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journalism → support → readers
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we → purchase → commission
Lorna Luxe built an online empire on the power of clothes.
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Luxe → build → clothes
Now, after an unimaginable personal loss, she is thinking differently about what getting dressed can do for us.
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dressed → think → us
As she launches her new denim edit with River Island, I met the original influencer to talk about fashion as armour, identity and starting again – then put the jeans to the test myself.
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I → launch → test
Talking to Lorna on FaceTime feels exactly like watching her on stories.
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Talking → talk → stories
Her personality is as I’ve known it since about 2015.
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I → know → 2015
Like talking to your oldest friend who will be honest with you when you need it, but still be warm and generous.
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you → talk → it
From starting a career as a flight attendant to working at an online homeware brand, she started blogging and posting her outfits online in between.
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she → start → between
Known as the OG blogger behemoth, ‘Lorna Luxe’, she pioneered the iconic faceless mirror and street-style poses that you’ve seen all over Pinterest moodboards, showcasing luxury and street style fashion.
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you → know → luxury
Lorna’s faceless ‘chestfies’ and outfit shots allowed the audience to put themselves in her position, imagining themselves in her outfits and her lifestyle.
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audience → allow → outfits
But it was when she turned to video that she cultivated her loyal following due to her Northern humour and down-to-earth nature.
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she → turn → humour
Lorna’s late husband John passed away after his battle with cancer earlier this year, and so began Lorna’s new normal.
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normal → pass → cancer
He was not only her business partner, but he was also a key figure in her content, creating a close, personal connection with her audience.
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he → create → audience
She tells me she’s pivoted away from ‘Lorna Luxe’, where her brand began, to be known simply as Lorna – marking fashion as a second act.
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brand → tell → act
She laughs as she tells me, “John kind of ran my business, and I had to have a meeting with my accountant in Nottingham, who I’d never met, because that was a ‘John job’.
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that → laugh → who
“I wanted to kind of dress like him and he always wore suits.
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he → want → suits
So I trotted down to Nottingham in my little outfit because clothing is armour and feeling empowered by clothing.
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clothing → trot → clothing
And I’ve always championed that for the whole of the time that I’ve been talking about fashion
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I → champion → fashion
, I’ve always encouraged people to wear not what you think you should wear, but what makes you feel good.
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you → encourage → people
She’s now launched her first denim edit with River Island, the legacy high street retailer known for its inclusive trend-led styling.
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She → launch → styling
“Collaborating with River Island made sense to me because I’ve been shopping there for so long.
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I → collaborate → me
It’s a British high street retailer that we all know, and I remember shopping there in my teens; it’s been a long journey of being a customer and a fan.”
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it → ’ → teens
Despite founding her own luxury lifestyle brand, LA-S, Lorna deliberately steered away from denim.
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Lorna → found → denim
“We didn’t think we could do it better than the high street at that price point, especially at the units and volume.
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we → think → units
The pieces I chose as an edit are quite wearable and easy for all body shapes, because my community is so varied.
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community → choose → shapes
I’m always thinking, ‘What size is my girl, what height is she?’ and so many high street brands still don’t go above a size 16-18, which blows my mind.
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which → think → mind
Here we can do petite, regular, tall and a whole range of sizes.
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we → do → sizes
The edit couldn’t be more true to Lorna’s aesthetic: relaxed and elevated for every day, there’s something for everyone.
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edit → ’ → everyone
“I think that when I was first starting and sharing my outfits for Instagram, I really wanted to be unique and different, and I would explore loads of random brands and shapes, and I never really had an identity as such.
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I → think → identity
“And then as my page took off and I became busier, I didn’t have the time to be thinking about what could go with this or that, and I started to build a bit of uniform and denim played a big role in that.”
Lorna said her attitude to things has changed a lot over the years of influencing.
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attitude → take → influencing
“I’m very conscious of having stuff, like what is the stuff for?
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stuff → ’m → what
If it doesn’t have a memory or hold a significant feeling, why am I holding onto it?
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I → have → it
My day job is permitting people to do stuff, right?
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job → permit → stuff
Whether that’s wearing gold with silver, right, or trying a different shape of jeans, or, you know, pretty much every day, I’m challenging my own community into a new idea of thinking or a new way of looking.
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I → ’ → looking
My gut is rarely ever wrong, and I always think, ‘What would John do?’”
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John → think → What
I was fortunate enough to try on three styles – as a denim lover, I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
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you → try → lover
The denim edit features four core silhouettes: Barrel, Sculpt Wide, Cigarette and 90s Straight, that you can easily take from day to night.
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you → feature → night
The barrel leg has been having its moment over the last couple of years, and long may it continue!
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it → have → years
I knew immediately that I would love this pair of denim, as it’s been a staple shape in my wardrobe for a while.
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it → know → while
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
