Embracing uniqueness and finding your own place

If I am asked who my fashion idol is that raises high my vogue spirits, I wouldn’t just give the expected answer and fire out the name of Anna Wintour. Au contraire, I would resolutely state that my most stylish heroine is Louisa Rogers…

Her name is probably not familiar to you, because she is just emerging into the world of fashion phantoms. Discarding stereotypes about the conventional fashion industry and unfolding utmost sublime talent, Newcastle’s fashion talisman Louisa Rogers shares her personal story and sways forward the cadence of success to aspiring newcomers.

Louisa is a multi-coloured Belgium impresario, born and raised in Brussels. She is the ideal prototype of a dignified woman, who knows what she wants and pursues it with a rigorous zeal. She goes through an emotional rollercoaster of complete disillusion with the London capital, followed by a thrill from the enlightening opportunities in Newcastle. After finally reconciling with her personal truth and her place in the world, this amazing young lady establishes her own fashion business. She speaks about it with passion, and her ‘l’amour pour la mode’ is more than evident. Louisa is the femme fatale of the unconventional fashion industry! And here is her story…

But first, let me help you picture her. Imagine colour, predominantly pink and turquoise. Now let’s put a splash of fuchsia pink lipstick and a constellation of freckles on her beautiful face. All of that under the oriole of her magnetic red hair. She is a rainbow of a person and her aura is multicolour. “I just like colour, it makes me happy. When I see someone dressed colourfully, it makes me happy”, says Louisa herself. “And we need it in Newcastle, because the weather is so great”, she laughs. I told you, she is the rainbow after the rain that we all love seeing from time to time. 

“I just like colour, it makes me happy. When I see someone dressed colourfully, it makes me happy”.

Her burning interest in fashion comes with her DNA. Her mum was an artist and her parents used to collect antiques and pieces of art from charity shops and garage shops. Their house resembled a contemporary art gallery of colour and aesthetics, and the curators are Lou and her parents. The visitors, Lou’s friends, used to call it ‘the museum’. In that space of creative visionaries Louisa grew up to love fashion. Her mum used to put Vogue in front of baby Lou in her roller chair and she would twinkle her little hands upon the pages and just sit quietly for looking at the pictures in the magazine. Her dad jokes around with her mum: “Why didn’t you put math books in front of her instead, and then she would be interested in math?”. She flourished in all things artistic from doing fashion sketches to writing children’s stories, and painting her remote control toys in pink and glittery with nail varnish. 

“Basically, I didn’t stand a chance, because from day 1 my mum was just showing me diamonds, and high- fashion, so I kind of grew up obsessed with it” 

Later on in high- school Louisa got really into photography and decided to pursue such a career. Despite her parents’ disapproval and the fact that all her friends were going off to do an academic degree, Louisa was determined to go her own way. But only on the condition that she got into supposedly the best school in England for photography: “I knew in the back of my mind that nothing excites me as much as photography, and I love making images, making people look good, showing clothes, and putting an image together”. She did, indeed, got accepted in the London College of Fashion. But, unfortunately, things didn’t turn out the way she expected them to be…

In London Lou didn’t get the chance to embrace any of her skills. She realised that the school she was longing for is too over- praised. Lou speaks about her experience with discernment and even though she doesn’t aim to put anyone off studying there, her words are to be a stamp and alarming warning for anyone considering doing so.

Louisa talks about her teachers: “I don’t have a single good thing to say about my teachers at LCF”. They are the people who were supposed to train her how to be a good fashion photographer and introduce her to the industry, and they are the ones who gave her the most discouragement. “It was like a total failure to inspire any of us” – Lou states assertively. She used to get a negative feedback and negligent attitude all the time. “I even got the sense that the teachers were trying to put us off from going into the fashion industry at times, telling us ‘well, you will be working for free’ and so on” – she continues. This made her question her ability a lot and Louisa felt completely disillusioned about her life choice. “It was the reverse experience of what I expected”. The mega city shattered this girl’s big dreams.

“I don’t have a single good thing to say about my teachers at LCF”.

Having experienced the rough and brutal fashion industry in her London period, Lou’s advice for newcomers to that area is very stringent. She claims that you need to be very strong- minded and psychologically prepared for the constant pressure. Not recommended for people with soft hearts! She exclusively talks about the kind of environment which is radiated within the mainstream fashion: that is either high- end fashions and catwalk designers, or working for a big company like ASOS. It’s a very competitive, often a female habitat, which is not necessarily a very good thing. “I always think workplaces that are balanced are better. I found personally through my experiences that women are taught to see each other as competition and that translates quite a lot in the fashion industry” – claims Louisa. Her passive and non- aggressive nature pull her back from that conventional fashion industry. At last, Louisa advices: 

“Be prepared to do a hell of a lot hard work for either no money or very little money”.

After this bleak moment in her life Louisa goes back home with her parents in Brussels to guard her vulnerability. She confesses: “I had a tough year and at the time I just wanted to have the protection”. However, she is still going through the disenchantment to herself and her family. By leaving behind her good grades from high- school to pursue fashion photography, and in the end graduating with a 2:2 in a degree of low- quality, she feels that she has wasted three years and still has to prove herself by doing something academic. Hence, she decides to apply for a couple of masters degrees in the UK, and that’s how she encountered the creative business one in Newcastle. 

“Newcastle took a chance on me, I guess” – says Louisa smiling. Her acceptance here was a complete draw of luck, since her grades did not meet the requirements. But she finally proves herself by becoming the best student in her masters course. Then she got onto the founder ship programme and took a grant from the University, so that she can develop her website. Now, Lou has just jumped into another programme and will be here for at least 6 more months. This is your chance to meet this inspiring young creative! 

Exploring three different cities – Brussels, London and Newcastle, which emanate their own unique fashion and cultural environment, Louisa takes the best from them all to embellish her unique sense of style. While Brussels is much more conservative and her leopard- print boots were too outrageous for that particular scene, in London \they would be considered just basic: “In London, you always get on the tube wearing what you think is an outrageous outfit, and there is a guy next to you wearing a tutu and you are like: ‘oh, I actually feel really boring now’”. And in Newcastle, it is a really different case up North. According to Louisa’s perception, there are “two style tribes”. One is the university students, who are quite hip and amongst them prevails the 90s sports trend – skinny jeans and big puff jackets: “It’s massive, isn’t it?”. And then you’ve got the typical Geordie style, which is more about form- fitting, plunging necklines, bodycon, very typically feminine sexy. 

“I find Newcastle a good place to just wear what you want to wear” – she concludes her little style speech.

Instead of giving up on her chosen path, she changes the direction of it. Coming to Newcastle opens her eyes to the realisation that the industry is actually slowly changing. People are recognising the benefits of collaborating and networking as a means to survive in the field: “There are parts of the industry that aren’t quite like that. So, for example, I’m in the vintage sector now, pre- loved, e-commerce, that kind of thing. I found that’s a much friendlier environment, because it’s made of small and young companies. The people who work there are doing it because they love it, not because they necessarily want to work their way up and get into high- powered jobs”.

Louisa talks with a lot of praise and gratitude about the opportunities that Newcastle provided her with. After wandering around in a pursuit to find her best place, she realises that what suits her best is being ‘a big fish in a small pot’. Lou explains that

“because the Newcastle fashion scene is small, very small, it’s very easy to put things out there and meet people”. 

Her website – Trendistr.com, has just been launched and Lou has very high hopes for it: “Depending on how it goes, this will guide my life”. When I ask her what her plans are for the future, she is certain that wants to leave England within 3 – 5 years: “I’d rather be in Brussels than in ‘Brexit Britain’, but I think it’s time for me to go somewhere a bit further, maybe? Somewhere a bit more exciting for new businesses.

Ideally, I would like to go to America, but unfortunately president Trump wouldn’t like me there” – Lou laughs. 

No matter where Louisa ends up, let’s wish her the best of luck in her personal fashion odyssey and allow her to inspire the flow of genius that we all hold. She is a living proof that there is always a way in the pursuit of our most sincere desires. Embrace yourself and your talents, dear fashionistas!

 Written by: Eleonora Hristova