The style trade typically preaches that model is for everybody, however discovering fashionable, well-fitting clothes in all sizes stays a problem. Enter Lauren Grey, the 27-year-old founding father of What Lo Desires, a web-based clothes model that ranges from small to 5X. Her mission is to make sure confidence is available in each measurement—with out compromise.
Grey’s journey into the world of size-inclusive style began after graduating from Pitzer Faculty. She initially landed a job at a tech firm that had simply launched an app for reselling clothes. Whereas serving to to construct the app’s neighborhood, she seen a evident hole within the secondhand style market: an absence of measurement inclusivity. That realization sparked the thought for her personal model—one that may lastly provide the style she had all the time needed however struggled to seek out.
What Lo Desires Has a Deeper Which means
The identify What Lo Desires carries a private contact. Grey, affectionately referred to as “Lo” or “Lolo” by shut family and friends, discovered inspiration in an off-the-cuff dialog with a good friend’s mother.
“I used to be all the time like, ‘I wish to put on this, or I wish to put on that, I wish to put on what my mates are carrying.’ So I used to be speaking to my finest good friend’s mother, who was just about like my mother, and she or he was like, ‘It’s no matter Lola desires.’ She calls me Lolo, however nobody else does,” Grey recalled. “And I used to be like, oh, ‘What Lo Desires?’ That sounds so cute. On the airplane getting back from Curvy Con, I simply wrote it out on a serviette, and I saved that serviette, and now I’ve it tattooed on my arm.”
A Greater Purpose for Vogue
For Grey, measurement inclusivity isn’t nearly availability—it’s about altering how folks take into consideration style.
“It’s humorous since you need style to suit accurately, you need it to be made in your physique, however you don’t need model to be made in your physique,” she defined. “I wish to see style not be tied to measurement when it comes to model. Like, I select what I wish to put on, so I ought to have the ability to select from all these choices, versus, these are my choices. That is what I’ve to put on.”
Grey acknowledges that the trade has made progress however notes latest setbacks, significantly with the rise of weight reduction medication and shifting physique measurement traits.
“Clearly, everybody is aware of it looks like style goes backward,” she mentioned. “I feel it undoubtedly is turning into a little bit more durable. And I feel, I imply, it’s an enormous dialog.”
As each a shopper of style and a enterprise proprietor, Grey has noticed the continued dialogue round weight reduction medication. Whereas she hasn’t seen a drastic shift in gross sales as a result of these traits, she stays attuned to how physique requirements proceed to evolve.
“For me personally, I feel I all the time simply fear about whether or not it’s somebody being impressionable and feeling like they should do one thing versus desirous to,” she mentioned. “I really feel like I used to be very impressionable, I used to be gullible, my mates would say. So for me, it was, ‘Okay, do I really feel like I must drop some pounds as a result of everybody else is doing it, or is there one thing that I really feel like I wish to change about my physique?’ Like, I get it. I’m human.”
“So I feel it’s similar to everybody on this new age must be a little bit bit extra sensible [with weight loss drugs]. But it surely’s nonetheless your alternative. I feel physique positivity is what it’s. It’s no matter you wish to do along with your physique, and it’s not my enterprise.”
Encouraging Confidence in Vogue
Grey believes that style ought to empower folks to really feel good in their very own pores and skin, moderately than forcing them to evolve to outdated magnificence requirements.
“There was once this big push for, ‘Simply embrace your physique, gown such as you need, who cares what folks suppose?’ However I feel it’s like, effectively, what really feels snug to you?” she mentioned. “If that feeling comes from like, ‘I’m frightened what different folks will take into consideration my arms,’ okay, let’s work on that and understand that actually nobody’s your arms. I promise you, nobody’s your arms.”
She encourages folks to take small steps towards confidence.
“The primary time you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’m lastly carrying a crop high, everybody’s me.’ The second time you’re like, ‘I don’t care in the event that they have a look at me.’ The third time, you’re like, ‘Nobody’s trying.’”
The Way forward for What Lo Desires
As a direct-to-consumer model, What Lo Desires has discovered success, however Grey has her sights set on growth.
“I really like being a DTC model. It really works effectively, we’re nonetheless manufacturing within the U.S., so our worth level is a little bit bit greater as a result of we’re paying U.S. labor,” she mentioned. “That signifies that it’s more durable to distribute by means of different channels, like doing wholesale and being in Nordstrom or one thing like that. However that’s the place I’d love to maneuver in the direction of sooner or later.”
With a mission that prioritizes confidence, inclusivity, and private alternative, Grey isn’t simply promoting garments—she’s reshaping the narrative round style and measurement. And with What Lo Desires persevering with to develop, the way forward for size-inclusive style appears vivid.
