What's New in the Dazey Lady Shop

Always excited to discover and add new goods to the Dazey Lady Shop, a section of our site dedicated to selling goods by other female entrepreneurs. This time around I am beyond stoked to add one of my personal favorite brands, Nooworks! I had been admiring their quirky and unique overalls from afar for quite some time now. Originally started in San Francisco, they recently opened up an LA location and I drive by it on my way to work everyday. One day I decided to dig a little further and find their origin story. The mission behind their brand is to team up with amazing artists and do unique and colorful prints for each collection. They use a super unique printing process very similar to screen printing to create their gorgeous textile fabric. After searching their site I had trouble finding anything about the actual owners, so I sent over an email! To my delight they are an awesome female owned brand and were down to meet up and see how we can work together. I stopped by their Echo Park store and met 1/2 of the team, Nicole, and we chatted for well over an hour. She's SO COOL and SO NICE. AKA the best kind of person! We discussed all sorts of ways to cross promote our brands starting with the Dazey Lady Shop and hopefully a design collaboration is on the horizon!

Last week we did a pre-sale of one of the pieces and it actually SOLD OUT within a few hours! I had to go back to the Nooworks store and pick out some new pieces. At the same time Nicole was shooting with a beautiful model, Reece. She immediately recognized me from the Dazey Insta and we got to chatting. Then the very next day I shoot this lookbook with her haha, funny how things work sometimes. All that being said don't wait to snag these pieces, they go FAST!

We also have a few new pieces below from a rad female-owned Canadian brand, Sololu. They focus on masking ethical fashion with seasonless styles. The owner, Rosanne, sent me an email talking about their mission along with a pretty little catalog. A perfect fit for the Dazey Lady Shop sent right to my inbox! I'm always looking for great bottoms to pair with my Dazey tees and her paisley wide lleg pants and pink slit skirt were too cute to pass up! 

Shop the new new HERE!

Model: @reeceforddesign

Photographer: @danidazey

Dazey Getawayz Nashville Edition

As part of our New Years Resolutions, my boyfriend Phillip and I decided we want to travel more. Especially trips we can dub "work trips!" Before I started Dazey I worked full time for larger companies and inconveniently always either quit or was fired just about the time where you get that weeks paid vacation. So I literally spent a good 3-4 years not traveling AT ALL. Guess you can say I’m making up for lost time this year! 

1. Urban Cowboy BNB - A Boutique Hotel Dreamscape

2. Pinewood Social - Nashville’s Ultimate Hang Spot

3. Date Night: Rolf and Daughter

4. Barista Parlor: Nashville’s Official Coffee Shop

5. Five Daughters Bakery: Donuts With a Twist

6. Lunch at Pharmacy - Big Ass Burgers (Veggie Included!)

7. Butcher and Bee - A Sweet & Savory Masterpiece 

8. Atta Boy - Curated Cocktails

9. Crema - Sweet Coffee and Clean Space

10. Gift Horse - Quirky Gifts with a Nashville Twist

11. Wheat & Co - For Ya Dazey Dudez

12. Two Sons - Shipping made Simple and Spectacular 

This store was recommended to us by a lot of you! It’s a giant space filled with only a few racks of very curated clothing from awesome designers like Ace & Jig. The whole store was expansive and white, but their rack was rainbow color coordinated, I loved that. 

Women's March 2018 - Still Marching

As some of you may remember last year I designed a whole collection inspired by my empowering experience at the 2017 Women's March. One year later and we still have a reason to march. Some may argue that protesting doesn't really change anything, but I beg to differ. It shows the world that there are hundreds of thousands of people who care enough to show up early on a Saturday morning and march for their beliefs. It shows the attendees they are not alone as they stand in solidarity with their sisters. It brings light to not only the issue of gender inequality but so many more injustices people face.

My boyfriend and I got back from a week long exhausting work trip and then I had a sudden realization that the Women's March was in ONE DAY! The hype about the march this year was substantially less than the previous, yet our issues have not improved. I knew I had to get Dazey involved. Luckily I have a gorgeous space downtown, Biz Babez, that's always ready to host people! We decided to do a pre-march prep party, complete with sign making, coffee, and snacks. I announced literally the morning before the March via Instagram and so many babes showed up! This was a great way to get a group of gals together and march as one, and we all had an amazing time getting to know each other and really feeling like a community. I asked gals to show up wearing their Dazey and so many did, it was awesome! 

One of my favorite parts of the march is seeing all the powerful, funny, and inspiring signs. It's actually what inspired my collection last year! This year I noticed too many talking about intersectional issues such as DACA, racism, transphobia, ageism, body positivity, and so much more. It was a great reminder that feminism is more than just a fight against sexism, it's about standing up for all marginalized people. Feminism stands for equality for ALL and needs to address these intersectional issues. As a brand we need to do a better job of spotlighting the people who have multiple marginalizations and give them a loud and proud voice in this movement. 

Below we have photos from the full day along with a few posts we did on Instagram about the march. Huge shout out to these amazing Dazey Ladies who showed up and stood with us! So proud of all of you amazing, kind, and strong women. We also saw so many of you  marching in Dazey in other cities and states. It was so cool to see and we have included some of the photos from around the globe! 

👊YOU CAN MARCH WITH US 👯 Had an incredible day standing alongside my sisters in the DTLA Women's March ❤️ We had a pre-march party at @bizbabez where we made signs and formed our Dazey Lady girl-gang ✨ There's NOTHING like gathering in solidarity to stand for something you believe in 💪 Swipe right to see some of these inspiring and empowered women 👉 #dazeyladiesunite #girlgang #womensmarchLA #womensmarch #empoweredwomen #timesup

A post shared by Dazey LA - Brand & Boss Blog (@dazey_la) on Jan 20, 2018 at 6:07pm PST

💗 Let's talk about INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM 💗 If you were at the women's march yesterday no doubt you saw many signs talking about intersectionality. This is a lot more than the feminist movement's most recent "buzz word". It's at the core of what we're fighting for, equality for ALL. Intersectional feminism recognizes that many women face prejudice far beyond just their gender. Weather it be their race, orientation, body type, socioeconomic class, or ability. Intersectional feminism does not dismiss their experience and wants to give them a voice and position of power in this movement. Everyone deserves the same rights and treatment. Period. As a brand we want to do a better job of shining a spotlight on these strong inspiring women with multiple marginalizations. What does intersectionality mean to you? How can I as a white feminist better include you? Let's all talk about this important topic below in the comment convos 👇 #dazeydialogue #commentconvos #intersectionality #intersectionalfeminism #womensmarch #dazeyladiesunite

A post shared by Dazey LA - Brand & Boss Blog (@dazey_la) on Jan 21, 2018 at 11:39am PST

Women's March Austin TX - Via @allychavezzz

San Diego March - Via @merzydotes & @timmelideo

Women's March Reno - Via @jessicabannister, @lorawagener/@lorawagenerco

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Arielle Estoria - Poet, Speaker, and Creative of Many Talents

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I met the beautiful soul that is Arielle at Yellow Conference. This gal beams sunshine and brightness. She was the emcee for the whole event and hosted with amazing style and grace. The conference kicked off with a spoken word poem she wrote and performed. It basically had the whole room in tears including myself. We chatted there and I started following her journey on social.

She has started to do some modeling so we planned a photoshoot. Then I decided we may as well do a full Dazey Lady feature! She's always doing creative things, speaking at events, and just being an overall inspiring human being. Quintessential Dazey Lady right there! THEN an hour before she got to the shoot I asked her if she would be down to recite the whole poem she did at Yellow on video, and lucky for us she was down! Then I asked her to come in again a week later to film some b-roll, and she was still game, such a trooper. I'm not a videographer or sound technician so please bear with the not so perfect visual & audio :). The message and gorgeous soul make up for it!  I also have a full Q & A with Arielle about all sorts of things from being a poet to how she prepares for public speaking. 

This poem went perfectly along with the theme of our new collection, "Dreamer & Doer." She perfectly captures all the different emotions you go through while following your dreams, and how you choose to keep doing so despite setbacks. Because you know it's where you're supposed to be. 

Q & A Plus Full Photoshoot with Arielle:

We love that when people ask what you do you use the label “creative” since you do so many things! Why don’t you list all the many creative pursuits you do?

I am a Spoken Word Poet both in performance and written, speaker, emcee, I am a blogger, writer, social media and brand enthusiast, I model sometimes, and a dash of acting (trying to).

Of all of these things what is your main passion and why?

Honestly, if I could just live a life and pay the bills from just creating if that could be Speaking: poetry, emceeing, motivational conversations and acting would be a dream! I’ve always been a super theatrical child and loved being on stage and I think I got older and really pushed those things away as not being parts of me or practical pursuits but
they’ve always been apart of me, now I’ve just decided not to run from them.

Your poem really hit home to me and so many women who were at this conference. So many Dazey Ladies are still struggling to support themselves while doing what they love. What are some tips on surviving these struggles and not getting burnt out?

Rest- turn the phone off, leave it in the car and go to yoga for an hour. Surround yourself with people who aren't creatives- the friends who keep you balanced and remind you that despite how it feels, you’re not drowning. I have a creative mentor who I meet with two times a month to dream, plan and create action steps for moving forward and she has been such a saving grace-- -i think so often we want to do everything on our own, figure it out on
our own but we really need each other. So that would be another thing i would say, be and stay in community with both non creative and creative friends, find the people who will be the fuel under your fire but also the people who remind you when it's time to come down from the clouds for sometime also.

We love that you do poetry, such a lost art in this day and age! What got you into this?

I have a background in theater but I’ve always written poetry, it was how i processed life and everything around me. I’ve always been a very internally processing type of individual. I went to an arts high school and delved into the art of acting and theater and really fell in love with it. I wrote monologues and scripts for fringe festivals and directed plays. When I got to college i continued theater for my first two years and then dropped it because having a double major was hard and honestly I didn’t want to take tech classes. The semester after I dropped my theater minor officially, spoken word fell into my lap and I competed in college on a competitive poetry team for two years, took over the poetry club and it just spiraled from there!

What is the inspiration behind your poetry and your process of writing one?

I am always inspired by what's around me, people, conversations, kids, the things I am feeling. I always write to music and that’s usually like a creative trigger for me. I don't really have a process, usually there’s always music playing but sometimes I could be on a run or a walk and the poem will spill, I say spill instead of write because that's what the
process feels like most times, as if the words are just pouring out of me like a stream of consciousness. My goal/mission in my work is, “Words not for the ears but for the soul.” If I can get people to connect deeply and more honestly with their emotions and elicit a reaction to feel then I’ve done my job.

You killed it being the host speaker at the Yellow Conference! Public speaking is one of the biggest fears people have. How did you realize you were good at it and how does one become a professional speaker?

Aw shux, thank you! Honestly I really avoided all on stage/spotlight professions. I thought it was shallow and not for me, and that’s a lot of the reason why I quit doing theater. But then poetry showed up and Yellow asked me to emcee the conference and I said yes, but I had never emceed or anything before that! So this is all very new and also attributes of myself and my gifts that I was good at but didn't even realize I was! The more I got involved with poetry and conferences the more I realized I had a lot to share through poetry but also just through how I communicate in general. I enjoy connecting with people and being a part of storytelling in any capacity so that's how I stumbled into it more than I necessarily pursued it.

I honestly couldn’t tell you what the process is for becoming a professional speaker because like I said I stumbled into it. But a lot of what I do stemmed from creating a website and business cards that advocated how I wanted to be hired and seen professionally. Poetry was just a starting point for that but then voice overs, motivational speaking and emceeing as well. I googled rates and how to get myself out there, built my social media and connected and networked with people. Find your “thing” that only you have and promote and advocate that!

What are some tips on claiming your nerves and learning to be a better public speaker?

Fun fact, I get nervous every single time. I have to breathe really deep and remind myself that it's not about me, that I am on that stage only because I have a gift and words to share with someone out there who might really need it. Once I’m past the first line or two, I usually settle. You remind yourself that this is your space, to take up as much as you need, to do what you were called to do in that very moment. It’s always going to be nerve wracking and terrifying, but it's just about fighting through it and placing the fear in the backseat and not the front.

So you are also an actress and now starting to model! Would love to hear about your journey in these two very competitive fields!

LOL. Okay well I started going to acting classes again in May because I was teaching theater to fourth and fifth graders and felt like a hypocrite because I hadn’t worked on my craft in a long time. I have always loved theater and acting but didn’t think to pursue it because I wasn’t competitive enough or I, “Didn't want it the way everyone else
wanted it.” When I was approached by a modeling agency in June I thought it was a scam but to my surprise it wasn't! I booked my first real shoot with them in August and it was so fun! I’ve always loved being in front the camera, trying out different characters. I was the child with the alter egos who was always on whatever I considered a stage in family
videos. I am easing into it, seeing what opportunities pop up and trying to be intentional and smart about what I want to accomplish while I’m in it! I’m not trying to apply this make it or break it pressure to it and instead enjoy what does come my way!

What does being a Dazey Lady mean to you?

Authentic, beautifully true to yourself, trendy AF and powerful. I feel like Dazey Lady is a term coined for empowering women seeking to build a community of empowering women.

When your friends text you late at night seeing if you want to do an impromptu photoshoot early the next morning at a laundromat you say YES. We quickly began planning outfits, fun props, and pulling inspo! My girls @officiallyquilgey & @madmavenstyle are both models, bloggers, and creative directors so they are my girl boss dream team to shoot with. We all met up at a local laundromat and made some magic! 

There's nothing I love more than doing 'for fun' creative projects with awesome Dazey Ladies. I think it's really important as a creative to do projects just for the hell of it to get your juices flowing. Especially when you're collaborating with fellow artists who have awesome ideas and vision like these ladies. I know creating content is apart of our jobs, but often times shoots are planned around a feature, promotion, or a new product. This was purely to create some fun art together and have a good time doing it.  

Tour of Dani's Hometown of Lake Arrowhead CA

I was born in Los Angeles but spent most of my childhood growing up in the beautiful small town of Lake Arrowhead. It's a mountain community nestled in the San Bernardino Mountains, a few hours from LA and right next to Big Bear. It's known for it's quaint cottages, thick pine tree forests, and of course the gorgeous lake! One thing it's not particularly known for is it's culture. There are very few places to eat or drink, grab a coffee, or even shop. Even the tiny town of Joshua Tree has way more things to do and places to see as you may have noticed from our previous travel post. 

Though I consider myself a city gal these days, Lake Arrowhead is a gorgeous getaway to escape it all, take things slow, and visit my family. Looking back I'm so thankful for growing up there, but back then there wasn't a whole lot to do as a kid! It seemed like teenagers either got into partying or nerdy tech things, I fell into latter category haha. In a way I'm thankful because I ended up spending a lot of time on the computer learning coding and graphic design which later helped me in my career and as I was starting Dazey!

If you were watching my insta-story you know I was on a mission over the holidays to promote Lake Arrowhead and make it COOL haha. Being a beautiful destination just hours away for LA, it has all the right ingredients to become a hip vacation spot. And with house prices literally 1/4 the price of LA maybe even a great spot for those burnt out on the city to escape to. We just need a little more creative culture in the area! Luckily this is beginning to change. There are a few little spots popping up started by former Angelenos' looking to take a break from big city living. Below are a couple recommendations, along with photos descriptions, shown throughout the post. We also took some around town, in the forrest, and by the lake! 

Photo Op Alert - HWY 18

This highway is as gorgeous as it is treacherous. When it gets snowy it's sadly been known to claim many lives. So on the way up while all you flatlanders (that's what we called the non-mountain folks LOL) are driving slowly up the hill, be sure to safely pull over on one of the larger pull-offs for a photo. There's a ton of them on the way up, all equally amazing. Here are some snaps from where we stopped! Pro tip, if you stop more near the bottom you can get more hills in the backdrop before you're too high! 

Lake Life - How to trick the system

So Lake Arrowhead is technically a private lake reserved only for it's residents. But I'll let ya in on a little secret, it's hardly enforced. There are a ton of ALA entrances throughout the lake where you can walk right down from the road. I recommend heading down to the north bay for a more secluded and fun part of the lake. There's an entrance near the corner of Northbay road and Alpen drive. They are marked with little wooden posts that say "ALA" on the side. Now Lake Arrowhead is a big town for vacation homes, and around the lake most of them aren't occupied by full time residents, nor are there docks. Growing up we would walk down to the lake and just choose a dock and post up all day, rarely do people say anything. YES the dock shown in these photos were borrowed as well. ;)

Road Trip - @shoproadtrip

This adorable little shop with all sorts of goodies from vintage clothing, artwork, cards, patches, and more! Located in a cute A-frame, it has that mountain feel but still curated to an LA clientele looking for a special souvenir. Owned by a good boss and crafter herself, I discovered Savannah in an LA Times article (she's since ditched the dude and is a bad ass solo-lady-boss!) and I remember instantly reposting it saying something along the lines of, "OH MY GOSH SOMETHING COOL OPENED IN LAKE ARROWHEAD." Certainly in all caps. Not to trash talk the hometown, but it definitely needs more awesome spots like this. I got some vintage books for my dad and amazing holiday cards. Now time for you to take a road trip to Road Trip!

Lou Eddie's Pizza

Located in a quaint area of willow woods, right off the the main highway, this spot has only been around a few years but I make sure to stop by whenever I'm in town. Like I said, the foodie scene isn't quite like LA, but this is a solid spot with a great pie! There's also a tavern on the bottom and a forested outdoor seating area. The inside is super cute as well! 

Lake Arrowhead Village

Literally the only place we had to shop and go to growing up. It's our version of a downtown and a total tourist trap. But if you're in Arrowhead you are basically obligated to check it out. Though it's filled mostly with outlet stores (I do like the Pendleton one) or weird bear/fish shops, it is still a very cute area that does feel like an alpine village. It's also a great place to see the lake and feed ducks! Most of the stores around the lake will sell duck food for a buck, and the ducks do go pretty crazy. Franklin loved it! 

What's Edible in the Village - Belgian Waffle

Belgian waffle is THE JAM, literally they have great jam. But in all seriousness this is an amazing long time local spot! I've been coming here since I was a kid and am obsessed. They kill the savory-sweet breakfast game and the Brussels Belgian Waffle is heaven sent. They also have super reasonable drink prices, so naturally it's a great place for boozy brunch. The inside has all your mountain cottage vibes, or you can sit on their lakeside patio. 

Hearth & Sage - Top Town Crestline

When growing up Crestline was basically the ugly step sister of Lake Arrowhead, but man it's starting to come up! It's gotten some cute stores as well as a highly recommended (for the mountain) coffee shop called Higher Elevation. Per Savannah of Road Trip's recommendation we stopped by another previous LA (Angeles) resident become LA (Arrowhead) shop owner. Hearth & Sage looked like it was picked up right out of Silverlake and dropped down on the mountain. It's the perfect place to get that gift for the friend who already has everything, but still NEEDS all these cute things. We got Franklin a beautiful leather matching color and leash set he LOVES. It's true, he told me.

Random Patch of Forest

They're everywhere haha. We just pulled off of the road to snap these quick pics! But if you're up there you have to take advantage of all the beautiful hiking trails Lake Arrowhead has to offer. We didn't have time this trip but a really great one is Deep Creek Hot Springs! Just be careful of the nudists haha. 

Take the Tour - Grand Opening Party & Story Behind the Space

The grand tour post of Biz Babez has been a long time coming! For those who don't know Biz Babez is the second business I co-founded and launched in October. It's an all-female co-working & creative space in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. In December we had our official grand opening party complete with food, drinks, member pop-up shop, and member speaking panel. The turn out was incredible and everyone had an amazing time. 

Dazey's mission is female empowerment, specifically in the female entrepreneur space, so naturally I work with and collaborate with fellow female business owners on a regular basis. I noticed many of them talked about the same issue, feeling isolated when working from home. I would go from coffee shop to coffee shop just trying to get out and feel inspired. Then I spent some time working from WeWork, a large co-working space, but struggled to find creative female entrepreneurs I could connect with. It was also hard to take photos and create content as the decor was very "office feeling." I knew I couldn't be alone in wanting a space filled with inspiration, collaboration, and community. 

I posted on Instagram about the idea of a shared office to see if there was any interest. One of my freelance clients, Taryn of Vegetaryn, instantly messaged me saying she was looking for the same thing and may have a lead on a space. We met up and explored the space she had in mind. It didn't end up panning out but we could tell we were both excited about the idea and I loved the thought of not doing it alone. With someone going in on it 50/50 we we're really able to take a bigger risk on the right spot. 

As we explored commercial properties the little idea I had of a small shared office began to grow into a co-working space. After a long hunt we settled on the perfect spot. It was large, well lit, and in a walkable area. When we first went to look at the location it was filled with fluorescent lights and bulky outdated office furniture, but we saw what it was and imagined what was possible. The day we got our keys it was a beautiful blank slate and we were so excited! 

Taryn and I chose to fund Biz Babez fully from our personal savings as opposed to looking for investment, so we we're on a tight budget. We wanted a beautiful and Instagram-friendly space so we had to get creative! We reached out to our favorite furniture and decor companies and offered a collaboration. Many of them have stock sitting around their warehouses waiting to be bought, and we figured why not display the goods while getting free content and promotion at the same time!? Almost everyone we reached out to was game! We got to handpick gorgeous vintage rugs, furniture, and more. I am a sucker for mid century modern meets 70s bohemian and really went for it when designing the space. Interior design is hands down what I would have picked as a career aside from fashion so it was amazing to get a taste of it. Within a few weeks it seemed we had the place done and open for business! 

Members have been slowing joining and our community is just beginning! We have been connecting with some of our favorite publications and hosting amazing events including the Boss Ladies Mag work sesh happening all this month! We even got featured on my favorite design blog, The Jungalow. This has been an exciting big step as an entrepreneur and I can't wait to see how it grows. Below I have a tour along with photos from our opening event!

For more information on the space and to apply for membership you can fill out an application HERE!

Su of Father's Daughter Denim - Generations of Denim Done Right

If you follow along with our blog and Instagram you know slow fashion has been a big topic of conversation around here! We made it one of our goals in 2018 to be a powerful leader in the slow fashion movement for both the environment and humankind. We have been working overtime to find brands that are both female-owned and sustainably sourced to carry in our Dazey Lady Shop. And we're not talking smock dresses made of burlap, we're looking to curate only the cutest of course! 

In the post below below I talk about my #SHOPSLOW2018 new year resolution! It's not going to be easy because I am far from perfect, but I'm so excited to give it a go and be a voice for such an important topic. 

HEY 👋 Cute dog photo to capture your attention 😜 I've decided to make 2018 a bit more difficult for myself 😱 My resolution is to #shopslow2018 ❤️ I will only shop the three S's: 1) Small 2) Sustainable or 3) Second hand 👊 So why is this difficult you ask?! Because almost every piece of clothing and company out there these days is hurting both people and our planet. Fast fashion is the second biggest source of pollution next to big oil. On top of that people work for pennies in horrendous sweatshop conditions. And guess what?! You're likely fueling this vicious cycle 🙃 It's easy to ignore the facts, I tried to for so long. But enough is enough! We are the same ones who demanded more and cheaper clothes, why can't we be the ones to reverse it?! At @dazey_la we've been working hard to find gorgeous goods that are sustainably made by female entrepreneurs 👊 This whole look you see is guaranteed guilt-free and on our site ❤️ Who's with me for #SLOWFASHION2018?! Comment below and tag other slow fashion brands you know👇Let's do this 👯👊🙌 #shopsmall #slowfashion #sustainablefashion #dazeyladyshop #danidazey

A post shared by Danielle Roxanne Nagel (@danidazey) on Dec 28, 2017 at 12:07pm PST

This is why we are so excited to have discovered Father's Daughter Denim and the incredible boss babe behind the brand, Su. I have been hard pressed to find a small female-owned jean brand that truly does denim right! Without extensive industry knowledge on washes, fits, and production, denim just doesn't feel the same as you find in the store. Many small companies I find producing jeans have stiff, thin fabrics, terrible fits, and cheap construction. Father's Daughter is the complete opposite, they make the DREAM JEANS! Su has some serious experience in the denim industry with heavy-hitter brands and this truly shows in her handcrafted products. 

I discovered Father's Daughter as I was wondering around The Row in DTLA and stumbled upon their sample sale. I loved what I saw and Su and I got to chatting. I knew I found something special and asked right away if she was down to be carried in the Dazey Lady Shop. Turns out her office was just a few blocks from mine! We planned her full feature photoshoot then and there for the following week. It was thrilling to conduct serious business so off the cuff! 

What's even better is the heartwarming story behind the brand. Denim is literally in her DNA. Father's Daughter was aptly named after the partnership of her and her father, a long time denim pattern-maker and specialist! She followed in his footsteps and then he took the leap alongside her when she was ready to start her own label. They proudly design and hand make everything from start to finish in their studio blocks from Biz Babez. Read all about her journey below and see photos from a-day-in-the-life as I shoot her in her studio and about town.

First off tell us a bit about your family’s background in denim!

I grew up around denim. My father was a denim pattern maker and there was a lot of protos in our house. He would bring his work home, or moonlight over the weekends. I met several designers during this time when premium denim was having its heyday. 

Your story is amazing. I would love to hear about your experience in the denim world at a young age. What you saw and felt. What drew you to following in your fathers footsteps? What does denim mean to you?

During that time, denim was just something that was around, I had no idea I would get into it myself as a career. I was just this college girl who got to wear premium jeans. It was a luxury.  When I was just about to graduate as a sociology major, and the economy tanked in 2008, my father suggested going to fashion school abroad. 

So you attended a school in Paris. What school was it and what brought you there? What was your major?

It was ESMOD, and I did an accelerated program for international students. It was for nouvelle couture, so I made like these crazy architectural costumes. So far from denim and sportswear. It was fun to let my imagination go wild. But it's more interesting interacting with the public, making wearable pieces. 

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Girls considering college often ask me if I think it’s necessary, but I know everyone has their personal experience and opinions on it. Do you considering going to school an important step in your journey?

Hmmm, you know I'm kinda on the fence about that. I mean it's definitely helped me to get my foot in the door and having the confidence to flex my opinion, but I feel like everything else is what you learn on the job, a lot of just maturity to work as a team, and doing things efficiently. 

So you worked at the very popular denim brand, AG jeans, for quite some time, six years right ? How did you go about landing such an epic gig?! Do you think your time working for another company gave you the experience you needed to start your own brand?

My father knows the family that owns and runs it. I met with the son of the owner, who became my creative director. Over the six years I had various positions at AG, which gave me experience developing my own brand. I think the nitty gritty details you learn on the job is essential. It almost has to be like second nature so that you can devote time to thinking bigger. 

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How long have you wanted to start a company of your own? What made you finally take the leap to do it?

Actually I'm not naturally a big dreamer, but I have an insatiable hunger for projects. I'd work on sketching ideas after work to satisfy that drive. One day, I realized I kinda hit the ceiling in terms of learning what I can from my regular job. Everything else would have been climbing the politics of work, which I didn't really have an appetite for.

What is Father’s Daughter and your mission behind the brand?

Initially it started as this humble project to make things I want to wear. It turns out that I was on the other side of a wave of big brands going overseas. That wave put a lot of contractors out of business this year. So the fact that we're here on the corner of 9th and Spring, became part of our identity as a local manufacturer. It's not easy, but the resources are here.

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We loved touring your production facility and office. It’s amazing you do everything in-house! Tell us about your careful production process, we want to know all the love that goes into a pair of your jeans!

We get fabric from Japan, and my dad does the pattern on his computer, prints out the marker, spreads the fabric and cuts it. From there my mom organizes it and prepares the cuts for our sample maker. Our sample maker, overlocks and sews and bartacks the denim. Then I'll take it to a wash house, along with our wash standard. When we get this back, we trim and press, label and hangtag, pack and ship from our workshop. 

When I think about the different processes, its crazy how we get it all done. We're hoping to grow so that we can hire a few more people that would make this process easier. Perhaps outgrow our office and work with other contractors.

What are all the responsibilities you have along with designing? How do you balance it all?

I'm responsible for all communication with customers, showroom, our team. I'm responsible also for the cash flow aspect of it, which can we a bit of a tight rope situation. 

I work with multiple people with various talents, it's definitely a challenge to try to juggle my own work as well as directing people. I'm not a micromanager, but I could probably work on delegation. 

I know you’ve been running your social media in order to grow your brand and foster direct sales. Would you say your company focus is on wholesale or direct to consumer? What are your tips for each?

Our company focuses on wholesale. I'd say until we can find someone with the same spirit and put a lot of effort into social media, direct to consumer will alway be secondary.  

Ideally it's great for a company to have both, wholesale is less risky, and builds a client list for predicting future sales numbers. Direct sales is more profitable but requires constantly fostering community. I.E. a lot of time.

At the moment our priority is in the product, but would love to eventually give attention to our story.

What does being a Dazey Lady mean to you?

Dazey Lady means not settling for a half-assed type of life. It means knowing your value, and the reality is that we are all conduits of how life happens. It also means being curious, and using the resources you have, and recognizing a path that's opened, have been opened, and you're ready. 

Also, you guys are super awesome, and just generally top shelf type women. 

Art's District Duo // New DL Shop Styles

We've been so busy adding items to the Dazey Lady Shop lately, a section of our site dedicated to selling goods made by fellow female entrepreneurs! Today's post includes more gorgeous goods you can shop and style along with Dazey tees. We have been focusing on sustainable fashion for this coming year. Really stylish female-owned slow fashion brands can be hard find, but we've made it our mission to source the best for our Dazey Lady shop. The two main designers featured below Tamga Designs & Father's Daughter Denim are perfectly examples of slow and ethical fashion. The designer Yana behind Dazey Lady brand Tamga has seen the damage of fast fashion first hand and had built her brand around that experience. Below is a piece she wrote on the importance of pushing the slow fashion movement and what she is doing. We are proud to carry such powerful brands in our store! 

After food and shelter, clothing may just be the most important product in our lives. But how much do we know about the clothes that we’re wearing every single day? I started my ethical fashion brand TAMGA Designs because this question is way too hard for most of us to answer. And when I moved to Bangladesh in 2014, I realized that what we don’t know is causing real harm.

Arriving in Dhaka, Bangladesh for the first time is a sensory overload. Heat, mosquitoes and a whole lot of attention from strangers awaits you as soon as you land. My partner Eric had landed a job with the UN and already been there for 6 months. It wasn’t long before I noticed the impact of the fashion manufacturing industry on this city. The rapid growth and construction, the thousands of young women in colorful traditional attire making their way to work in the factories, the stalls on the side of the road selling popular Western brands at impossibly low prices. The country had just gone through a painful experience when the Rana Plaza complex, a shoddily built building containing several garment factories, collapsed and took more than 1,100 lives with it.

Our demand for cheap clothing in the western world has created a highly efficient, industrialized and global fashion manufacturing machine. In Bangladesh alone more than 4 million people create our clothing for a living – and around 80 percent of them are women. These jobs have been an incredible force for poverty reduction in the country, but as Western brands push for lower prices and faster turnaround it’s the workers and their natural environments that suffer. Visiting factories around Dhaka I saw why the bright, trendy stores back home could sell fashion for such ‘bargain’ prices.

When my work had finished in Dhaka, I put together a small team and we spent a year setting up a responsible and transparent supply chain. We set out to produce bright and exciting clothing from the world’s most progressive fabrics and eco-friendly dyes. I had to go through this process to prove to myself that great clothing can be created responsibly from start to finish. We list every factory, every material and even the environmental impact of every garment on our website so that our customers can join the journey as well.

I started TAMGA Designs because I love the possibilities for self-expression, individuality and creativity in fashion. Rather than just feeling let-down by the dark realities of fast fashion, we choose to foster positivity, creating bright and beautiful clothing that does good for people and the planet. It’s not too late for the fashion industry to turn itself around, but we have to talk about issues like working conditions, pollution and waste. It’s my hope that, along with other inspirational brands in this space like Dazey LA, we can get this conversation going.

Written By: Yana Barankin, Co-Founder & Creative Director at TAMGA Designs

Below our own @danidazey models with the adorable Brit Kemp @britt.kemp! Recently as Dani was walking around downtown Brit recognized her from Dazey and they got to chatting. She had the coolest style and we obviously had to shoot her! She moved to LA earlier this year and works with awesome female owned brand Vrai & Oro as well as picking up occasional modeling gigs. We headed to the Art's District and did a little double-dazey shoot!

Photographer: @phillipbutler

Models: @brit.kemp & @danidazey

Brands: @dazey_la, @fathersdaughterla, @tamgadesigns

SHOP ALL YOU SEE HERE

Dani and Phillip - the couple in and behind the tees!

Merry Christmas everyone! I have so many things to be thankful for this Holiday Season and this past year. The launch of my second business Biz Babez, new friends, many travel adventures and a solid year with Dazey LA. But one of the biggest things I have to celebrate is my little Family! My boyfriend Phillip and our pup Franklin are the ones that keep me sane amidst all the craziness.

After 3 years of dating while being neighbors Phillip and I finally moved in together at the beginning of this year. We’ve been working hard to make our place feel personal yet tasteful while combining both our styles. It’s really come together and feel like a home. To top it all of a few months back we adopted our little guy Franklin. It’s crazy how quickly we became a crazy dog couple haha.

Phillip is the unsung hero here at Dazey! Anytime you see me in front of the camera, he’s the guy behind it. He only recently started shooting and picked it up right away! We recently began to travel a bit more to create content and as an excuse to get out of town. As Dazey began to get increasing busy he started helping me more and more. Around the same time he was on a hiatus from his current project and we released the “Dazey Dudez” collection. The timing couldn't be more perfect for him to help me grow the brand! This next year we are going to take a swing at working together and traveling for the brand and blog!

One of the bummers about either Phillip or I shooting our content is it’s damn near impossible to get some together. This past month one of the most well known couples photographers Phil Chester was in town and asked us to shoot. Of course we happily obliged! He brought over some champagne and we snapped photos all around our apartment, both wearing our Dazey. True to his name our doggo "Franklin the photo-bomber" had to sneak into a few frames! This shoot had such a cozy festive feel with the bubbles and warm tones I thought it would be an awesome X-mas post and time to reflect on this past year. Check out the gushy cuteness below, and beware some of them get a bit saucey!