We caught up with the brilliant and insightful LaDarious McGraw a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
LaDarious, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
I started out in my home town. Styling clothes and doing shows in my community. Then I started posting on social media and people started to notice my work. I also reached out to a couple of people and businesses to see if I could freelance for them just to get my foot in the door. Once I started doing those shows and posting more, started to get more opportunities and networking with different talent. Next thing you know I’m doing my first big show for Columbia fashion week!
That’s the great thing about social media.
You really can connect and grow your business and audience by networking.
LaDarious, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is LaDarious Mcgraw. Some call me Darious of LDM. I’ve always loved getting dressed ever since I was in elementary/middle school and I knew I wanted to pursue my a career in fashion. I would style my family and friends for different events and they would love it. Putting them in piece no one would think about. Letting them step out of their comfort zone but also defining their personal style.
I think that’s what sets me apart from others. Giving people that “wow factor”. If you never explore different pieces even textures and patterns of clothing, you tend to blend in. I want my client to feel confident when I style them. I also want to push them to try different looks.
lam most proud of my individuality and independence. I’ve come so far and push myself to do things that were out of my comfort zone, like being in front of the camera recently to promote my brand and doing my first big fashion show. I continue to seek these opportunities because, I know it’s going to eventually take me places that I want to go. No one thinks like me and I know that will take me far in life.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I usually come up with the theme by the pieces I acquire. And based on that piece of clothing, I build my idea / concept around it. I then find pieces to go with that theme.
Jewelry, hats, shoes. | feel like will execute the idea I’m going for. When the photo shoot comes, I make sure I communicate with the photographer, makeup artist and models what my vision is for the look. And everything just falls into place. I have really good photographer friends that get my vision so I really so they usually exceed my expectations and really make my clothing pieces POP!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Here recently I did not believe in myself. Although my customers were loving my work I just didn’t feel it on the inside. I’ve been doing this for 5 years now, of course at the beginning I was excited. I had visions of where my gift could take me and the passion on the inside was unexplainable. It wasn’t until after I started to make everyday meaningful, and remain hopeful that I’ve regained that unexplainable feeling.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/theofficialhemline?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hemlineofficial?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Image Credits
@lewispruitt85