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In 2009 some of the most influential women in pop culture were pivoting their careers to become fashion industry leaders.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were a few years into their CFDA Award–winning label, The Row. Victoria Beckham had passed the one-year mark on her eponymous line. Jessica Simpson was on her way to building a billion-dollar fashion brand. And although only a couple seasons of Real Housewives and Keeping Up With the Kardashians existed at the time, one of reality TV’s breakout stars also made a pivot to fashion with what might be considered the OG of influencer brands.
Ten years later LC Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s is still thriving.
This holiday season the designer previously known simply as LC is celebrating a decade of LC Lauren Conrad, which launched initially as a clothing collection in partnership with mass retailer Kohl’s in 2009. It’s a milestone she herself didn’t expect. And really, in 2009, how could anyone?
“I think it’s really rare, and I feel very lucky,” Conrad says over the phone when asked about reaching this point.
Like the aforementioned actresses and pop stars, Conrad first came to be a household name as an entertainer. She was the star of MTV’s Laguna Beach and The Hills. She was known as the nice girl from Orange County with fashion aspirations, boyfriend drama, and friendships that went sour. If Instagram had been around at the time, her comments would have been flooded with support and questions about where she buys her headbands. But unlike most influencer brands and design collaborations that have debuted in the past few years tied to popular blogs and social media personalities, Conrad’s success precedes the launch of Instagram itself in 2010.
“The landscape has changed so drastically. The role social media plays in a brand like this is amazing, but it’s changed everything,” Conrad says, speaking to some of the biggest changes the brand has endured over the last decade. “So much attention is paid to the story we tell with this brand. That has really become a focus, and it was really nonexistent when we launched.”
Looking back, the story for LC Lauren Conrad has been consistent from the get-go. Since the debut, its aesthetic nods to Conrad’s own personal style, which has evolved since she was a teen on screen.
The brand is known for its romantic styles in a soft color palette that you can still find the 33-year-old wearing. Nothing is ever too trendy, too oversized, or too in-your-face statement-making.
Conrad has able been able to hold a runway show at New York Fashion Week, extend her size range (now in plus sizes 0X–3X) to reach a wider customer base, and expand into categories that touch all areas of lifestyle. Plus, in terms of quantifiable success, in 2018 CNN reported that Kohl’s private-label brands, including LC Lauren Conrad, accounted for 42% of the company’s roughly $19 billion in annual sales.
“The thing about this brand is it’s slowly grown with me. Every category we’ve entered has always felt organic,” explains Conrad of the evolution of the label that’s now stocked across all Kohl’s stores—1155 locations in the U.S. “We started getting into home decor as I got older and I got my first home and I was taking time to decorate it. When I was pregnant with my first child, we launched a maternity line. We launched a sleep line this year, which I don’t know what that says about me. Maybe that I spend the most time in pajamas?”
Nearly every step of LC Lauren Conrad’s category growth has been informed in some way by Conrad’s own personal experience. Still, despite her over 6 million Instagram followers, who tune in to see photos of her home, her outfits, her Halloween costume ideas, and her family (including the announcement of the birth of her second child this past month), Conrad identifies as a designer, not an influencer.
“To be perfectly honest, I don’t follow a lot of influencers,” she says when asked about other entrepreneurs she’s seen parlay their personalities into a brand. “I focus on the story we tell.”
While Conrad self-deprecates and calls herself “out of the loop” when it comes to social media, her eye-on-the-prize mentality is nothing short of inspiring. “One important difference to remember is that this is what I went to school for, this was always my job,” she says. “I never looked at working in the entertainment industry as a long career. It was sort of something to do to help launch the career that I did want to have for the rest of my life. I approached [Kohl’s] not as a licensing deal or a one-off or a capsule; this was the beginning of building a brand. And one with longevity.”
As the brand makes its way into the next 10 years, Conrad shares that her role has changed in some ways. With a team at Kohl’s that’s dedicated to Conrad’s brand, including a product development, design and art team, she’s learned to delegate and design for different customers. She’s launched other independent brands, including fair trade store The Little Market and a lifestyle-focused podcast, Asking for a Friend. However, keeping the long game in mind, some things will never change when it comes to Kohl’s.
“Kohl’s has always been such a great partner, and they really support me and let me have a strong voice as a designer,” says Conrad, who still approves every product before it hits stores.
Today those products includes the 2019 holiday collection that celebrates the brand’s birthday as well as the holiday season. True to form, it’s filled with printed dresses, sweaters in pale pink hues, fuzzy accessories, and a tulle skirt that Conrad suggests you can wear to a party and to the office. “I’m probably about the average customer,” she says, making the case that her designs will always have a strong point of view but never beyond wearability.
Perhaps it is this dose of reality that has kept Conrad’s brand thriving for all these years, not to mention the reason she doesn’t identify with the term influencer as it’s typically used today. “I definitely put the brand before myself, and I would like to continue to push it in that direction,” the designer says, “because honestly it puts a lot of pressure on me.”
Gina Marinelli is a writer and editor based in New York. You can follow her at @ginaalilbit.
