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Speaking of Curves: Meet Indie Designer to Know, Lorenza James by Elle Dove
5K views
Oct 31, 2024
Heyyyy boo! Looking for more plus size fashion inspiration? Then you are in for a great interview! Join us at 12pm EST as we are back with a new Speaking of Curves Live series! Today's guest is based in Georgia, is an indie plus size designer giving us romantic, fashion forward, and playful options! Meet LeAndra Dove, the designer behind Lorenza James by Elle Dove! Learn more about the collection, the designer, and how we can support her fashion journey, especially NOW! Grab your coffee and a friend and we will catch you at 12pm EST!
View Video Transcript
0:05
hello hello hello hello i'm marie denae i'm the creator of the curvy fashionista
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and we're back with our new speaking of curves of facebook live series if you're on twitter like hey girl hey
0:17
um but this series is really about um shining the light on other designers
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other influencers other um plus-sized businesses because right now during the rona while she's
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here we need to show support because in the plus-size space the indies are the ones who
0:35
help um kind of look literally have grown the plus-size industry to where it is and they're the ones who are pushing
0:41
fashion pushing the edge like really challenging um like the norm
0:46
and giving us what we want so as you are tuning in i want you to say hello let us know where you're
0:53
tuning in from and if you have questions about what we're talking about drop a comment don't be shy we'll see
1:00
your comments and we'll be able to answer them as the you know as our facebook live is happening is going on
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so our guest today is such a dear dear person to me like she's the
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sweetest woman that i know um and i love her aesthetic and she reps
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for like the 3x4 x5x girls like especially if you're looking for options she has like the
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cutest little two-piece sets um like easy breezy dresses real um
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effortless real i want to say like effervescent and like real sweet and playful and a
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little bit of attitude and sass so do me a favor and welcome miss leandra um and her clothing line is
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lorenza james by l dove so thank you so much for
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joining us elle hey i am so like
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stoked and excited to be interviewed by you oh my goodness okay well hey girl
2:04
so i mean you have been a great you have been such an amazing supporter of the brand so first i have
2:09
to tell you thank you because of you i've been able to feel the um like it was easy for me to show
2:15
love right back to you babe thank you so much thank
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well you mean like you know hey girl so do me a favor tell me um tell the audience like who
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was just tuning in where what tell us about your line how you started it
2:33
and you know i gave a special shout out to those who are 3x because i know that you're one of those
2:39
who specifically yeah well and yeah there you go you wrap it but you also cater and you give color you give you
2:47
you know options that is missing so tell us a little bit about your collection
2:52
okay so um i started living to james by l dove some years ago um i think straight out
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of college i decided that i was going to be plus but before then i was doing straight sizes because
3:05
that's what i was taught because i am trained technically because i went to school for this
3:10
but that doesn't mean just because i went to school boy i've always wanted to be a designer i actually set a plan in motion when i
3:15
was in third grade
3:28
[Music] so once i made a decision it was that's what it was and
3:34
everything that i did starting at the third and third grade all the way up to now got me to where i am so when i got to
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college and they teach you just to basically make a standard size eight that's the size that they teach
3:47
you on um i kept doing that i kept doing it i was like this is crazy i actually had one of my
3:52
professors because i was one of the kids that stayed out i wasn't hurt i stayed after after drafting classes
4:00
to turn my whole pattern my basic set into my size because i wanted to be able
4:06
to wear the clothes i was designing wait so you're telling me because of a you had to
4:12
basically like you went up to school like learning how to design and you reached out to a desi to a
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professor and they helped show you how to grade your design for your size
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yes she she actually saw me working on it by myself when she popped into the room because i
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like to work in labs by myself i don't know why the room was like you're still here and
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i was like yeah i'm trying to make this pattern my side she said okay we'll do this this this and if you look at this chapter
4:42
it'll help you here and then later on um she actually suggested that i enter a plus
4:50
size clothing design contest and this is like like you know this is like years and years ago when plus size was really like
4:56
starting to become like a mainstream conversation it's like no we here um y'all gonna
5:02
address us appropriately hello i'm not wearing anything i'm not wearing a couch print
5:07
even though that can be a style sometimes but i'm not wearing a couch print that's
5:13
exactly what i'm doing like what i want to wear and i remember it was so funny because the first time i
5:19
met ashley nell tiffany was at the curbing fashionista expo
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yeah that was the first time that i met her in person and i i had to like express to her like how
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much inspiration she was because it was so funny because the contest that my professor was suggesting for me was
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um for whatever reason i think she was going to be there and it's so funny because i was just
5:51
like man i could have met her years ago because i actually looked up to her and
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i was like oh my god it's actually other people out here like this is my 20-something year old mind i'm like
6:03
i think i was a 1x at the time and i was just like uh pluses you know i don't know a whole
6:09
lot about it because i wasn't taught about it and then once i started doing research she was one of the first people i was
6:14
like in awe of like oh my god actually designing cute stuff that's for us and it sounds stupid
6:20
because i shocked that cato shop at walmart my family was my grandmother um who my brand is
6:27
named after she um she was always very stylish and shocked
6:33
all the time so i think to to a point like i was a little bit
6:39
oblivious if that made sense to the fact that the plus size industry wasn't really an industry-ish and nobody cared um
6:47
but people were starting to care um and so i guess since i touched base on my
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grandmother she is one of the people that i named my brand after her both of my grandparents actually
6:59
lorenza and james okay i was going to get there i was going to ask you how we figured
7:05
out how did we get to lorenzo james by l dove so for you it was a nod to your grandparents
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and so you took your you know classically trained um self
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and you started learning how to adapt patterns to off of your body
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and then into to plus and then from there you started learning about the industry the community of the plus size space and
7:33
that's brought us to today yes yes ma'am when you if you were to describe your
7:40
aesthetic especially for some readers who aren't familiar with your collection um
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how would you describe the vibe and the feel of lorenzo james by ldap um
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i would say like in every label even my tagline is comfort and style
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it's like literally effortlessly chic i love the fact that i can just throw in a dress from my collection
8:04
or a set for my collection and i don't really have to add anything else to it because i'm a very lazy dresser
8:12
i'm just now getting into accessories which i just realized i forgot to put earrings on see i don't know where
8:17
i was i didn't have on any rings i don't have any earrings you know i think i barely remember and i love
8:25
rings right so i barely like put on rings like the times that i literally get dressed up is for
8:31
y'all like for this this is when i get like put my wig on mm-hmm uh you know
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this is when i do this is when i'm here with y'all so sometimes i forget so it's okay you ain't alone in this
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girl i know right and that's what i'm saying like i literally just started wearing makeup
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again um maybe a couple of weeks ago i think i'm backing this thing like a month in
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because i stopped wearing makeup but i also had allergies and i it was it was horrible so my eyes were
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watering i couldn't wear makeup if i wanted to and then when i could i was like bump it
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i mean we're here in the midst of a run of the romana and it's like totally altered the way we approach all
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different types of things and part of the reason why it's important that we're here is because i want folks to understand and
9:21
get to know the designers like yourself behind the brands behind those whom we highlight and feature and include
9:28
because it's really important that these envies are literally the lifeblood of the plus size fashion
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space and so for you you talk about separates like you have one set that i remember
9:39
when i first saw it in real life and it was a crop top tank with matching
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pants i was like [Applause]
9:50
[Laughter]
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i think i found you after the event i was like girl yeah um what with that said you
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know what you had shown during the fashion show i did i did you
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yeah that is okay so i think that is the first time that you that you that i was like put on your
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radar because i remember telling the story coincidentally when i interviewed you about the first time that i met you
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and i literally was like i was standing all over everybody else and then i was just like you was like hi
10:33
i'm marie and i was like hey marie but i didn't know i was talking to b curry fashionista
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because that was like when i was first breaking into fashion really putting myself out there
10:44
breaking back into fashion because even though i started designing right out of college i stopped because i was
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young and was just like it's easier to instead of building my own to just go work for somebody else and
10:55
build that way and so i was ladder climbing everywhere that i worked and so and then when i threw myself back in
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fashion it was at uh maui's uh event and that's when you
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we were officially introduced for real and then um which led into other opportunities
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because that's when um the i put on an event with my
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friends yep and you came and spoke at that event and then you were like girl you need to
11:25
come to the expo when you come to the expo if you got this set it's going to be fire
11:32
and it was it was it was such an awesome experience um and i i think that was when that at
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the start of the crop tops on big girl thing fake face started
11:43
and i was like leading the charge i was like you ain't gonna tell me i can't wear a crop top
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like wearing clothes all the time just a little peekaboo that's all you're gonna get and that's what i'm giving you
11:55
and you were very unapologetic about it and i appreciated that because also your construction around it made it
12:01
like it you know it laid nicely it laid comfortably it was something that was kind of fun
12:07
it was very chic as well like i just love and i was like let's look at these pants
12:15
finding fashionable plus-sized pants that fit right is always hard
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always but you know the fact that you gave it a um a fun kind of relaxed laid back like
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girl you need to bring those back now because like we're all lounging at home
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like you give me some easy saucepans and a nice little crop i would walk around with a glass of wine
12:39
feeling like somebody's rich auntie so look so look okay so
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you know i just recently relaunched right and after i had to restructure my
12:50
business so literally the next and i've dropped many capsule collections now i don't just
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drop a whole 10 look right now i drop a mini capsule collection every month that was meant to romana um
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so with me dropping that those those pants that cut of pants and the comfier feel and vibe
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they are coming back in september and they cut well in a couple weeks they will be dropping in a couple of weeks so
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with some go with it for it especially because it's all about
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comfort so tell me this gabriel said i appreciate when designers don't assume plus-sized
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women want
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but i try to try to cover the bases with everybody so i know with that particular crop top
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um it was sleeveless but i offered it where people can add a sleeve if they wanted to
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so but mostly this is the beauty of indie designers is like the flexibility
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to get you may like a pattern you may like a dress but you need straps or you need a sleeve or you want
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it sleeveless like when you support indie designers you are able to
14:13
find pieces that better suit your aesthetic your personal comfort and really speak to like what you need
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and and and yes danielle they do give the variety yes yes
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they give the options and so oh god i keep the wine together don said
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where'd she go oh wait let's see my wine ready my wine is ready right now i'm finishing
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up this cup of coffee and later on today you guys are going to think
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yeah with coffee so i i i love it i love it so you're about to drop a new collection
14:56
how have you adjusted throughout the rona right now like how has it impacted
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your business okay so it's so funny and god works
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in mysterious ways i would say that um coincidentally before all this hit the
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fan 2019 was a really really really hard year for me and my family um so
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we learned a lot of lessons that i would while though i'm thankful thank you lord
15:28
it's always hard to go through certain lessons um and i had to stop production on my brand
15:35
last year and so and and it was i think i stopped it right before christmas season two
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right before the holiday season i was like i can't do it um it it's not making enough money so i
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stopped and um excuse me
15:53
and then so i decided that i was going to relaunch this year in 2020 and coincidentally
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my lunch period came in the middle of our beautiful pandemic
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does this mean you had all the time to get ready you know what i would like to think that
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i had in theory i had all the time to get ready because i was i wasn't working like everybody
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so i did it once i actually decided to completely come back to it because i honestly after taking that break and kind of
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venturing into other parts of my personal career um i was just like i don't know if i'm
16:34
gonna go back to design i like i really underestimated my voice in the plus
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community um and my brand and the plus community because at one point i really felt like okay it's filling because nobody
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really likes it and only people that meet me for me so um but do you think that you know one
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of the things that i will learn and i have to have to interject here with that
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as you were in the as you are a business owner like you won't be all things to all people
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and i mean i'm sure there are people who come to my site and they're like uh girl i'm like kirby fashion is staying for me
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and then there are some people who are like oh my gosh the curry fashion piece is giving me what i need for you
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like you know as it's hard because you want everyone to support you you think that you want like
17:24
the home girls and the friends that are like gassing you up and you think that you're you're looking for certain types of
17:30
support but sometimes the support comes from unexpected places
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sure and and i think when you are when you embrace and receive your gift when you
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receive your purpose and you and you honor those gifts and you respect those gifts
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that path however you know it may feel lonely it may feel isolating but i i
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truly do feel that when you are aligned the things that are for you are going to
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come and i think that for you mocha come lay down honey come lay down
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mocha my friend she's over here barking i'm like i can't
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but um no mocha so when it comes to right she's over here loca quiet
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and now she's gonna bark one more time because she got an attitude see told you told you she's gonna do it
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oh my gosh i'm so sorry so what i was going to say is is that like in this journey for you like
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i challenge you to find whatever lessons and whatever um like small
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things to be grateful for and because those add up to bigger things
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and and then girl if you're feeling discouraged call me [Laughter]
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that's true and i have always been so fortunate to find and have a good connection with people
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and that's part of the reason why i didn't give up um i remember because my dad is a pastor
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um he stood in the blue pit and preached this sermon
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and i promised the goodness he was like you gonna get back in fashion design you're gonna you know you're gonna live
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out your dreams that's what god put in you you gon do it and i was like
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daddy like after service i'm like daddy daddy he said i got a little inspiration but
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it all came out okay i'm hearing you you loud and scared
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mm-hmm so when pivoted this year my adjustment was going from
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releasing ten looks down to two to three looks a month and that way it'd be a constant flow
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of um garments basically until i rebuild my site up to
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where it was like i said i was i was dropping full collections every season and but that was um
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time consuming and and i was doing um made to order
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so yes i like that comment but it will happen align and manifest
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that ish exactly exactly from my mouth the guy's ears have started here
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i let it come out of my mouth i put it on paper that's exactly how i planned out this launch i put it on paper this time i wrote out
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the plan what is it write exactly and that actually that's my favorite versus on my
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wall of my office i was like lord that that verse was
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meant for me um but yeah so that was my pivot like once i relaunched uh i knew that i was
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going to do many capsule collections i knew that people most of my audience were so used to dropping 10 piece
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looks they won't be like what the heck is on your site it's only two things on your site it's
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two things in multiple colors so like this dress i have on comes in
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two different colors the idea custom t-shirts they come in two different
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colors well they're not custom but they're my branded t-shirts they come in two different colors and that's the new thing
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i added t-shirts and they're like i don't know i like them
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people like them too so i was like i don't know if i'm gonna keep selling them and my dad was like nope
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there's a keeper everyone's like you should you keep doing t-shirts because i'm able to offer to men and
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women now okay so and i actually the men been buying most of the t-shirts
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options too boo they need it so for you when it comes to this pivot
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and now like you know instead of doing a full-on collection you're dropping like three pieces per month which is kind of like in some ways very
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scaled down like just like how mainstream retailers they may have all the pieces but they don't drop they drop them
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strategically versus like everything at one time so you're you're in alignment with how things are you just scale
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differently see so work it out now i know you said that you have your
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two-piece collection coming back what else can we expect for this new this new drop that you're
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about to give us um in september is is some really cute
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how do i put it very i played into more of the comfort side
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of lorenzo danes with this new uh collection like um
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i use mostly 100 really soft cotton i've always been
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really think about that always and so i wanted to venture into
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more really soft contents because i can see you hanging out in the living room
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you're just in a basic busy meeting but you don't want to look like you've just been laying around your house all day
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so i mean because you know the mailman sometimes the mailman like hey
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i'm cute in my lorenzo james thank you oh you know this because this dunk is poking
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we're going to expect a lot of comfort coziness um so we have pants we have crops you
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have dresses um i do as actually right now um the drop the first drop that i did
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which was in august i do have the dresses and t-shirts um
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september right now i don't have any dresses dropping because i just dropped these but later
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this year i'm actually going to really dive into my design bag and see if y'all mess with
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me that way um and really like do more than just
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um easy going comfort pieces like when i'm thinking about the holidays if you have to just be withdraw a little
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bitty squad and you decide that you want to dress up like your whole little squad dress up for the holidays
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um i'm gonna try to drop some some signature key pieces that i've released in the past but i
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think i'm gonna re-release them that's right i don't know i really want to get into my very fancy designer
24:46
a reintroduction right yes that's okay and that's all good um to
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john's question don had a question to did she bring any samples she's wearing wearing one you're
24:58
one of the pieces that is available right now yes you're wearing a maxi dress
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no it's actually if you want i'll stand up so y'all can see yeah
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i'll adjust the camera real quick i'm cute oh the ring light hit different i'm sorry
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i don't know okay okay okay yep this is our drawstring uh t-shirt dress
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however you love this fabric because you just get shape and silhouette
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without all the with with the print you just get shaking silhouette it it's really really good at height
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like i got a shaker wrong because i'm not about that life in my house
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it has a very relaxed shoulder and the sleeves have a cuff detail um
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so and you have drawstring at the waist it is fitted uh but if you want a size larger
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i tell everybody size up the drawstring is not stretched so
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order your size my stuff is fixed to size so check out the size chart and
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again when you put it up to what size you go up to a 5x you go up to a five x so for those
26:25
of you just tuning in we're here with miss elda miss leandra of lorenzo james by l dove
26:32
and she is a designer based here in georgia who um you know she's classically
26:39
trained she knew since it was in the third grade that she was going to be a designer and she's over here making it happen and
26:46
she's gone through a pivot so instead of doing full full collections she's scaled back a little bit has given
26:52
us like three pieces per month um to keep it constant and keep it going
26:58
and she's about to drop her september collection which will feature um i'm excited about
27:04
these pants i'm excited about yes and um in a crop top
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like you know i'm here for for easy breezy yeah like aren't we all right now so
27:17
do me a favor so um tell everyone where they can find you where they can support
27:22
you where they can shop from you give us all the details of your of of how they can reach you
27:28
okey dokey so on facebook you can follow that page it's lorenzo by lorenzojams.ldl and
27:35
on instagram you can follow me at designer underscore l like the
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magazine e-l-l-e d-o-v-e dove um and if you just want to get into my personal
27:47
what i do outside of fashion who i am the designer behind the brand um you can follow my personal page at
27:55
l e l e dot dove and that's on instagram and then ldl blog on facebook
28:05
where's your website where can they shop you're on right so you can shop me by clicking the link in either
28:11
one of my bios or you can i am still on the etsy platform
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so it's www.xc.com
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or you can always click the link in my bio
28:33
now when is your collection dropping um this september collection is set to
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drop in two weeks and i think that's on the 18th if i'm not mistaken
28:54
we are having a labor day sale right now this dress is twenty percent off good
29:00
and our t-shirts are bogo so they buy one get one fifty percent sorry all right but you have to have a
29:07
code so um the code is t bogo all one word um and that's to get
29:14
the ball out the letter t yup the letter t bogo well there you go twenty percent off
29:20
using code t bogo t v o g o it gives
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my whole site right now is 20 off so just in case you don't want to do the t-shirts you can get 20 percent off of
29:39
one teacher or get uh twenty percent off this dress and you want this dress
29:44
it's calling your name it's in your closet already you just ain't seen it yet because you ain't bought it yet
29:51
you got you better speak to the babies you better tell them now i just want to say thank you so much
29:57
l for joining us like we're already almost at 30 minutes like it went by so fast
30:02
we did this was a good interview thank you so much marie you guys who are watching if you are an
30:08
indie designer a boutique owner a business owner and you want to be a guest like make sure you shoot us an email at info
30:16
the kirby fashionista.com and we will follow up with you and we we will be back next tuesday um
30:23
with another guest so we do the speaking of curves every tuesday and thursday at 12 p.m eastern standard time 9 a.m
30:31
pacific standard time and um thank you guys so much again i am marie denae the creator of the kirby
30:37
fashionista um your plus size fashion resource destination thank you so much for joining us today
30:45
and thank you again l for being a guest thank you so much
30:56
bye
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