A Thread about fashion’s coolest indie PR
"I’m not a catfish - I’m really like this" - Lola Clabots
Have you ever started following someone just because you like their *vibe*? That’s how I discovered Lola Clabots (@lolsyproute on Instagram - ‘proute’ means ‘pffft’ in French). I noticed that she would often post herself wearing pieces from some of my favourite young designers, people like Marie Lueder, Rosie Broadhead, and Johanna Parv.
But aside from her amazing style, it was also refreshing to discover such a funny person in fashion - an industry not exactly known for its sense of humour. In between the outfit shots, she shares self-deprecating commentary on everything from her exercise regime to her hatred of the Parisian metro, mixing up the fashion content with a refreshingly real - and often hilarious - outlook on life. I suppose it resonated with me as someone who also has a silly side, and has sometimes felt pressure to separate funny from fashion (my first model agent told me I put too much of my personality on my Instagram, and suggested I make it private).
A bit more snooping led me to discover that Lola is a Belgian PR based in Paris, who works primarily with emerging designers to help them navigate the early stages of their business. I wanted to know more about Lola’s unique point of view, so I called her to discuss her career, her values, and her distinctive sense of style.
What was your route into PR?
I didn’t study marketing or communication, or even fashion. I studied graphic design in Brussels. At the same time, many of my friends were starting to become successful musicians. They knew I loved dressing up and had a lot of clothes, and that I had good connections. So they’d often ask me to lend them clothes or help them find outfits for their music videos or shoots.
I ended up travelling to Paris several times to style for them. Instead of lugging a suitcase full of clothes, I decided to reach out to some brands and PR agencies. One day I sent an email to an emerging brand and they agreed to lend me pieces, but they said they were at their new PR agency, called Radical PR. It was only about 2 months old, so really young. That’s how I first met the team at Radical. One day I asked them if they were looking for someone to join their team, and I ended up staying with them for five years.
What were the activations or projects that you were working on during that time?
I helped on all of the projects. It could be gifting lists, invitations for dinners, shows, seating plans, contacting journalists and meeting new clients. I did so many things - I didn’t have just one job. I even did some set design, and production for shows. So I can actually do most jobs in this industry now!
I always think of a scene from that film ‘Pretty Woman’ where Richard Gere asks Julia Roberts, “Who are you?” and she responds: “Whoever you want me to be.” Now I’m freelance that’s how I feel - I’m whoever the client wants me to be.
I think when you’re freelance, you need to be able to do so many different things. Like a Swiss army knife!
Was there any project that was really memorable for you?
After three years there, I really wanted to open a new department in the agency that would go back to Radical’s roots, working with emerging designers and brands that were underrepresented. Because the agency had started to grow and get bigger clients, and move away from its focus on smaller designers.
Everyone was super enthusiastic about it, so I started developing the concept there. But the agency was still too small to fully dedicate a separate division to it. I absolutely loved working in that niche, and it made me realise that working with emerging designers was exactly what I wanted to do.
So that’s when you started your freelance career?
I was really scared at the beginning when I left the agency, because I didn’t know what I was truly capable of. And now I’m really so honoured and touched and grateful to see that I’m surrounded by an amazing community of people who have supported me from the beginning, that trust me.
How do you think you cultivated those relationships?
I have a very personal and genuine approach with people; I’m not playing games with them. It means that if I reach out, I truly believe that they will be interested in what I have to say, or the client I’m working with. I’m so lucky and I’m so happy to have this community of people who support me professionally and personally. Because for me, what I’m doing is professional, but it’s personal, too. It’s my passion.
I feel like fashion can take itself very seriously. Fashion people are not very good at laughing at themselves, but you have a great sense of humour, and you show your personality on your Instagram. I think that’s quite a rare thing. Was that an active choice to be yourself? Or did you have to work up to that?
Yes, fashion has always had this reputation. But the fact is that I am not from Paris. I’m from Belgium, and I didn’t grow up in a fashion-driven, pretentious or celebrity-filled environment. My mother is a hairdresser and studied drawing, my father worked in Belgian television as a translator.
I’m also an extremely sensitive person which means that I am incapable of not being myself. For me, the more honest you are, the more transparent you are with people, the more things flow and come to you. I never understood why people pretended to be something they weren’t. I just don’t get that.
In this industry, people often think that the more sensitive you are, the more weak or incompetent you are. For me, it’s completely the opposite - I see beauty in it. We have feelings and that’s what makes us unique. And I believe that the more you share that with others, the more you can feel connected to them.
So I’m really transparent - both in real life and on social media. For me, I don’t see any difference between the two. I put everything on Instagram: funny, not funny. My work, not my work. Everything! And when you meet me in real life, you’ll see there’s no difference. I’m not a catfish - I’m really like this.
When you’re working with independent brands, how do you begin that relationship?
Most of the brands I’m currently working with, I began as a consumer. I started buying them - I prefer to buy clothes directly from the designer, rather than a wholesaler or e-commerce site. I always like to meet the person in real life. I show my support by buying their clothes, and I explain to them what I’m about. It doesn’t happen instantly. It takes time before the designer understands who I am and what I’m doing.
And at some point they say, “OK, it makes sense, we have to work with you.” And I’m like, “Yes! Let’s go.” Most of them don’t pay me, but we’ll create some agreement. The idea is to help them find enough money that when they grow and they have enough money to pay me, they will. But at the beginning, I’m not thinking about money. I’m just thinking about how I can help the designer I love by using my skills and my contacts to make things happen for them.
How do you supplement the free work that you do?
Most of my clients are emerging designers, but I also work with big brands that allow me to pay my bills. I’m always trying to create synergy between them; the emerging and the bigger brands.
I guess that works, because you can bring those two sides of culture closer together.
Exactly.
Can you talk a bit about your platform, Outset?
As the name suggests, Outset refers to the the start of something. It has a double meaning for me. It represents my first solo project as a freelancer, and it reflects my interest in working with emerging designers who are at the start of their brand. My goal is to use my skills and everything I’ve learned over my years in this industry to help them.
So this includes pure PR work, like writing press releases, sending them to targeted press, organising events or doing gifting. Creating a community around a moment or a product. I also do consulting - not just in marketing or strategy, but also in design.
Outset is a platform where I show what I’m doing and how I’m supporting emerging designers. I also work with bigger brands for certain projects.
Can you give an example?
For the past 1.5 years, I’ve been working with Converse (s/o Fauzia!). They’ve trusted me to be involved with their internal All Star Programme, which is a really inspiring initiative. It supports emerging creatives in their projects—whether it’s releasing a book, hosting an album launch party, or recently, supporting emerging designers, which I manage directly.
I want to ask you about your sense of style. For me, I’d say I have two style personalities - either very sleek and all-black, or it’s stoner surfer boyfriend. Acid wash, big jeans and t-shirts. But rarely anything in between. How would you describe your style?
For years I only wore skirts and dresses because I felt super comfortable. I was wearing Johanna Parv every day to be honest! But for the past few months, I’ve been obsessed with pants - super wide ones. I always tuck them into my socks because I think the shape looks better that way. It looks a bit like a ‘jester vibe’ - circus performer style.
What do you do outside fashion, to keep you feeling creative?
Even if my work is my passion, I’m always doing other things on the side that are not about fashion. I love riding my bike. I discovered pilates and yoga a few months ago and now I’m obsessed. I also make music. I’m a DJ, and my DJ name is ‘NONANTE’, which means ‘nineties’ in Belgian French. I really wanted to have a Belgian name, and in Belgium we don’t say the numbers the same way as in France.
My favourite video on your Instagram is the fake Architectural Digest ‘Open Door’ video where you were brandishing your little Belgian flag.
You know this was a casting video? It was for a luxury brand who wanted to get talent that weren’t models for a fragrance campaign. I don’t know why they contacted me, but I was like, “OK!” I really wanted to be myself and show them how I am - but I didn’t get the job!
But yeah, I’m a DJ on the side, and my speciality is Drum and Bass and Dubstep. I started making music because it’s something that’s allowed me to travel mentally and makes me feel really good. And recently I’ve been investing in a musical instrument called a ‘handpan’ - it’s the huge metallic disc which you tap with your hands. I’m in discussion with a specialist, because you need to have a connection with the seller before buying it; a certain trust. It has a very positive musical timbre, and when you are receptive to it, you really feel that strong wave of good energy.
I think since I went freelance a year and a half ago, I really wanted to do 100% things that feel positive. Personally and professionally. I only work with people I love and who I feel a connection with. I trust myself and I trust my feelings - if I don’t feel it, I don’t partner with them. Even if the person or brand is really famous!
With this instrument, you can’t learn it. You just need to feel it. You don’t need to take a class or look on YouTube - it’s about the connection you have with the instrument. And that’s what I love - you decide to put your energy into this instrument, and you feel your own energy through the vibrations. So for me it’s really deep and really powerful.
It fits together with everything you said about your approach. It’s easy to say you trust your gut and your instincts, but that North Star can waver sometimes and get lost. So it’s always interesting to hear about how people continue to cultivate the connection with themselves to maintain their intuition. Because it’s not a given.
My friends often ask me how I can be so ‘myself’, without being afraid of how people perceive me, or what they think of me. If someone is thinking badly of me or says something not nice about me, I don’t care. If you have feelings like this for other people, it means you are not happy in yourself.
OK final question - what is one of your goals for the future, or something you’d really like to achieve?
I hope that one day Outset becomes an agency known for helping emerging designers with their development. Managing funding, whether from the French government, or from bigger brands supporting the emerging designer through financial support.
I imagine myself old, with long grey hair, working for someone like LVMH, Gucci, Chanel - companies with the resources and reputation to truly invest - and being like, “OK! This year we’re going to give money to this emerging designer and that emerging designer and support them to do their presentation or their show.” And then I’ll still have Outset as a managing agency.
So for emerging designers, their first step is to go to Outset, where we explain to them how everything works and help them find money and structure their company. And then I’ll be working for a big brand to help inject financial support once they understand everything. Because if they don’t understand how the industry works, then they won’t have the skills to be successful. For example, if an emerging designer gets hype on the internet and everyone wants to buy their product - if they don’t have the systems in place to produce the products, then the brand will flop. This is what I want to share with young brands and teach them.
So that’s my goal and how I see myself in the future. Also, I don’t want to forget my musical side, which is really important for me. So I see myself being really old (still with the long grey hair) doing retreats with my handpan!
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