Why I Started L. Royalty Clothing
Why I Started L. Royalty Clothing
The name, the vision, the fear I had to push through, and the moment that made me finally do it.
I always wanted to start my own brand. I knew that almost from the beginning. What I did not know was how long I would let fear keep me from doing it, or what it would finally take to push me through.
L. Royalty Clothing launched after I appeared on a fashion design reality show. I lost. And instead of letting that be the end of the story, I came home and decided that was exactly the moment to start. The brand I had been putting off, the one that had been living in my imagination for years, was not going to wait for a better time. There was no better time. There was just the moment I finally decided to stop being scared.
What L. Royalty Actually Means
Most people assume the L stands for my name. It does not, though I will admit the connection is there. L. Royalty stands for Lolita Royalty Clothing, and every word in that name is intentional.
Lolita
From Japanese Lolita fashion, the highly detailed, doll-like aesthetic I have loved since I first discovered it. This is the cultural root of everything the brand is built around.
Royalty
Because I wanted to create an elevated brand. I wanted every woman who put on a L. Royalty piece to feel like royalty. Not aspirationally. Actually.
Clothing
Not accessories. Not a line. Clothing. Real garments made by hand, designed to be worn in the world, built to last.
The feeling I was chasing when I named it was specific: I wanted someone to open a package from me, put on what was inside, look in the mirror, and feel like the most beautiful version of herself. Not because the piece was expensive. Because the piece was made for her, with intention, and because she deserved to feel that way.
A Combination I Had Never Seen Before
The aesthetic that became L. Royalty came from a very honest place: I wanted to create something I had never seen before. Specifically, I wanted to blend the maximalist femininity of Barbiecore with the deeply detailed, doll-inspired world of Harajuku street style, and bring it to Los Angeles in a way that felt modern and wearable rather than costumed.
Japanese Lolita fashion has always been a deep love of mine. The craftsmanship, the layers, the commitment to a fully realized aesthetic world, it is unlike anything in Western fashion. But it can feel inaccessible, either because of the price, the formality, or the sense that it belongs to a specific cultural context. I wanted to take that spirit, that love of doll-like detail and unapologetic femininity, and ground it in something that felt like it belonged on the streets of LA.
I did not want to make another pink brand.
I wanted to make something that felt like Barbie had grown up in Tokyo.
That vision became the brand's DNA: Barbiecore energy, Harajuku detail, slow fashion values, made by hand in Los Angeles for women in every size from XS to 5X. The pieces are meant to make you feel like you stepped into a specific world, not just put on something pink.
How It Actually Started
I spent years building toward the brand without fully committing. I was doing cosplay, which started as something I did for myself and expanded into commissions for friends and eventually people I had never met. I was working in the industry, climbing from assistant roles to technical design. I was taking cosplay commissions on the side the entire time. I appeared on design reality shows. I was building skills and experience in every direction, but I was not building my own brand.
The reality show changed that. I lost. And in the moment after losing, something shifted. I had spent years making other people's visions a reality. I had the skills. I had the experience. I had the aesthetic clarity to know exactly what I wanted to build. The only thing I did not have was the willingness to start.
When I came back from the show, I connected with the other designers I had met there. We launched together. Our individual debut was at LA Fashion Week. Standing in that room with pieces I had designed and sewn by hand, showing them on a runway in my own city, that was the beginning of L. Royalty in the world rather than just in my head.
The fear did not go away. I launched anyway. That is the part I want other designers who are sitting on their dreams to hear. The fear does not have to leave before you start. You just have to decide that what you are building matters more than the fear does.
The brand is still growing. I still work full time while building it. I sew every piece by hand. I source materials locally here in Los Angeles. I handle every aspect of the business alongside the creative work. It is not easy, and it is not glamorous in the way fashion is supposed to look from the outside. But it is mine, and every woman who puts on a L. Royalty piece and feels like royalty is the reason I keep going.
Wear Something Made to Make
You Feel Like Royalty
Handmade in Los Angeles, designed with intention, made for every woman who deserves to feel like the most beautiful version of herself.
Shop L. Royalty Clothing
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