Meet The Brand Behind The Best White Tee, Leset

0:00The following podcast is a Dear Media Production.

0:30a few other really fun things in the city, like record today's podcast episode. Such a fun trip, but I'm so happy to be back home nursing my blisters. By the end of the trip, I was like in sneakers and wearing the same outfit over and over again because I was ready to go home. And I'm excited to get nine hours of sleep again because I can never sleep when I'm in New York. It actually haunts me. I have no idea why I can't go to sleep. I'll get in bed at 11. I'll take a sleepy tea. I'll take a melatonin and I'm, it's like 2am and I'm still awake. So any tips for me on why I'm not sleeping while I'm there, let me know.

1:00But anyways, so happy to be back home. Today's guest is my friend Lily Shemla, and having a friend who owns a fashion brand that you also love and wear every single day really has its perks. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen me post Lisette all the time. It's my go-to basics brand for the perfect white tee, a comfortable pair of pants, the best airplane outfit, and all my go-to sets of PJs. I do not go to sleep unless I'm wearing Lissette. It's like a rule. She makes the best PJs. What I've admired most about Lissette is how they remained so true to themselves over the last few years, despite all of the trends.

1:36And they've actually been able to set the trends by actually being themselves. And they fill the void of really great essentials for every day. I'm especially excited to have Lily on the show today because her first store just opened in New York City. So if you're there, you're visiting, go check it out. It's in the West Village. It is so, so cute. In today's episode, we talk about navigating the fashion industry and building a brand that lasts, what goes into building my favorite white tee, and what she thinks is the best airplane outfit. Let's go get dressed with my friend Lily Shemla. Okay, I'm so excited about this episode.

2:10I wanted to have you on for a very long time. Wow, you should have told me earlier we could have done this 10 times by now. It's not a bad idea. Right. But you know I'm sucked. Weekly? Yeah, it's like a weekly update. Let me know what's like the new inventory. Exactly. New items. You know I'm such a huge fan of the brand. I know. And I'm so thankful for that because you know how to style it so beautifully. I mean, it just like works. Yeah. You know, it just works. I mean, that's what we try to do. We try to make clothes that work, you know. I'm wearing my cute little pointe tail shirt today, which I already can see.

2:42It's so cute. For the YouTube channel if you're watching. But this set for sure, like I wear it to bed. I'll wear it like with jeans. It's just the best. and I feel like I've seen so many of my friends wearing it and styling it in different ways too. Like it's just so cute. You're hired. I feel like anytime. Yeah. You are a walking, you know, just definition of the brand. I love it. Day to night. Wear it to sleep. Wear it out. Wear it on your podcast. Really. I'm doing all the things. Everywhere. Everywhere. Thank you for being here today because I know that you are in the midst of probably a brand founder's like biggest week worst nightmare time your store opens tomorrow at 11 a.m it does when when we were emailing about doing this episode and I was like just pop down like it's an hour like it's gonna be fine I was totally expecting you to be like no right and then you were like sure okay I'll be there at five and I was like all right at this point like I've gotten very good at essentially splitting my body into two places at once I'm really my office is in LA oh my god I keep forgetting that you're in LA, but you live here full time.

3:44I live here. Well, I wouldn't say full time is, is definitely a stretch. Okay. I go to LA like every two to three weeks. Um, yeah, for a week, but it's kind of, you know, a give and take for wanting to live in New York, but really just having the most amazing team out in LA and needing them to be in LA. So, and our production too. Why'd you base it there? I was living in LA when I started the brand. So I actually had a brand before Lisette called Liana. And so I always explain that kind of as my graduate school. I'd never really been in fashion before. I always wanted to go to business school.

4:25And I was working out of a friend's office who's in the fashion industry. And we went to Ragfinders together in Los Angeles. And I don't know if you know Ragfinders. I was going to say, for those listening who probably don't know what it is, tell us more. It's just a massive warehouse in downtown Los Angeles that just has all the excess and old fabric that most brands don't want anymore. So there's buildup of such cool vintage fabrics and even newer fabrics. And there there's even certain fabrics where they have a ton of inventory. So, you know, I'm not going to know any brands who tried to offload here, but basically like it's like I'm not going sell your inventory and your fabric inventory for really cheap to this place.

5:14And so they have amazing vintage fabrics, beautiful silks. I recently got a mohair from there for a store. So it's really a gem. But anyways, I could go on about them for hours. I always feel like you have to go there for a purpose. Yeah. Otherwise, you could just be there for 20 hours and just get completely lost within the store. I'm a with purpose shopper. Yeah. I'm not a window shopper. I'm not someone who just like strolls the streets thinking about buying something. I'm like, I need a pair of jeans. I'm going today. I want to go to the new Lisette store. I'm going today. Like I'm not an aimless.

5:51I want to get it done. Yeah. It's not efficient. Yeah. It's very efficient to just know what you're shopping for exactly. When they're like sales associates are like, do you know what you're looking for today? You're like, I absolutely do. So I went there with one of my close friends who was in the fashion industry and I was working on a different project at the time. But I found this like beautiful striped vintage fabric and I was like, ooh, I want to make like my favorite t-shirt shape out of this fabric. So I went back to her office. I used her pattern maker, her sample maker, and I made a t-shirt.

6:28And then at that point, I was like, kind of want to tweak it here. I want to tweak it there. Three weeks later, we're on revision number 20 of this t-shirt, which is now the Margo t-shirt, which is our best-selling t-shirt. It started in this vintage stripe. And at that time, a bunch of my friends, my sisters were asking me where the t-shirt was from. And I just ended up replicating it for them. And I was like, you know what? I really like this. And I feel like I'm onto something. And so I launched Liana with like, it was with 20 SKUs, just t-shirts. And then I did matching socks. So I had really never been in the fashion industry before.

7:07And I made all of my mistakes during these, you know, two years, maybe a year and a half that I had Liana. It was so much trial and error, but some of my best sellers, the pointe tail t-shirt you're wearing right now, our pointe tail tank, our Margo t-shirt, our styles that all stemmed from the launch of Liana. And so it really was just, it was the best version of graduate school for me. I love getting into the nitty gritty of things. I learned everything about the business. I was shipping my own orders. I was doing production, you know, website building, just really. one woman show. Yeah. And I ended up having one employee too, but towards the end, and it was really just the two of us just doing it all.

7:55And it got to a point where it was big enough. And I was like, I'm onto something here, but I'm not onto it yet. You know, I felt like I was still learning. And so it wasn't until I actually started doing more editorial photo shoots, styling them out, and really seeing what I was looking for in my own wardrobe that Lisette was born, I started making matching pants to the t-shirts because I was just like, this seems easy. I want getting dressed to be easy. I don't really want to sit in front of my closet thinking about it for hours. so me all the time yeah me all the time I'm so curious I would love to hear the story of the transition from Liana to Lisette because I think pivoting and letting go of something that might not be working for you and it could be working in like the general population public whatever but if it's like not fitting in your world and I have had that experience this year because I rebranded this podcast from friend of a friend let's get dressed and it was such a liberating experience to just be like, okay, I've had this thing.

9:09It's worked. It served its purpose. But like, I know what the next, what like the V2 grownup version of that is. And I think there was a point in time when I was thinking about doing that, that I was like, oof, like, how are people going to receive this? Is like a rebrand going to be perceived as failure? Is letting go of like the first version of this with the aspiration of building the second version of it bad? Right. And I'm so grateful that I did it. It like really made such a world of a difference for me. And it felt like finally when I did do it, the puzzle pieces fit. So I'd love to hear what that experience was like for you of letting something go in the effort of building something new.

9:42I mean, very, very similar to what you just explained. I was terrified. I'm terrified of change, but I knew that I hadn't spent enough time on the true brand identity of Liana before it had launched of who Liana was, what woman she was for, what she was doing and what it was. So basically it was a lot of trial and error. And I'm a perfectionist in a way where if I was going to have a brand and I see myself having Lisette for a long time and it, you know, really being a brand and creating a brand identity, I wanted to do it right. It made me like really sit down and focus as I'm sure with your podcast, you know, doing essentially the V2 of it.

10:30It makes you really think about what you want it to be and get it extremely focused. And I think that that's one of the most important things of, you know, creating a brand is being extremely focused and really being known for something. And so the goal from Liana to Lisette was really about creating a brand where people could be walking on the street and there's no label, there's nothing, and someone could look at you and say, oh, I love your Lisette outfit. So how do you create a brand that's just so known for what it's doing that it's a label without having to see the label? Someone the other day texted me that they think that matching sets are on the way out.

11:16What do you think about that? No way. I mean, they have been in and out for years. It's been since, what, the 70s, the 60s. People have been wearing matching sets. I really think it's a type of person. So am I ever going to stop wearing matching sets? No. I think that there's a type of matching set where it could be a bit louder, a bit more obvious. But I think with Lisette and Lisette's sets, you don't even necessarily always notice that they're sets. Your Ariel pant, for example, has like a matching sleeveless shell top. You're like, who knows? Yeah. By the way, she's talking about the pants that I post a thousand times a week.

11:58They're like the Navy pants. Just so you guys know. So I think there's a simplicity to Lisette that it could never really go out of style. I actually met with this CEO who I really look up to and admire. And he said something to me, and this was at the beginning of Lisette that really stuck with me since I've launched and through every design meeting I've been through. But basically, he explained to me that a brand should be a linear straight line and trends are constantly going in a wave. And through that, the trends will always cross back over your line. But if you're trying to chase the line that's going back and forth through and the trends, you're always going to miss it.

12:49And you're not going to stay on that linear path of your brand. And so I think that matching sets very well may go out of style. But I think that the classic, timeless, simple wardrobe will always be there. And I think it will always come back. So I think it's okay for it to go. I'm a set girly. Yeah. I just, especially living in LA, and I know you can relate to that too. It's just easy. I think being able to accessorize it well is where I kind of find my home in it, but I don't know. I love a matching set. A quick break from today's conversation to give a shout out to one of our sponsors of today's episode, Scotch and Soda, who actually have an incredible collab that just came out with the one and only Joe Jonas.

13:35I actually have the fondest memories when I first moved to New York and I wanted to be in the fashion industry. They had their Soho location and I always thought it was like the coolest brand ever. Still do, of course. It is an endlessly optimistic brand. It's inspired by the free spirit of Amsterdam and they create standout wardrobe pieces that encourage you to make a statement. Loving this new Joe Jonas collab. I feel like one trend that I'm seeing a lot of right now is the barn jacket. And there's actually a really, really cute one that's a part of this collab. It's called the Scotch and Soda X Joe Jonas Twill Worker Jacket.

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14:38Again, that's www.scotchandsoda.com for more information. Again, that's scotchandsoda.com in the EU and United States and select retailers. Use my code LGD for 20 % off your first order, www.scotchandsoda.com for more information. A quick break to shout out another one of our sponsors today. And this one is specifically for all of my fellow brides. I feel like post getting married, I've had so many of you in my DMs asking for wedding advice. And this one is one of my favorites. If you are looking for beautiful bridesmaids dresses, I highly recommend checking out Bertie Gray because they are here to save the day.

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16:22Now let's get back to the show. I like that analogy about the trends and the lines. I do think though, if you do remain in your straight line, there is that chance where you kick off a trend and the trend follows you. Oh, of course. And I think Pointelle has been huge for you guys this year and I see it everywhere now. And I feel like the first person to ever send it to me was you. Why do you think Pointel is just having this crazy moment right now? Also, really quickly, Pointel is a knit fabric pattern with tiny holes typically in the shape of chevrons. The structure is geometric in shape with repeated designs similar to lace.

16:53Oh, that actually, it's like fabric lace. Exactly. That's a good way to think about it. It's cotton lace in a way. And so I had these t-shirts growing up, but I'm talking like three, four or five years old. And so I remember seeing this fabric at a fabric vendor. This was during Liana days. So this is like almost 10 years ago at this point. And I was like, Ooh, I love this. This feels so like nineties and nostalgic. And so I made the first t-shirt, the one you're wearing actually, the slim fit tee. And then I was like, there needs to be some sort of like really sweet detail. And so I put a binding around the arms and the necks and then added a scalping detail.

17:33I think that 90s have come back obviously in a big way for a while now, but there's something about this fabric that feels extremely 90s. I also think just so many people have started wearing it and so many celebrities and influencers were wearing it both from my brand and possibly other brands. But I can guarantee we will always have point out in our collection and we'll continue to make it. And, you know, it's goes back to that, that trend drawing, but basically just really, you know, staying in our lane, blinders on, really just sticking to it. And point out may very easily go out of style and that'll be sad for our sales, but you know, it will come back.

18:19I think we had that like whole coquette trend era and there is something like very romantic and cutesy about like the point tell moment. I think people have liked adding in that like kind of cute element to their wardrobe. What do you think makes the perfect tee? So many things. I truly went through around 20 fit adjustments on the Margo t-shirt the first time. So the Margo t-shirt was really born out of wanting a white t-shirt that felt as though it kept its structure. Margo is made out of this really thick, crisp cotton. And so it really holds its shape. It looks super elevated. It works with the blazer.

19:05You know, you look put together while still wearing a white t-shirt. And there's something just so nice about that. So I think what makes the perfect t-shirt is, of course, fit is so important. And as Lisette's expanded, we've definitely expanded in different, you know, fits and styles, but slowly because each one needs to be as important as the Margo, you know, or the pointile slim fit, you know. So when we introduce something and it's a new t-shirt or a new tank, it just just know that comes with a lot of love. But I think fabric and fit are the most important. I mean, how a t-shirt wears and then how a t-shirt washes.

19:48I have a bone to pick with like everybody loving the James Purse t-shirts. Yeah. They, I don't even like the way they wash and they get so thin. Very. And I totally agree with what you're saying. The weight to me is everything. Yeah. I love a weighted tee that like holds its own shape while I'm walking. I'd actually put that above fit because if I had like an oversized white tee that held the weight, I'd still love it. Totally. Like it's all about that for me. Totally. And there's nothing worse than when a t-shirt gets stuck to your stomach. I see these guys in like these James Burst t-shirts and I'm like, I can see your nipples.

20:20Yes, I can see your belly button. I literally can see the outline of your nipples and the outline of your belly button. And all of a sudden hair just like starts poking out of the chest. I swear to God, when Alex and I got married, I was like, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. We're not doing this anymore. Well, my fiance has custom one of one Lisette t-shirts and sweaters. his Instagram and I was like, people are starting to get really mad, especially my dad. My dad is like, sorry, what is that sweater you're wearing? Who makes it? I mean, you might have to get into the men's business.

20:52I know people have been asking, but it's hard to get a men's customer unless, you know, the girlfriend or wife loves the brands. What are your thoughts on this idea of capsule wardrobes? Because I feel like in the past three years, we've had this like giant quiet luxury moment. People are cleaning out their closets. We were all in like very refined wardrobes. which probably was amazing for you and your sales because you definitely fall into that. Again, another moment where the trends chase you. But what are your thoughts on that? Because I think there's like two schools of thought. Some people love it.

21:20Some people find it really limiting. And then there's like the haters on Instagram who are like, if I hear the word capsule wardrobe one more time, I'm going to break out. Right. Well, I'm obviously a huge lover of that. I'm just like, what does your closet look like? Is it just like perfect sets everywhere? It's a lot of sets. It's a lot of sets. It's a lot of really cozy clothes, a lot of oversized sweaters. I love an oversized sweater, a lot of oversized butted downs. But I wear the same 20 pieces for like a solid six to eight months, just kind of on rotation in different ways. And then at that point, I kind of get a closet refresher and the old pieces come back.

22:05and the new pieces get like a big moment. But I very much believe in a capsule wardrobe. So sorry to all the haters out there. How do you get said capsule wardrobe? If you haven't worn it, and I know that's what everyone says, but truly, if you haven't worn it, I would say six months, but I'll give you a year. Give us a year. Come on. I'll give you a year. Seasons. Okay, fine. I'll give you a year. If you haven't worn it in a year, it's got to go. It's got to go. Give it a new one. You're not going to wear it. It's just not going to happen. Yeah. What should I be wearing on the plane? So you said you sleep in the Lauren.

22:43Yes. Well, I wear the Lauren on the plane. Okay, cute. Because it's so soft. So soft. By the way, guys, the Lauren is like almost drape. Yeah, and the pants are drapey and loose, but very warm. And it comes with a knit shell top. Exactly. It's actually, there's so many bodies in this fabric. There's dresses, there's skirts, there's cardigans, there's t-shirts, there's long sleeves. I'm coming over. I'm coming tomorrow. Yeah, you're going tomorrow. All of a sudden, we don't have any more inventory at Lisette. Liv came into the store. So I love traveling in that. It's so soft. It's so comfortable.

23:22You absolutely can sleep in it. but the pieces are tailored enough for sure that I go straight from plane to meeting in that outfit. Love. The other airplane outfit that I love is the Rio. So the Rio is a compact Ponte fabric from France. It kind of just holds you in all the places you want to be held. You love that for the airplane? I know. Love. I want to be held in all the places on the airplane. And there's something like very tailored and beautiful about it. So I love, love, love that fabric and I love traveling in it. I've fully gone to Pilates and then straight to a Net-A-Porter market meeting right after.

24:00And I was like, hey, how's it going? Here's the new collection. This is my case study. I think the tip, I think the one word that you're using is tailored. And I think people get very intimidated by like what to wear on the plane while looking nice. And I think really paying attention to tailoring is everything. You can have like the softest pair of pants, but if they have a great tailor to them, like a pleat in the front or whatever it is, like that goes so far. Totally. So far. And I mean, that is so much about Lissette and how Lissette was born. It really came from this concept of, all right, how do I go on a plane and straight to a meeting afterwards?

24:34Or how do I go to Pilates and then to a meeting and then to dinner later that night with possibly just changing my shoes and not having to overthink and worry about my outfit. So it is, you know, versatility and just being able to accessorize things differently and not having to worry about, you know, overstuffing your wardrobe.

24:59UK, you mentioned the store earlier, which I'm so excited about. Can you open a store in LA? I know. Yeah. It's like LA stores are hard though. The walkability is just not there. Exactly. But it's opening tomorrow at 11, which is very exciting. Your first store. Tell us all about it. I just saw pictures of it and it's fab. I am so, so excited. So basically the Lisette store was created to kind of feel like your best friend's house, apartment, wherever you live, whatever it would be. And so it's really welcoming, really cozy. We've kind of created this living room area in the back. The clothes are just there in a very simple way, in a kind of gallery-esque way.

25:40And I think it will just feel really welcoming for everyone. They kind of just want to come in and hang out, which is really what we wanted to create. We sourced some amazing vintage game sets and candles. I love it. I know. And so I'm really excited about selling those things and just continuing to add things into the store. So I just love going into a store and and having it feel a little bit more lifestyle-y. And being able to not just get the brand's clothes and see special things that you would have maybe never seen before. We have a beautiful vacuum and board that we're selling. We have a really cool vintage Pierre Cardin poker set that we're selling.

26:23So a lot of exciting things. But what I'm most excited about in terms of a store overall is for people to finally be able to touch and see the products in person. We put so much energy and effort into the fabrics that we choose and the designs that we make and the details on the design to really make sure that we're always going back to that ethos of comfort meets style. So I think it's going to just be really exciting for people to see the products all together and the pieces all together and really get to touch and feel and be like, oh, yeah, this is so soft. For a brand like yours, like we're like, that's the ethos of the brand.

27:04Like it's such a smart move to have a store. People still get surprised when I tell them that we don't use buttons or zippers on our pants and everything's pull on and pull up. See? Yeah, exactly. Like comfort. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And so I think, you know, being able to see that in store and these trousers that we have, they're incredible. And they're, I'll be walking through the collection, you know, explain, you know, since nothing has pants or zippers, it's all pull on. They're like, wait, what? Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, it's all elastic waistbands or there's no elastic waistband at all. And it's just the fabric.

27:41Yeah. It is like to me, it's sure it's a style. It's like a stylistic choice, but to have them is a nuisance. Yeah. I don't want to unbutton my pants a lot of the time. I mean, I could tell you my designer would be very thrilled if we started adding pants. I mean, I'm sure. Zippers and buttons and pants. It's a stylistic choice, but that's so fun. It's challenging because you really have to think outside the box from a design perspective of how can we create, you know, these really beautiful tailored trousers that look like true, you know, trousers, but really feel still like sweatpants. And so we've been doing this new thing where it's a flat front.

28:20We hide the elastic in the back. We're getting very creative over there at Lisette. I think that's what people want though. Even back to the airplane question, I can't tell you how many times I get asked like, hey, what do I wear on the plane? I want soft, comfortable pants, but I don't know where to begin. It's really, I think, a sign of the times of what women want to be wearing. Comfort, but elevation. If there was one thing that you could change about fashion right now, what would it be? I would say that the fashion calendar still feels quite archaic. Completely agree. So the fact that, you know, fall is coming out in June and that, you know, spring comes out in February, all of it makes it also extremely challenging from a production standpoint.

29:05And so there's a lot of headaches there. That would be one thing I would love to update a bit if I had the power to. Yeah. I mean, even last week or like a week and a half ago, I started rolling out like fall styles that I like. And some people were so excited about it. And some people were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, too soon. Yeah. But I'm like, guys, like stores are filling it up now. Like people have been waiting since February when they've seen the collection last to wear it. Like it's such a strange, I hate the cycle. One other thing, obviously, and this goes without saying, but just the amount of waste that there is in fashion in general.

29:41So we're not really a brand that boasts about how eco-friendly we are, but it's definitely something that's very top of mind for us. I think that's why everyone out there who gets so frustrated that Lisette sells out quickly, that's really why. So what we do, we have a massive core collection. And so we'll only keep fabrics in stock that are core. So if we know we're going to use the fabric, we'll buy it in bulk. Besides that, we do pretty small production runs. We'd rather see what people are attracted to than buy a ton of something and be stuck with it and then have to deal with getting rid of it.

30:24At a certain point, it would shock you how many fabrics just get burned and destroyed and thrown out. And so that's something that's definitely really important to us and even puts our business in a riskier place financially because we could be making so much more and selling so much more if we produced so much more, but we would rather sell out and remake and make people wait than just be stuck with a ton of inventory. So I would love to see that mindset with other brands as well. But again, at the same time, I have a fashion brand. So I'm not working on it. Yeah. I mean, okay. So new store, 380 Bleecker opens tomorrow, which is the 11th.

31:14Very exciting. I'm so excited for you guys. If you guys are in New York, go visit the store. Yes. Please come say hi. I will be stopping in and out constantly because I'm just addicted to it right now. I love it so much. I'm so excited. It's so pretty. And it's honestly the fun part of having a brand for me. I love doing this stuff. I love merchandising. I love seeing the product there. Totally. And I love bringing the brand to life. So yes, please come stop by, shop with me, hang out with me. I'm so happy for you guys. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. And thank you for being such a fan.

31:48Oh my God. We love you. We'll be in it forever.

31:59Thank you.

32:27Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.