Name:
Rebecca Hessel Cohen
How your clients refer to you:
LSF or LoveShack – the ultimate travel wardrobe
Company:
Contact info:
Our new showroom will be at 210 11th avenue suite 1104 , we are moving there in June and renovating now!
How many years have you been in business in NYC?
I launched LoveShackFancy three years ago, before that I was a senior fashion editor at Cosmopolitan for over 7 years
How did you get your start and what was your initial inspiration?
I designed my bridesmaids dresses for my wedding, and created this magical and ethereal dress that you could wear so effortlessly and have so much fun with. I was inspired by all the gorgeous girls around me, all the beautiful women I worked with on photoshoots and my best friends. After I created the original dress I was constantly traveling around the world on photo shoots and searching for the perfect clothing and ultimate travel wardrobe. We were everywhere from Tulum to St. Tropez and I always felt there was a void in the market for elevated beach clothing, that wasn’t too beach casual but could be worn all year long. I was essentially living out of a suitcase during these years so I really felt inspired by this wanderlust gypsy girl, and wanted to create a lifestyle collection that would never go out of style.
What do you feel differentiates you from others in your field?
We know what women want, and we have a strong point of view. I think the line feels elevated but accessible at the same time, so its not intimidating at all, but still feels luxe and special.
We have a very feminine look and use beautiful fabrics and styles that are inspired by vintage pieces but made for the modern girl.
We always have our best selling styles that we repeat every season and they are our core – we update them with different fabrics and colors and prints. Then, each season we introduce new styles as well, and there is always something for everyone. The worst thing is when you find a style you love and a designer never makes it again. We all wear a uniform so we are basically giving women an easy uniform to work with. Our pieces seem to resonate with many different women as well, literally from ages 1 – 70 years old !
We are creating a lifestyle for the loveshack girls – collections of clothing that make you feel cool and sexy, and never too overdressed or fussy. And not to mention men love it too !
What do you feel gives you longevity in this big city with so many options?
We seem to have a formula that works well, and we have developed a great wholesale as well as direct sales business. We do a lot of trunk shows and have customers come shop directly with us at our showroom – so we work closely with them and help style . We sell at around 80 boutiques and also major department stores and online boutiques as well ( launching at Net A Porter in the Summer, and we currently sell at Barneys, Intermix, Shopbop etc. ) . We also have an incredibly beautiful and large collection that we offer directly to our customers, so when they come to our showroom they really get a sense for the whole lifestyle! And almost always they are immediately addicted for life! There really isn’t another line that is doing what we are doing right now here in NYC, so we only hope to grow more and more here. And I think a freestanding boutique is coming up in the near future!
How do you positively impact your clientele?
We love our customers, and have great relationships with all of our girls. We totally get them so it is a really close relationship. We design for all of these women so want to know everything about them – all of their needs and desires, and we try to give them what they want. We want them to be a part of our lifestyle and grow with our company as we expand. We started little girls clothing and are introducing more little girls pieces for some of the older girls as well. We want to give something to all the girls in the family!
We hope that we make women feel truly amazing about themselves. Our aim is to not let the clothes wear them, but to wear the clothes and only have our pieces help bring out their personal beauty. All of our pieces should give women a great sense of confidence, and bring out that inner goddess.
What is your favorite part of your job?
There is SO MUCH! I love hearing how amazing all the girls feel in our clothes. Nothing makes me happier. I also love styling and creative directing all of our shoots, because this is where my background lies.
I also love designing with my design team – it is so exciting when the collection starts to come in, like right now we are getting all of our resort 2017 samples in and I’m beyond obsessed. I’ve never wanted so many pieces from our collection. Every season just gets better and better, so it's really unbelievable for me to step back and see how the line is evolving.
We started years ago by making a simple silk dress that I then over-dyed a million times to make perfect, and now we have the most incredible and intricate pieces. We have so much beautiful crochet, and lace, embroidery and beading, every season just gets more impressive. It is so much fun to watch this company grow and really be a part of this adventure. I just love it.
We are also renovating our showroom now – which has been really exciting. I get to work with the most inspiring people, which is one of the best parts of my job as well . I love collaborating with all of these incredible people.
What is your favorite secret NYC spot?
The secret gardens in the west village near our house.
How do you benefit mamas?
Hopefully, I make their lives easier by giving them comfortable, sexy and effortless clothing to wear all year long. And we make pretty little Loveshack pieces for all of our little ones !
What is the most memorable feedback a client has given you?
To create a lifestyle brand, and to give women an entire wardrobe from Loveshackfancy. That’s what we are starting to do. We are introducing gorgeous baby alpaca sweaters for fall, and some cute army jackets and pieces to style your Loveshackfancy pieces with.
And I also love when people tell me they pack for a trip and they only bring Loveshackfancy pieces with them and some bathing suits. We want to create pieces that take you from day to night, and we now have so many gorgeous pieces that you literally don’t have to bring anything else with you in our suitcase!
Pay it forward and name your top colleagues in the same field or related field:
Well I would definitely say Ulla Johnson, Isabel Marant and Zimmerman are all killing it!
What is the best advice anyone has ever given you? Or what is your "mantra" / words to live by?
Work hard, play hard! Life is too short so create magic at every opportunity
As moms, the day can escape us, what is your best time-saving trick?
Ha I never walk anymore because I’m always in the car running around. But having my showroom, my home and my kids schools very close by is the best. I am back and forth a lot during the day and nothing is far away, so I can always be present whenever I need to be.