million bucks to only one occasion. One occasion creates a small moment. I would rather create memories that last a lifetime.

Each piece I create is one of a kind. I have no desire to go to manufacturing and I think the uniqueness of that idea, is what sets me apart from others. RIght now we are custom order only but I do have some ready to wear pieces from past runway shows and photoshoots available for purchase. My favorite part of my whole process is the designing phase where I meet with a client and incorporate my spunky flair with their incredibly unique personalities. My other favorite part of the process is seeing these pieces be brought to life by the client. You are not limited by the beige clothing sold to you by fast fashion.

I launched my brand in 2021 by the encouragement of my closest friends. I didnt think my designs had a place that would “fit in” but little did i know, i was wrong. So many people have welcomed, admired and been inspired by my designs and this brand all across the world and for that i will be forever greatful. To say it’s been an incredible journey so far, feels understated. I have humbly been apart of many runway shows and spotlighted by media coverages I never dreamed of having the opportunity for.

My goal with this brand is to continue to create art through fashion and reach as many women as I can to inspire them that the fancy clothes don’t make them beautiful- they already are beautiful. I am passionate for advocating on “feeling beautiful in your own skin”. I spent so much of my life trying to change my body to fit into “a certain size” or play the scale game of “if I lost a few more pounds” and I was truly exhausted by it. So I started creating garments that were tailored to me and my body specifically. I would soon find out I am not the only one who had this issue with so much of current day fast fashion. Im so thankful for releasing my mental hold on transforming my body, when it was the clothes that needed to be changed. With having an established boutique, it really allowed me to connect with so many incredible women who were in my same shoes and it help me really dive into this brand easily and advocate for these women and myself that clothing should fit or bodies, not the other way around. This brand started as an act of self love and I want to share it with the world.

My other passion is to bring agvocacy to mainstream through fashion. Agriculture advocacy is very dear to my heart. My hope with this brand is to bring the fashion world and the western/agriculture world together and continue to make women feel like Rodeo Royalty without wearing the pageant crown or owning cattle. You don’t need to be a generational cattle driver to speak up on behalf of American Agriculture. I feel it’s very important to continue to support our American farmers and ranchers and being able to use fashion as a doorway for people to ask questions is truly rewarding. I will always encourage and support our FBA, 4H, farmers and ranchers in all ways possible.

Fashion is so much more than just fabric. I like to think of each piece as a walking piece of art brought to life by the person wearing them. Yes, the garment looks neat on the hanger, or the mannequin- but putting these pieces on changes everything. And it’s pretty magical.
The best advice I can give to any aspiring artist is no one is stopping you, but you. Don’t get in the way of yourself. I always say go big and don’t go home.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect is creating custom pieces for women who have trouble finding garments that fit their shape and frame. Seeing their faces light up, and feel amazing really sets it off for me and continues to light my fire to continue. I love watching them glow and bring these pieces from my heart to life.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I had my western boutique up and running it was completely welcomed by the community. Within our first year, we made top 3 best boutique in our state and it was amazing. During my transition of adding custom pieces as an alternative to the boutique, the store front faced a devastating adversary that it didn’t fully recover from. But the amazing thing is the day I was forced to close the doors to my boutique, the next day I was flying out to Montana to launch my own brand with major players in the western industry. It was a bittersweet blessing, but it was also a sign that I was exactly where I was supposed be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://therhinestonedgypsy.square.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therhinestonedgypsy/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/100075999054761/