Julia Alexander’s online boutique brand #SELFLOVE CLVB aim is true to its title: to bring about ideas of enhancing a healthy lifestyle, promoting beauty, nourishing people’s soul and connecting minds. An ambitious project but a much needed one in the age of unattainable beauty standards and exceedingly superficial requirements in the fashion industry.
The Italian born Brisbane based designer began her love affair with fashion since she was a teenager. Born near Milan (or more commonly known as The Fashion Capital of the World), Julia spent most of her time collecting fashion magazines and attending Milan Fashion Week where it shaped her desire to start her own brand. This passion lead her to learning about Adobe Illustrator just so she can create her own designs and later on, the birth of #SELFLOVE CLVB.
The journey of creating her own brand was not an easy one. At the age of 18, she moved to Australia with no one but herself, working tirelessly for 7 years to get her citizenship, and then risking it all to invest all her money into her label. A classic story of self-determination, entrepreneurial spirit and the power of a dream all rolled into one. And it has certainly paid off — 7 months after its conception, #SELFLOVE CLVB boasts two different collections: an active streetwear line and a bikini line.
#SELFLOVE CLVB is also an Eco Fashion label — one of many up and coming labels seeking to craft a space in the progressive wear sector. Their emphasis on environmentally friendly production is not limited to choosing high quality material, but it’s also ensuring that manufacturers and suppliers alike are paid fairly and also utilising recycled fabrics and plant based dyes.
But Julia has another mission when creating her brand. Disillusioned by the influencer culture that permeates the industry, Julia seeks to break the pattern of influencer marketing, where brands with the ability to hire popular Instagram influencers dominate the industry without a proper concept and cheap material. She believes that her label should be affordable to all while still using high quality materials, but most importantly, she wants her brand to communicate a concept that people can be proud of wearing.
At the end of the day, #SELFLOVE CLVB is a brand created from her own institutions, passions and inspirations. She pride herself on learning from others but never copying — after all, her personal mission of empowering women who wears her pieces is something that can’t be easily replicated.
For those who are keen on following in her footstep, she has this to say:
"You have to be a humble person and start from square one, you have to be willing to learn about designs, marketing and new strategies to compete with the other thousands of brands out there."
Read the entire interview here.