I want to start from the beginning. I want to know your career trajectory and how you landed at H.Lorenzo. Were you always interested in fashion?
It really started off in my childhood. My mom has hair salons in Korea. My sister was so into J-pop culture, so we were always listening to lots of J-pop artists. And then we were buying these, you know, magazines like Japan Vogue and scrapbooking. So, obviously, as a teenager, I was super into fashion. Then, when I was in high school, we had an English teacher [who once] spoke about a friend of his who works at a Korean fashion company as a merchandiser. I was like, “That’s so interesting.”
As I started to look it up, there was one person who popped up. Her name is Tiffany Hsu. She’s a chief buying officer at Mytheresa now, but back then, she was a Lane Crawford buyer in Hong Kong. I was like, “Oh my God, that’s really cool.” I decided to dig deeper, and then I realized that fashion buying is something that bridges between fashion and business. I’m super into fashion, but I think I am more of a business person rather than a designer. I thought, “What’s her journey?” She went to London’s Central Saint Martins. So, I started looking at fashion schools. I got into London College of Fashion, so I moved to London and studied fashion buying and merchandising there. During school, we had a gap year, so I went to Paris and worked at Franco-Turkish label Dice Kayek. Then, I randomly met Lorenzo through my ex-boyfriend, and here we are.
Wow. So, after that, you went back to London — what happened between London and Los Angeles? How did you come here?
I finished my school in London, and I was working in a part-time retail job at Louis Vuitton and I was also helping a French e-commerce company. My visa was expiring in London soon, and I was thinking, “What am I going to do?” Then, my boyfriend back then was like, “Why don’t you contact Lorenzo and maybe ask him if he needs any help?” So, I reached out, and we had a call. He said, “Why don’t you come to L.A. and then, you know, maybe start something here.” At the beginning, I worked mainly on all the administrative stuff, and then ultimately, I moved to the store during the pandemic.
So, you first started talking about your app a few years ago. I think you were still in the early stages. You mentioned that you didn’t really have experience with building an app, so how did that idea come to you?
At H.Lorenzo, we obviously interacted with a lot of stylists. They always have shoots and events. Everybody always came to the store, and they were asking: “I have to go to a premiere tonight — what should I wear?” or “I have a birthday party in New York” or “I’m going to Coachella.” So many people. Every single day. Stylists would send us messages asking: “I’m looking for this. Do you have anything like that?” To them, time is currency.
One day, I spoke to Alexandra and Mackenzie Grandquist. They’re Kylie Jenner’s stylists. Mackenzie mentioned that she browses, normally, for about five hours searching for something for a shoot. She goes to so many stores and also PR showrooms. I was like, “That’s so inefficient.” I also spoke with my other friend, who’s a stylist in Korea for a big artist, and she mentioned it takes her 10 hours. Even in my case, when I’m shopping for fashion week or even just have the itch to buy something, I go to Ssense, for example, and then scroll forever. I scroll through five or maximum 10 pages, and then after that, I put things in my cart. But then, I get FOMO — what do the rest of the 400 pages look like? So, I don’t really hit the “buy” button.
I get it because I do the exact same thing.
My resources are limited, right? I want to shop smart, but then, I also kind of feel like: Are there things better than this? Are there other brands that I don’t know? I checked Ssense — the women’s clothing section alone has over 45,000 products. Who actually has time to go through all of that? Also, in Korea, we have this culture called “pali-pali.” It means “hurry” and “perfect” at the same time. You have to be really fast, but you also have to be perfect. It really felt like an extension of me — my DNA — and of the everyday problems people face. That’s why I decided to create something.
So, when you started developing the app with your team, what were the three most important things you were hoping to achieve — your non-negotiables, if you will?
Speed was the non-negotiable that I was looking for. And then, obviously, efficiency and accuracy. I was telling the team, “We don’t need to be 100 percent, because fashion is so subjective anyway.” [But I wanted us to hit] at least 75–80 percent accuracy, so even though there were hiccups here and there, we could still showcase the core things accurately. And then, obviously, curation — the brands we have and making things feel really seamless.
Take me behind the scenes. How does the curation process work?
At the very, very beginning, it was really about choosing the right partners. I didn’t want it to feel like merchandise or inventory with … noise. I wanted to work with the right retailers that have a point of view, rather than just having a hundred million beige cashmere jumpers. We don’t need those things.
The second is product mapping, or curation. What you see now is like matchmaking. On the backend, we contextualize all the context and sub-context around Coachella. For example: Coachella is a festival, it’s in the desert, it’s a music festival, all those different elements. And then we also have all the products on the backend, and those products all have meta tags. So a product might work for the desert, for warm weather, for cold weather, for a casual setting, or for a more eclectic style, and so on.
And this is driven by AI?
AI does all the meta-tagging, and it also does the contextualization from your input. So, for example, if you type “Coachella,” it might interpret it as music festival styling, favoring boho silhouettes with layering and texture for high mobility wear. Then it shows things with fringe, crochet, easy pieces you can wear in those settings. Or, if you want more of a denim vibe, it can show a more modern take on Coachella.
Once you click [on an item], you can see what’s “in this mood.” We use vision analysis. We analyze the images and showcase things that match that vibe. A lot of people would bring a picture of, like, Kylie Jenner, to the store and say they love that kind of vibe. I thought, that’s a sign. Now, people can discover other items in the same universe and styling ideas that can work in that setting.
But you also curate other features of the app yourself, right?
Yes. During Coachella weekend, for example, we had manually curated looks that people could actually wear to Coachella, but I also wanted to share [the experience around it]. I love traveling, going to good restaurants and hotels — and I’m so picky about everything. So, I wanted to share that universe and the things I truly enjoy with like-minded people.
For example, if you look at Palm Springs during Coachella, I made a curation of what you can wear there — and of course, you can purchase those items. But I also made an edit of all of my favorite restaurants and hotels. When you go to Parker Palm Springs, which is a more upscale hotel, I included more of that vibe. And if you like Parker, you’ll probably also like upscale bars and restaurants too. Then we also show what to wear in those settings. And it just goes on and on.
Tell me about the “Daily Fit Check” feature.
I love that one. The “Daily Fit Check” is something I created because I wanted to give people an experience where they could laugh — just giggle a little bit. Because I think life is not that easy, you know? So, for example, when you go into Daily Fit Check, you can take a photo or upload from your photo library. Then, it analyzes it based on your style.
So, for example, based on the black pieces I wear, I’m a “Solo Poet.” It says: “You wear all black like it’s a personal policy. Tailored blazer structure over a sheer high-neck layer gives serious-at-midnight energy, like a good librarian who owns exactly one very expensive umbrella. Strict, sleek, controlled, and impossible to ignore.” That’s who I am. I don’t always know how to explain my style or articulate those things, so I wanted to bring that kind of fun experience into the way people shop and discover more about themselves.
And did you come up with those categories?
Yes, there are eight archetypes. You can really have fun with it. But also, every time I upload a photo of myself, I usually get the same two or three archetypes that always match my aesthetic. So, in that way, I feel like I’m actually understanding more about what my style really is.
And then, you can click “See Your Edit,” and we curate edits based on the styles you posted. For me, because my settings include both women’s and men’s fashion, it shows both. But if your settings are only women’s, then it shows something different.
How does an app like FOR:U work in tandem with a traditional in-person retail experience? Do you ever see that going away? Or do you see both sort of working in harmony together?
Definitely. I think that intersection is here, and it’s going to happen even more. Because we are so used to the convenience of online shopping, some people don’t want to talk to anyone when they’re in a store. But at the same time, people also really love human interaction. So, it’s kind of like we don’t know which one is right, because both have advantages and disadvantages.
From FOR:U’s perspective, the way I think people use it is whenever they feel hesitant, or when they’re thinking, “Oh my god, what am I going to wear?” Or when they need inspiration. Because we’re constantly evolving — our personalities, our situations, and also, our fashion style. Even right now, sometimes I’m like, “I don’t even know what I am.” So, I think those moments — when people are confused and need help or inspiration — are the moments when they’ll come to FOR:U.
You said you don’t want to call it a styling app — so, what do you call it?
I call it a personal fashion curator. We are really curating pieces for your life.