I'm opening a store.

Introducing: Earl IRL

This is something I’ve been thinking about, dreaming about, wishing for, manifesting, whatever - for a very, very long time. It’s probably the only career constant from little girl Laurel to big grown up me - wanting to have a store. Between working as a magazine editor and becoming a full-time Substack author/consultant/freak, I worked for the world’s best small specialty store, ByGeorge, as their fashion director. It didn’t scratch the retail itch, and I learned so much. I’m really lucky to have seen how the retail world works (a glimpse) and make some really strong friendships in that universe. I need them all, especially now because….I’m opening a store.

A tiny store, it’s 450 sq ft in Beverly Hills on Canon. It will be by appointment only, and it will be an in-person high-touch shopping and styling experience with moi. I don’t really know how to write this, because I’ve wanted to do it for so long, and now I’m ACTUALLY doing it, it’s a little surreal. But I’m aiming to be open this fall. I’m starting the build-out on the space now, and every morning I’m waking up with the longest to-do list of MY LIFE and I’ve never felt happier or more inspired. It’s going to be beautiful.

The before.

So what is the store? It’s an extension of the world I’ve build here - it’s called Earl IRL (get it? Instead of Earl Earl?) It’s a very tight edit of ready to wear from brands I really love, things you don’t see everywhere, all over LA - or brands you might have liked on Instagram but haven’t been able to touch or feel IRL. I’m in talks with brands now, so more on that soon. I’ll also host brands for trunkshows and one on one appointments when they come to LA, more on that soon too.

These will be clothes for your every day life. Things you can wear to drop off and to coffee with a friend and to work, or to a party. The workhorses of your wardrobe, and a realistic way for women in this phase of life (post-trend, dare I say…mid-life and beyond?) to dress.

And it’s all happening in very me fashion - faster than seemed reasonable or smart, but organically, and with my whole heart and brain. A good friend (THANK YOU!!!) sent me a heads up on the space about four weeks ago, last week I signed the lease, and here we are this week. As I’ve said, I’m not a thinker, I’m a driver. I’m the Kool-Aid man, crashing through walls.

This feels so weird to write and so unlike me - very factual and cold, but the truth is, I’m so shocked that it’s happening, if I open the floodgates of my feelings, my gratitude and awe, my amazement at what life can be like, I expect I’ll get swept away in them. Despite being impulsive, I’m not a huge risk-taker, and opening a store in 2025 when retail is imploding and the world is ending feels like a big risk. I’m doing it anyway, and funding it myself. My mom is giving me a lot of good advice and helping pick paint colors (shout out to Backdrop!) and my friend Heidi is my near-constant sounding board, my agent Delphine is rooting for me and very there, and Gabby and Danielle and Todd and Emily and Mia and Chelsea and John and Albert and Ansley and Molly and Erin and Riya, and on and on, but this is my dream and my vision and I’m making it come true for myself. Maybe in a year I’ll wonder what I was thinking, but for now, I’m really happy to get to expand my universe, and bring it to life IRL.

I’m excited, so excited, and so, so thankful for the readers of this newsletter - I hope to welcome you in the shop when it opens - if you want to get on the list for shop specific news, and invites to trunkshows and things like this, make sure the Earl IRL notifications button is toggled on here. I’m hoping to meet a lot of readers there, or for you to make an appointment with your friends and all come in together to hang and try-on, and be together.

Ok! So here we are, this is where we’re going, I’m opening a store. Wheeee!

Your friend,

Laurel