Rebecca Hessel Cohen: LoveShackFancy’s future could include restaurants and hotels

It’s safe to say that LoveShackFancy’s feminine, flirty, vintage-inspired look has caught on. And steering its popularity is founder and creative director Rebecca Hessel Cohen. As she describes on this week’s episode of the Glossy Podcast, her growth strategy for the brand includes “taking its iconic prints, colors and sensibility, and bringing it to life in different categories, price points and markets.” 

Before Gap, LoveShackFancy’s brand collaborators included Target, American Girl, Bogner and Ford Bronco, among others. And, following fragrance, there’s no telling what categories the brand will tackle next.

“Our customers want [LoveShackFancy] wine, champagne, and even hotels and restaurants,” Hessel Cohen said, referencing a recent social media poll by the brand. “So, you never know. It’s just all exciting and fun — and sometimes, the more unexpected, the better.”

Below are additional highlights from the conversation, which have been edited for clarity. 

A rapid store rollout

“We’re taking a deep breath right now; we haven’t opened a store in the last six months. But we have one that’s been delayed in Aspen — that will be the next one. And we opened our first door overseas, in London, in December. … We’ve opened 14 [U.S. stores] since 2020. … And that’s been amazing, because we’ve been able to travel all over the country and understand the different markets and our customers within those different locations. And the stores are like our hub; they’re like our home away from home. We have the most amazing retail team and community that is now able to go and experience LoveShackFancy in person. That was always my dream. I never knew I would be able to have that. We opened our first store in Sag Harbor in 2018. … I learned so much — I had no idea what I was doing when I opened that store. I was in there [getting my] hands dirty. I was in the stock room, I was doing the buying, I was doing the windows, I was like calling my mom for help, calling friends for help. And so after we saw the demand, we realized, ‘Wow, like LoveShackFancy stores really can be a thing.’ And that’s when we started to build the right team to be able to grow that.'”

On championing pink before ‘Barbie’

“Pink makes you feel good. It’s fun, it’s optimistic, it’s exuberant. It is a way of life, really. I have always loved pink. I wasn’t covered in pink my entire life, but when I had two daughters, I was surrounded much more by pink, by flowers, … by all the bows, all the hearts, the unicorns, the everything girly and fun and nostalgic that I loved when I was young. And then I felt like, ‘Why does it just have to be for young girls? Why can’t adults also love this and lean into it, in their own way?’ So I think that that’s what Barbie is doing, in a smart, cool, ‘own it’ way: Wear pink, be confident, be a powerhouse — and not just in this, ‘I’m a girly girl, … but I’m not smart, and I can’t do anything’ [way]. ‘You can do everything and still wear pink’ is kind of the mentality and sensibility I feel.”

Hiring for growth

“We didn’t want to take the licensing route [for beauty]. We wanted to make it feel very organic and authentic to LoveShackFancy and to our beliefs. When I believe in something and I’m doing it, I need to be 1,000,000% behind it. And it needs to feel so true to me. So [hiring in-house beauty experts] was our way to enter into the beauty world by doing it our own way. We have one gm of beauty, and she is leading us. And then we worked and found incredible noses. And we’re launching in Sephora, which is going to be so exciting. … [Across the company], in the last year, we’ve been able to build a really incredible senior team of really talented directors, who can help me to lead the company. Because as we’ve expanded, I obviously can’t do it on my own. I need to be able to lean into that support and their expertise and their experiences.”