Laura Knepper owns LKc Style, an affordable personal shopping company specializing in men’s clothing. Men’s clothing, you say? Indeed, she dresses up dashing gents for a living, and she is darn good at it! (Don’t worry, she works with gals now too.) Read on to learn more about this unique fashionista and what makes her tick.

What made you decide to do men’s styling?
The initial idea was simply that women had many personal shopping options but men had few options that focused specifically on their needs–along with the idea that men often have a difficult time shopping or just don’t want to take the time to do it, and much more so than women. So, there was a HUGE market that was being significantly under served. With those realizations, I did a lot of research on the industry and the market to ensure this was a financially viable path for the company.

What are the most common challenges you find with taking on someone’s personal statement?
Many men (and women too) are brave enough to come to us knowing they need a little help…or some times a lot of help. That is a great first step. We often find resistance in either getting rid of clothes due to emotional or financial attachment even though it might not fit properly or be stylistically current. Or they are resistant to wearing new clothes that look great and are comfortable but “not something they’d usually wear.” It is hard redefining who you are and what you wear–and letting LKc Style take the lead in this department is tough some times. We often have to remind our clients that that is why they called us in the first place and that we won’t steer them wrong! Usually when we can provide a full length mirror and three or four good reasons to do something, that moves us along.

Who do you look to for inspiration?
I have taken a deep interest in reading about men’s style in a wide variety of places. There are a lot of bloggers and photographers I look up to and admire for their ingenuity and forward thinking–The Sartorialist, Gilt MANual, Magnificent Bastard, Selectism; but I also think that the style, or more specifically the clothes, featured on many of these sites are out of reach for the common man. Who buys shoes for $3000? Not too many people. So, I also look to writers who feature style in an affordable or offbeat way–Put This On, Urban Weeds, The Silentist, and Nerd Boyfriend. Personally, I am inspired by my every day ol’ pals–teaching me creativity, sincerity, and craziness that I could never cultivate on my own.

What designers are you looking at this year? What are your current obsessions?
I am really digging GANT by Michael Bastain, Rag & Bone, and Ovadia & Sons this year. Past favorites and still on the watch are Tom Ford and Salvatore Ferragamo. Current Obsessions???? Thank you for asking–I’m loving solid knit ties, sleek Timberland boots, color of any sort (bye bye black and navy), and just about anything with stripes.

What’s your favorite success story?
OOoooooo! My favorite success story is of a Chicago client–a young guy still in college. When we first met, he was wearing a sweatsuit, slightly overweight, single, and disorganized. His career path is to be a film producer so he was looking for a hip, professional casual style–but we started from the ground up. This wasn’t just a wardrobe restyle–this was a life restyle! We made a list of goals to be accomplished while we worked together over the next six months; the list included getting better hygiene, losing weight, eating better, learning how to style his hair, working on foreign etiquette and interviewing skills and much more. Over time, we set him up with a nutritionist and a hair stylist. He got down to his goal weight and started growing out his curly locks. We’d meet every two weeks to chart his progress. So, the fun part was going through his closet and getting rid of old clothes that didn’t fit any more as well as a lot of “college” clothes that made him look young and careless–he was so open to this change I was thrilled. We were able to go on several personal shopping outings where we found appropriate and fun clothes and also talked about fit, color, and matching items together. Now, he’s practically a pro. He now has a full-time hottie girlfriend (I picked out his first date outfit for him…they’re still together!) and is ready to graduate with confidence and poise. His mom reached out to me to say how well he was doing since we started working together.

You make it very easy to access your skill set, by offering webcam closet consultations and offering instant feedback to picture text, what gave you the idea to take such a technical route to styling?

First, no one else is providing these services which is very exciting; I hope we can stay on this forefront.

Second, many of our clients are already utilizing webcam, e-mail, text and other tech medias–if men aren’t often reaching out for style in traditional ways, why not reach out to them in ways that makes style easier and more available?

Third, these services allow us to work with anyone in the world–style for every one!! Personal shopping is exactly what is says: personal; however, we use the same tools to get to know our clients and get them what they need no matter where they live. Many medium sized and smaller cities don’t have a personal shopper within driving distance–LKc Style can get affordable style delivered right to their door! How cool is that?!

What has it been like to open your client base to now include services for women?
It’s hard to say no to new business, right? I was getting so many requests from females looking for personal shopping and image consulting services that I’ve opened our doors to the ladies as well. Right now, I’m still focusing on direct advertising for men as we continue to seek being in a niche market–but, I am working to duplicate the entire LKc Style process that’s been so successful for our men, with a few changes–because women think so differently about clothes, their bodies and their budgets. It’s a whole different psychology! It seems our female clients are just as pleased with their results so far which is exciting. I’m keeping a very open mind and am thankful for the additional business.

What risks are you going to take this year?
Some times it seems like every step you take is a risk–since owning a small business is literally not just a passion but a way to put your food on the table, I am very calculating on the moves I make. Having said that, I am looking at a pretty significant jump in national advertising to capture our eWardrobe and Webcam Closet Consultation clients (gulp!!).

The second risk is contracting part- and full-time style consultants. As the client base increases, especially nationally, I would like to be able to utilize a style team to work around the clock. It’s difficult to put my trust into even the best go-getters because LKc Style is my baby and all my ideas and all my time–but redistributing some responsibility will be a great way to grow the company and provide affordable style to all.

What is your advice for us trying to get our men to call you? (I just asked my husband what he would want to ask a stylist, and he said, I’ve never thought about it) How can we bring it up in a positive way?
It’s hard to tell some one that they “need help” in any way, including in their style. So, I like to take the approach that it’s fun, easy and that they won’t have to go to mall any more!! Also, our initial consultation is always complimentary, so before spending a dime, we can discuss the process, answer questions and get them excited about looking good. The last word is that we can usually save our clients a significant amount of money by finding sales, building a wardrobe that’s fully mix-and-matchable, and providing codes for shipping and other discounts!

Interview conducted by CRAVE writer Harmony Johnstone-Reeser.

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