‘I’m the hype girl. And sometimes I need to be hyped myself’: Lana Wilkinson on styling, business and her next step
Celebrity stylist turned designer Lana Wilkinson is ready to step into the spotlight, signing a mega US retail deal – and enlisting some help from her influential BFFs.
Stellar
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Lana Wilkinson never gets nervous about styling celebrities. Well, there was just once, she says with a laugh, “when I was sh*tting myself”. The year was 2015 and Wilkinson had dressed only a handful of notable names.
The brief? Dress US stylist-to-the-stars Rachel Zoe – who is also Wilkinson’s long-time hero – for her trip to Australia.
Having transformed a hotel room into a styling suite filled with “every luxury brand, every Australian fashion brand”, Wilkinson tells Stellar she then faced her make-or-break challenge as a stylist.
“Rachel said, ‘I know I’ve got 20 years’ experience, but you choose my outfits.’ I knew this was a pivotal moment in my career.”
Afterwards, the pair were left to chat and Los Angeles-based Zoe – a fashion entrepreneur who has worked with Demi Moore, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson and has also fronted her own reality series The Rachel Zoe Project – passed on some life-changing wisdom: “She told me to be kind to everybody, nurture relationships, and always give back to the brand.”
Now, Wilkinson is embracing her own entrepreneurial era, shifting her focus to taking her eponymous shoe brand to the world.
In February, the Melbourne-based stylist inked a deal in the US, which has seen the Lana Wilkinson collection stocked in 30 retailers including Los Angeles favourite Fred Segal. At Australian Fashion Week last month, she partnered with designer Michael Lo Sordo for her brand’s third appearance at the event and its first “official” partnering.
After her eye for spotlight-stealing outfits landed Wilkinson in the contact books of AFL wives and girlfriends, her first “celebrity” job was in 2011, when she dressed Lynette Bolton, the pregnant wife of then Sydney Swan star Jude Bolton, in Alex Perry for the Brownlow Medal.
Each year, she added more up-and-coming WAGs to her books, dressing them in Australian couturiers including Sam Oglialoro and Sonia Cappellazzo – and often prompting their gowns to sell out after the event.
“I’m good at making everyone feel like number one,” the 42-year-old says.
Along with her RMIT University degree in public relations, it was Wilkinson’s knack for capturing and sharing behind-the-scenes footage with her rapidly growing Instagram following that attracted clients such as Megan Gale, Ruby Rose and Elyse Knowles.
“When Instagram was in its infancy, I realised pretty quickly the value of sharing images from every part of the event,” she recalls. “I could elevate people and drive sales for a brand on the red carpet – looking at the bigger picture of making yourself valuable to both.”
It was this strong relationship with both celebrities and designers that shaped Wilkinson’s shoe venture – as she explains, she wanted to compliment her clients, not compete with them – and the brand was brought about by a gap in the market.
“I did the Logies, the Brownlow, international guests and about 80 looks for the Spring Racing Carnival, and none of the sample size shoes fit,” she recalls, adding that she owns more than 1000 pairs of her own.
“I worked out I spent nearly $8000 on shoes, much to my husband’s dismay.”
Wilkinson launched the brand in October 2019, then the pandemic hit and nearly cost her the business.
“I’d never felt lower,” she admits. “I remember thinking I’ve jeopardised everything – my job, my family, life. I couldn’t work my way out of it. But I could hustle and, in hindsight, we thrived.”
Wilkinson credits her close friends, including fashion entrepreneurs Nadia Bartel and Rebecca Judd, with helping her along. It was her mentor, designer Rebecca Vallance, who introduced her to a US wholesale agent, while Judd went with her to New York in February to sign the deal.
“I get emotional talking about them: women going through the same things, juggling family, business, staff and marriages,” she says. “They’re my biggest supporters and cheerleaders.”
Wilkinson admits she’s now working harder than ever as “CEO of everything”.
While taking her business to the next level, she still styles her star clients, and is mother to Ava, 10, and Elle, 8, whom she shares with her husband Liam, who works in tech sales. Wilkinson has learnt to accept that work-life balance is elusive, and without Liam’s support, it wouldn’t be possible. “He’s also my cheerleader,” she adds.
While she may dress celebrities, Wilkinson is reluctant to become one – “I want to be an example to my children that nothing gets given to you in this world. Put your mind to it, word hard, be kind, and remember your words count” – but she has learnt to celebrate her own achievements along the way.
“It has made me believe in myself a little bit more,” she says of taking her brand global.
“I get to say I’m an international shoe designer now. I give out so much by lifting people up and that’s what I do best – I’m the hype girl. And sometimes I need to be hyped myself.”
Read the full interview with Lana Wilkinson in Stellar. For more from Stellar, click here.
Originally published as ‘I’m the hype girl. And sometimes I need to be hyped myself’: Lana Wilkinson on styling, business and her next step
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