DESIGNER DEEP DIVE: DEL LUVRA FOUNDER ON HER NEW LINE AT LIT AND ADVICE FOR UP-AND-COMING DESIGNERS
At LIT, we’re all about the latest trends and the ways in which style accentuates the strength of today’s modern, urban women. As part of that vision - and as a minority owned, women-led business ourselves - we’re all about amplifying the visions and voices of the strong women behind today’s leading brands: the women helping to set the trends that shape the industry, and who provide an example of perseverance and big thinking that we can all aspire to.
All of those attributes come together in one of our latest designers, Francess Metzger. Francess is the founder, CEO, and head designer of Del Luvra: an up-and-coming brand out of Brooklyn, NY. We first connected with Francess on Instagram and fell in love with her line immediately. Fast forward a few months, and we are SO excited to be carrying her line at LIT!
To celebrate the launch of Del Luvra at LIT, we spoke to Francess in a recent episode of our LIT Live series on Instagram. We chatted about Francess’ story, the Del Luvra brand, and her advice to other young designers. Hint: if you’re an up-and-coming designer or entrepreneur, but you’ve been nervous about getting started… this may just be the best time to get started (yes, even in spite of the pandemic)! Francess has some amazing inspiration that may give you the confidence to go for it.
Here are some of our takeaways from our conversation with Francess.
WHAT DEFINES DEL LUVRA AND INSPIRES ITS DESIGNS?
Del Luvra is all about unique minimalism: building on a foundation of clean lines and really wearable items, and tweaking them to help show individuality and personality - both in the clothes and in the wearer!
Francess pulls inspiration from architecture, and is constantly thinking about all the different ways to accentuate the beauty of women’s bodies. For her, it’s all about making sure women feel powerful and confident in their clothing.
That's such a big part of our mission at LIT, too - helping strong women not only look good, but feel good, too. So not only do we LOVE Del Luvra’s designs, but we admire and share the brand’s mission, too.
WHAT DOES THE PATH TO BUILDING A BRAND LOOK LIKE?
Francess had a love of art and design from a young age, but her entrepreneur journey is one we can all learn from. From her first sewing classes in high school, to pursuing her undergrad at F.I.T., to navigating internships with small design houses as well as big brands along the way, Francess has been able to experience the world of fashion and design from many different lenses. What we love so much about Francess’ journey is her constant pursuit of those new experiences, and trying out different internships to shape her journey and perspectives - all of which play a role in influencing her brand today. That’s something we believe in strongly at LIT too, and is part of the reason why we love working with interns who join LIT to learn more about the industry!
Today, Francess continues to hold a full-time job while pursuing her vision with Del Luvra at the same time. To us, this is the quintessential entrepreneur story of grit and perseverance, which is something we can all appreciate and aspire toward regardless of the specific industry you’re playing in. Oftentimes we see the glamorous end-result or success story of entrepreneurship, once a brand has “made it” - but it’s all about the grind along the way to make your goals a reality. Just remember: behind every success story you see out there, there are years and years of grind and hard work! Perseverance is the key, which we see in people like Francess and have learned ourselves through 15 years in business at LIT.
WHAT DOES TODAY’S LANDSCAPE LOOK LIKE FOR DESIGNERS AND ENTREPRENEURS?
While the current environment has presented challenges for all of us personally and professionally, one silver lining is the fact that COVID-19 has given us an opportunity to pause and re-focus on our goals. For many of us, it's been a reminder to accept the things we cannot change, and grow in new ways - even if that means taking a different path than the one you might have initially envisioned.
For Francess, having some unexpected, extra time off from her full-time job during lockdown gave her an opportunity to re-focus and really double down on pursuing Del Luvra. She realized she had a chance to seize the moment, take her dreams and turn them into a reality - literally taking her sketches and vision boards off of her wall, and translating them into designs and plans for production.
That opportunity to re-focus and evolve is something we’ve been focused on at LIT, too. In our conversation with Francess, LIT head buyer and co-founder Lisa Shah shared how LIT has shifted the way we engage with our community, and reimagined the experiences and styles we’re offering, to really meet your needs as the world evolves. Lisa also pointed out that right now is a key time for small designers to break through.
Big designers are no longer doing mega-shoots - even Vogue did a recent shoot via iPhone! So for up-and-comers, now may be your chance to break into the industry with a do-it-yourself model (like Francess!), and to launch in a way that’s really authentic to your vision.
We cannot wait to see how Del Luvra evolves, and we are SO excited to see Francess’ designs come to life on all of our LIT babes! Shop Del Luvra at https://litboutique.com/, and check out the full recording of our conversation with Francess if you missed the livestream.