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- [00:00]
Neeli Lotan
Foreign.
- [00:05]
Laura Vinrit Pool
I'm Laura Vinrit Pool of Capitol, and this is what we wore from the Israeli military to decades in corporate fashion before finally designing under her own name. Neeli Lotan's story continues to fascinate me. I'm excited to re air this archival episode before we launch Neelie's latest collection in our Charlotte store. Neelie, I'm so, so excited to speak with you. Thank you for, well, not coming here, but for calling in, meeting with me virtually this morning. Where are you, Neelie?
- [00:51]
Neeli Lotan
I am in Tribeca, New York. I live in Chebeca and my studio is in Chebeca.
- [00:56]
Laura Vinrit Pool
So you have a easy commute. Did you work during the pandemic in the studio? Were you able to go in? I don't even know how stringent New York was about that kind of stuff.
- [01:05]
Neeli Lotan
Well, no, we were in quarantine. So till. From March till June, end of June, beginning of July, we were at home.
- [01:15]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Like, you literally couldn't leave the house?
- [01:17]
Neeli Lotan
We could not leave the house. I mean, I guess you could have. I can't. You could go to the supermarket or to the pharmacy, but that was about it. But you couldn't go to work, and there was nobody there. So basically worked out of home. That was quite challenging times. Yes. Different, but actually very productive. Then in July, we opened the studio. We had asked people to come back. We had kind of created shifts at work. So some people came early, some people came later. So also people that needed to avoid the subway. You know, we were trying to be as flexible as we could. And since then, we've been in the studio. We already had two markets via Zoom, successful. Yeah, we've been designing, producing, doing everything that we need to do out of the studio.
- [02:12]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Did you and your team have. Were you surprised or happily surprised at the different ideas that people came from quarantine with? I would imagine people were a lot more opinionated. And one of the things. Actually, I was in California this week with my friend Irene and Irene Neuwirth, and Irene and I were both. One of the most interesting things to come out of this is that. I don't know, it's almost like you. You have more important things to say because you've cut out all the extraneous things, get to the heart of things a lot faster, and nobody really has time for the. All of the sort of extra stuff that we used to have. I almost feel like people probably contributed much more important things to your process.
- [02:55]
Neeli Lotan
Totally. I mean, on two levels. On the professional level, you know, I think that everyone became much more efficient. And if they didn't, I made them become more efficient. I actually did quite an audit in my team and really made sure that everyone's there is needed and everyone that's there and needed is actually producing. And. And it was a wake up.
- [03:19]
Laura Vinrit Pool
One of the things was that everybody who's there really wants to be there.
- [03:23]
Neeli Lotan
Exactly. And that leads me to the next thing. That there were quite a lot of people that came to the conclusion after Covid that that's not what they want to do. So we had a natural fall of people who just said, listen, during COVID I had these serious conversations with myself and I decided that this is no longer what I want to do. Or I decided that I have a different journey that I need to take or whatever, or now I really miss my parents and I'm going to move. So there was quite a lot of that.
- [03:54]
Laura Vinrit Pool
How wonderful.
- [03:56]
Neeli Lotan
Yeah.
- [03:56]
Laura Vinrit Pool
I mean, what a blessing and something that you probably didn't expect from it.
- [04:00]
Neeli Lotan
Totally.
- [04:01]
Laura Vinrit Pool
So, Neelie, tell me or tell the audience. I know, tell the audience where you're from.
- [04:06]
Neeli Lotan
I am from Israel. I was born and raised in Israel. I came to New York in my 20s. I'm from a town called Netanya, which is basically a beach city. We lived on the, you know, beautiful homes overlooking the sea. It's about 25 minutes from Tel Aviv, from the biggest city in Israel. I wouldn't say biggest, but it's the coolest city in Israel. I think size wise, it's not the biggest, but it's the center of Israel, I should say. We were kind of 20 minutes. It was kind of a, you know, you hop in the car and you're there, but you still had the serenity of being outside of the city. It wasn't a suburbia as much as was really a town, but it was a beach town.
- [04:54]
Laura Vinrit Pool
And what did you love about growing up there and what can you tell the audience about growing up there?
- [04:58]
Neeli Lotan
So obviously the beach, you know, when you grow up on the beach, it's something that you always wants to go back. You always wants to see the blue sea and the sand. I think, you know, growing up and looking at the horizon and seeing only the very fine line of the horizon and the sunsets and the blue and the minimal kind of landscape. It does something to you. I think that this is what I loved the most and miss the most. Also love how quiet it was. You know, when I grew up, there were 75,000 people there. So it was a very quiet and you quite knew a Lot of people, people knew you yet very sophisticated. So, you know, it wasn't the of culture or sophistication. It was just like, you know, I grew up in the becoming of Israel almost, you know, Israel was established in 1947, when I was born in 1957, 10 years after. So the first, obviously 20, 30 years of a country, it's still becoming. And so there was that kind of sense of excitement of building a country.
- [06:13]
Laura Vinrit Pool
What are your first fashion memories of?
- [06:15]
Neeli Lotan
I was always very determined and opinionated about what's right and what's wrong and what I should wear and whatnot. I had a very distinguished style for myself. I think I start developing it at a very young age. I didn't, you know, necessarily wasn't just fashion. It just like who I am and how I communicate to the world. I think it's really started to be taking shape more. When I was like 16, I used to be exposed to fashion magazine from Paris. There weren't any on sale there. But, you know, funny, I used to go with my mom to her hairdresser. And the hairdresser was French. So she used to get the old magazines from somebody in Paris and she used to keep them in the salon for women to go through it. And I used to go with my mom just to watch, just to go through those magazines. It cost me one time with a really bad haircut, and then I never went again. But that's how I've been exposed to more of a world fashion. You know, till then, there was one little store in the center of town of fabrics. It was gorgeous fabrics. It was all like leftovers, European fabrics. And I used to go with my mom, and I used to choose a fabric. My mom sew everything for me upon my request. So that's how we dress, you know, that's how we got dressed. You know, we had. At one time, we even had the same sisters that came home and did the whole family. And then later on, my mom took over and basically did it herself. So it was very special, very unique, and you could choose what you wanted. It wasn't just in the mercy of what the stores had bought.
- [07:59]
Laura Vinrit Pool
You'd be surprised at how many designers I've interviewed that have a little, you know, that their parents, their mothers made their own clothes. I mean, I think it's so interesting. It's sort of a common thread, if.
- [08:10]
Neeli Lotan
You will, in terms of definitely. I mean, the love to fashion or the love to clothing. And making clothing comes from obviously somewhere. So either it's in the genetics or it's in the exposure or the inspiration of your mom or your aunt or your.
- [08:26]
Laura Vinrit Pool
And were your parents stylish?
- [08:28]
Neeli Lotan
Very much so. I mean, my parents are European, my mom was Hungarian and my dad was Russian. But my dad had his education in Paris. He studied law in the Sorbonne and I'm talking about the 40s, so it was very exceptional at the time. And he was the best dressed man, according to my aunt and his brothers, like the best dressed man in town. Always with suits, always with a tie, at times where people were not. They didn't live in the city, obviously in Russia. But when he was in Paris, you know, he brought back all his obviously well dressed wardrobe and was very, very particular about quality. And he's the one who taught me that better, less, but with high quality than a lot with cheap quality. My mom too had a beautiful taste. Very coordinated, very, you know, she was always like, this works with that and that doesn't work with that. And she was very much putting attention to the way she dressed, but she was less, I would say pretentious. Like he was like he needed the best suit, the best tie, the best shoe. She was willing to settle for less. But he was always in good taste and always beautiful. She was also a textile designer, so she did a lot of textile and understood a lot in textile. So I really honestly grew up with a very much of a European taste level and aesthetic. Always in beautiful homes, always surrounded with beautiful objects and of course books and music. So very much influence of the house on me in terms of where I ended up.
- [10:15]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Did you study art? I mean, were you.
- [10:17]
Neeli Lotan
I studied fashion, yeah. Yes, fashion and art. There was actually I was the first class of a school that had academic school for fashion prior to that. You know, you could take lots courses and classes and all kind of things, but it wasn't academic. So when I finished my military service, my mom announced me that guess what, they just opened a new school and it's you get your degree, your BA degree and you can go there. And so that school, we were 11 that got accepted out of hundreds if not thousands of students. And the school didn't even know what it is yet. So we got a lot of art classes, a little bit of business, not much and a lot of draping, fashion, design, drawings. It was affiliated with the FIT and our head of the fashion division was British and all the classes were in English. So it's kind of a interesting school right now. It's the best school in Israel actually. Other interesting designers that came out of there Is Albert Elbaz.
- [11:34]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Oh, wow.
- [11:35]
Neeli Lotan
That is like, you know, he's like, probably the claim to fame.
- [11:40]
Laura Vinrit Pool
One of the things I wanted to ask, and I'm fascinated by this. One of the other other common thread is that a lot of designers went to school and wore Unifor. And I think that their creativity came from that. And so I really want to hear about your military service and what it was like and what you wore and how that was going straight from that to fashion school.
- [12:04]
Neeli Lotan
Sure. So actually it started with school. So very first grade, all the way to high school, we had uniforms. Never, ever could we wear whatever we want, which puts you. And I actually appreciate that. But it was in elementary school, we wore like a check blue and white check shirt and denim. We couldn't wear sneakers because sneakers you only wore in gym class. You had to wear a shoe. And then in high school, the same thing. We wore denim. It was. Trust me, it wasn't Levi's and wasn't anything cool. It was some kind of a local denim and a blue, like a kind of an oxford blue shirt. And it had the emblem of the school on it. So God forbid, you don't think, like, you're wearing just the blue shirt, but it has to be the blue shirt with it. And the most happiest moment was to go on September 1st to buy those uniforms. And the smell of that store and getting the new fresh clothes for this year was like excitement. And I think that the philosophy behind it, Israel is quite of a socialist country, such as the Scandinavians. And the theory behind it is that there is no difference between poor and rich. And I think that is the main thing behind it, that you come to school and you don't care and you don't worry about who you're wearing, why you're wearing, can you afford it or not afford it. This is not a destruction. And I think here, I must say, not that I think that they should wear a uniform, but growing, you know, raising three kids, what you're wearing and whose designers is. It becomes such an issue in high school.
- [13:51]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Yeah.
- [13:52]
Neeli Lotan
That it's distracting. You know, it takes away from. From the essence of why they are there and what are they supposed to do there.
- [13:59]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Agreed.
- [14:00]
Neeli Lotan
So that was that. Then. In the army, it's a whole different story. It's obviously a discipline. Okay, so the discipline is right for the school, but in the army is even more so.
- [14:10]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Neely, we talk about. I mean, it's required for every citizen, correct?
- [14:14]
Neeli Lotan
Yes, it is required for every woman and every man at the age of 18 to draft to the army. Two years for girls, three years for boys. It got loosened up since I was 18. Now, if you really don't want to go to the army, there's ways to do other kind of social community work instead. Way back then, it was mandatory. The only way you can get out of it is if were you religious and that was in your way of keeping, you know, religious. Or you got married. And you'd be surprised how many girls married at the age of 18 just to get out of the army and then divorced a year later.
- [14:53]
Laura Vinrit Pool
And you were in the army or the air Force.
- [14:55]
Neeli Lotan
So we called the army the Army. The Air Force is part of the army. I was in the Air Force, yes. And. But you train first in the army, so the first month they train you. And at the same time as they train you, they try to evaluate where you would be an asset depending on your qualities and your background.
- [15:16]
Laura Vinrit Pool
I'm thinking they didn't have a fashion section.
- [15:18]
Neeli Lotan
No. But they had culture. So I was, for one, you know, for a short time, I was head of the culture of the community. Like bringing in the culture into the community of the base. Really what I ended up doing was kind of like a social worker. But it wasn't like, you know, I would be the office or the place for girls to come to me if they had any issue, whether it was sexual assault, whether it was they needed to go home or they had a personal problem or whatever issues they had. I was the address. I was also making sure that they're wearing the uniform and that 11 o'clock at night there are no boys in there rooms, and so on and so on. Basically keeping the discipline, which was not easy because I was their age.
- [16:08]
Laura Vinrit Pool
But I bet it was incredible training for leading a big team like you do now.
- [16:11]
Neeli Lotan
Totally, totally. I think the army is actually a great school for life. A Because again, there is some sort about, you know, looking at everyone equally and without, you know, regardless of where they come from and what their background and how much money they have and who's their father. You basically are in a community of people. They're all Israelis. They all devote two years or three years of their life to the country. And obviously nobody's excited about it at the beginning, but I think in retrospective it's a good thing.
- [16:43]
Laura Vinrit Pool
And I bet some of your oldest and best friends still know.
- [16:47]
Neeli Lotan
Unfortunately, I didn't keep those relationships to Tayy. It's been already 40 years that I've been here, and so it's been hard to keep and at the same time assimilate and find my space here. But I go to Israel now quite often. I do meet my friends. I don't know if I have that many from the army. But yes, for boys in particular, their best friends are their peers from the army because they continue after the service to serve once every year, I think a month.
- [17:19]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Oh, wow.
- [17:21]
Neeli Lotan
So they kind of meet again and again all the way till they're like 60. So I think that's really what kind of keeps them together. But for girls, once you finish the military, you're done.
- [17:32]
Laura Vinrit Pool
When you moved to New York after that, did you move alone or with your family or did your parents stay in?
- [17:38]
Neeli Lotan
So my parents stayed in Israel. But believe it or not, I married when I was 21. I finished my military service at the age of 20 and I went to school. And when I graduated from school, that was time to get married by the protocol. And I got married. I was dated my ex husband for two years. And that's what happens when you marry 21. It's either a big success or it's not. And in my case it wasn't. So he actually, I graduated, I was ready to get a job. Clearly were not that many jobs in Israel. My husband at the time was an air force pilot, so he served in the army for eight years. So when he was done, my father, who had a real estate development business, thought that it would be nice if he start to work with him. And so he starts thinking, what should he learn? And he picked civil engineering. And because he was already older than what normal kids would start university, he decided that he wants to study for the state. Another reason was that while he was a pilot in the Israeli Air Force, he was sent to Fort Rucker, Alabama for a course of one year, fell in love with American lifestyle and wanted to go back. So he, believe it or not, wanted to take me to Alabama to practice my design.
- [19:09]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Oh my God.
- [19:10]
Neeli Lotan
When I was newly married, I would say, sure, let's go till my father put his foot down. I said, no, you're not taking my daughter to Alabama. If you want, you can take her to New York. This is as far as.
- [19:23]
Laura Vinrit Pool
That would have been culture shock, I can tell you that.
- [19:26]
Neeli Lotan
I am sure even New York was culture shock for me.
- [19:29]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Sure. And so y'all moved together to New York and did you?
- [19:32]
Neeli Lotan
So. Yes. No. So we moved together in 1980, the summer of 1980, and I cannot work because I don't have a visa. And he had a student visa. So that was kind of limiting for me. So I decided, okay, I'm going to continue to study, thinking he's going to do his three, four years. And we go back. I studied drawing illustrations, you know, just kind of perfected my skills in Parsons. And then six months later, I was like, okay, I'm done. I'm ready to go to work. So luckily, I was an honored student in the school that I went to. And after the first year, they sent me to the United States for a program. And while I was in this program, they gave me a Social Security number. And based on this Social Security number, it was easier for me to get a visa. So I got a visa to work and I started to look for a job. Wasn't easy because I didn't have any experience, you know, so everybody tells me, you don't have an experience. I said, well, if you don't give me a chance, how would I ever have an experience? Finally, an Israeli guy had helped me through, and I got my first job. And from there it just kept going higher and higher to the point where I was a VP at Lise Claiborne in late 80s. I want to say 87, 86. I don't remember the years. It was one of the highlights of my career back then, you know, not only that, I was young, I had two little kids, and I started a whole new division for them. It was called Lees & Co. At the time, which was based on an idea that I brought to them. It was $100 million business by the end of the year. Prior to Liz Clay, when I worked for Adrian Vitadini, and prior to Adrian Vitadini, my very first job was I worked for someone that no one would know. Her name was Roberta Stein, and she actually almost invented the outsourcing in Asia. You know, at the time, people were still making things domestically. And she created an office in Hong Kong that had factories all over Asia, was Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. She basically needed someone to go to all these different factories, evaluate, you know, the materials that they have. And it was all sweaters and knits, cotton sewn, knits and sweaters, and basically come back with a collection. That's what I did. I landed in Korea for the first time in my life. The first thing they did in the airport is seeing my Israeli passport, looking for machine guns in my. In my bag. And it was. It was traumatic because I never really. I mean, I traveled before to Europe quite a lot. But, you know, really facing the reality that me as Israeli, I mean, the next thing that they. That comes with it is a machine gun. It was like, wow. That was my first shock. And then the second shock was that they brought me into, you know, hand knitting factory, which was basically a women sitting in a circle, like the way you do flamenco, and basically sitting in a circle with two needles and bunch of yarn. And you just have to tell them what to do, what to knit. And I'm like, I have no clue. I've never. I mean, I've knitted things in my life, but not professionally. By the time I ended, I came up with, like 150 or 200 designs. But then later, she offered them to designers such as Calvin Klein. You know, these people didn't even know that they can manufacture things overseas. So what they did is they would come in and to the presentation that I did, and so they could see what's possible, what yarns. They have different gauges, different machinery. And based on the samples that I did, they designed their own or tacked it into mine. And I did mood boards and trans boards, and I was by myself. So it was, like, quite of an incredible opportunity. After that, I went to Adrian Vitadini, and because of my experience now for 5 years in sweaters and knits, Eddie and Vitadini was an ultimate job for me because she was only. She was like the sweater queen. So I worked for her for another six years. And then came Claiborne. Liz had approached me and said to me, and they called me and said it was after a short experience that I had with them. She said, we are looking to open a new division for Liz Claiborne. We had Liz Ware and Liz Ford and collection and Dana Buckman and all of that. We needed to be casual, because at that time, the casual Friday was a term. And she said, it needs to be casual. It needs to be this, it needs to be that. And I said, no worry. I went home and I came up with an idea of doing 100% knit. The vision that would be cotton sew and sweaters and hand knits, which is what I knew how to do, and came up with some sort of a flow of design, which was pretty smart for the time. And when I presented it to Liz a week later, she was like, sold. She said, okay, we're starting this division. And we started this division based on my proposal. And I was the only person. I hired the team very slowly. Like, first it was just me and another person. But of course, Liz Claiborne had an incredible sourcing and incredible accounting and incredible, you know, all the facilities that one needs. And in no time, in One year, we were $100 million. Businesses was phenomenal. Phenomenal. And then, you know, obviously, I killed myself. I worked myself to death for six years. And by the time I ended, I was like, okay, enough. I looked to the right, I looked to the left, and I said, why am I here? I need to go back home. And at that point, it was a bit too late. My kids were already at a point where they had an opinion, and they weren't happy about that, and neither was my husband. And I must say that this is probably, you know, later on, you know, we divorced. I mean, very later on. I was married for 27 years.
- [25:54]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Oh, wow.
- [25:54]
Neeli Lotan
And when my kids were already in college and my little one was nine, and I married an Israeli musician, which kind of put me in a position that I go back and forth, back and forth to Israel, and I leave both worlds. And I'm very happy now. And not that I wasn't happy there, but I was missing few things.
- [26:14]
Laura Vinrit Pool
I think it's incredible that you worked for 20 years for other people and also 23 years.
- [26:19]
Neeli Lotan
Yeah.
- [26:19]
Laura Vinrit Pool
And also for a couple, probably more than a couple, but of the. Of the most glamorous women in the business. I mean, Liz Clay, I mean, Adrian Vitadini was so fabulous.
- [26:29]
Neeli Lotan
Right.
- [26:29]
Laura Vinrit Pool
What did. What was your biggest learning from them?
- [26:33]
Neeli Lotan
So I think, you know, I worked for Adrian for Liz. I worked for Nautica for David Chu, and I worked for Ralph Lauren there. I worked with John Vavrades as a team. So I did get. And of course, I worked with Ralph himself. I mean, Ralph at that point was not really that involved to that degree, but very much seen him, talk to him, influenced by him, and inspired by him. From a design perspective, Ralph was the most influential one on me and the most inspiring.
- [27:02]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Just because he was so committed to what he did.
- [27:05]
Neeli Lotan
Yes. Yes. I think that all that one voice, that one, you know, very clear voice is what affected me and made me understand why does the world need another designer like myself? I have to admit, I learned from everyone. I learned from Adrienne what not to do. And I'm not going to go into details, because I have a lot of respect to her and she's a wonderful person. But my experience there was very harsh as an employee, as a woman, as a young woman. I have to say that a lot of things that I'm implementing today in my business is to really fix what I had got hurt by. So we can go to details later, but let me just finish what I've learned. So this is what I learned I mean, Adrian was amazing. I mean, she had a beautiful taste level. And she was Hungarian too, by the way, just like my mom. She actually had a very soft spot for me being Hungarian and also being a hard worker as I was as a young woman. And she had a flair and she had a beautiful taste and her collections were beautiful. So there's always something to learn, you know, from the design side of things and from the operational side of things there. I'm sure it contributed to me on the design side, on the operational side. You know, as I said, you know, I think there were things that I would do different then Liz Claiborne. Absolutely. She was a genius. She was a genius. But really what I picked a lot is he was a genius. Yeah, Art Ortenberg was a genius. I mean, Art could have run this country far better than where the way it's run right now. But that's not even a compliment. You know, he really had a little country that he ran. I mean, there were. Everything was clear. The mission, the goal, the execution, the protocols. It was probably the most organized planned company that I've ever been exposed or I think that existed. And I think that's why they were one of the very first companies that went public. Because it was obvious these people knew what they were doing. They were just all in their 60s or 50s, well established professionals, so all came in with their expertise and built this empire for a reason. So for me, I mean, it was a privilege to be there, a privilege to learn their protocols, a privilege to learn how to execute one idea and a vision. So that was Claiborne at Nautica. It wasn't a good experience for me. Let's pass that. And although I have to give David Chu the credit that if not for him, I would not have my own company.
- [30:04]
Laura Vinrit Pool
That's what I was going to say. Was that the impetus to start your own company?
- [30:07]
Neeli Lotan
Yes. He actually put the seed money for my company and was very much had a respect to me and my work and really helped me quite a lot at the beginning of my career as an independent designer, as a company, it wasn't a good experience for me. Neither was it for him at that point. That's why it fell apart. Ralph Lauren is a thing on its own. So the way Claiborne was genius in logistics and operations and planning. So was Ralph on the other side on the creative. I'm not sure how great they were on the planning and the logistics, but they were amazing. And it really credited not only to Ralph himself, but to the people that he hired and the people that he surrounded himself with that had such an immaculate taste level and attention to design and quality, and design was important. So it was for the first time that I'm in a company where design is the first thing you consider. It's the first thing that's important, and then comes the cost. And that was very, very refreshing to me, because clearly, in companies like Claiborne and Nautica, there is a price that you need to meet, and then comes the aesthetic, which makes sense, because these companies were very profit, obviously. And Ralph was not. I mean, till a certain point, he wasn't. But despite all the CEOs and people that came to run this business, he insisted and maintained his integrity for design, for quality, for the specific design that he believed in. It's a beautiful, beautiful business that will be remembered forever in the history of American fashion.
- [31:59]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Agreed. And if you've ever been inside the Double RL showroom, like, of course, nothing in the world like it. And it changes every single season. And it's just the most immersive, most magical place.
- [32:11]
Neeli Lotan
Right, right. So I was very lucky and benefited a lot from it. And I think my design is very much inspired by it.
- [32:19]
Laura Vinrit Pool
So tell me about how you went to open your own company. What you do is so different from what anybody else does, and there's nothing in the market, like, it was that clear to you always that you couldn't find things that you wanted?
- [32:33]
Neeli Lotan
No. So I had gone through a quiet process, because when I started, I said to myself, okay, I need to define my market, of course, but I need to define what is it that I'm going to do that nobody else does. And it became a very, very personal collection. It's. It's basically. I call it my wardrobe. It is what I want to wear, how I wear it.
- [33:01]
Laura Vinrit Pool
It's the only thing I want to wear.
- [33:03]
Neeli Lotan
Thank you. Thank you.
- [33:05]
Laura Vinrit Pool
It always has been. I mean, it's. It's always been. I mean, it's. They're the things that I never, ever get rid of in my closet.
- [33:12]
Neeli Lotan
Thank you.
- [33:14]
Laura Vinrit Pool
And I think that it's interesting in an industry that is really not totally known for its authenticity and its intuition, you've always had that.
- [33:23]
Neeli Lotan
I have something very different, the way I do things. I realize it, obviously, from the feedback that I get, because for me, this is the only way I know. So. But growing up the way I grew up and having surround, you know, surrounded with what I was surrounded and the education that I got and the countries that I've been to obviously created A different perspective to clothes, to life, to beauty, to aesthetic. And I think that's really what you're seeing. You know, it's the maturity, it's the knowing, it's the confidence. It's the truth. Because I am not designing for a market. I'm not designing to make a living. I am communicating to women my aesthetic. I'm communicating to women what is it that I love. And if you want to join me, you're more than welcome, because here I am, and I extend this to you. That's the way I'm looking at it. I'm looking at it as a very specific view of one woman who I share it, of myself, who I share it. And it's not about merchandising. It's not about trends. It's not about fashion. It's about style. It's about style. My style.
- [34:44]
Laura Vinrit Pool
And your clothes, more than any, more than anybody else that I wear, are so empowering.
- [34:50]
Neeli Lotan
Thank you. That's the idea. The idea is for you to wear it and feel the best version of yourself, confident and comfortable. And the confidence comes from comfort. Because when you're wearing something that you're not comfortable in, whether it's the fit is not right, whether the fabric is too stiff, whether the shoe hurts you or whether the armhole's too tight, you're not confident because you're subconscious. You're constantly thinking about the thing that bothers you. So when you are in a close that makes you feel good, it's hugging you, it's soft, it's flattering, it fits well. That part you can eliminate and start focusing on other things. And that gives you the empowerment of being confident in the room and do what you have to do. Clearly, the clothes is not the subject. You know, the subject is whatever you pursuing yourself with. And the clothes is just there to either communicate on your behalf, this is how I feel today, or this is who I am, and this is my preferences. And this is just to share a little bit to the world. What do you like and what you don't, and what's your style? But that's it. At that point, it serves its purpose. Now it's just to give you confidence. And if I achieve both of that, then I'm a very lucky woman.
- [36:12]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Trust me. You achieve it every day, Every year. My very favorite clothes in my wardrobe. Neeli, can you tell us a little bit about. From the things from Adrian Vitadini, but also from all of the places that you worked, the things that you wanted to do differently. What was the main Learning or what was the main thing you wanted to change?
- [36:30]
Neeli Lotan
I think that there was an understanding of women in the workforce at that time, and I think I kind of broke some sort of a wall that my mom couldn't. I think that they really didn't understand. What does it take for a woman to have a family and a career at the same time? And I wouldn't even call it career. I call it pursuing myself. There is a sacrifice, obviously, I would expect, and I am hoping that I'm providing it a little bit of understanding that at the end of a workday, I go home and I have two kids that I need to take care of and a husband that I need to take care of at certain times. I am commuting an hour each direction. And, you know, and there is a life beyond work and that I think as an employee, employer, you need to understand that different people have different needs and accommodate it. And the more you will accommodate them, the more they'll give you back. Yeah, And I think that was not clear to some of the people that I worked for.
- [37:33]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Oh, I don't think it was clear in the 80s, you know, exactly.
- [37:35]
Neeli Lotan
I don't think it was them. I think it was just main thing at the time.
- [37:39]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Yeah, you had to be like a man to survive in business or to succeed in business. I think.
- [37:45]
Neeli Lotan
Yeah, it wasn't even succeeding. You know, it wasn't. I'm not even talking to succeed the way I succeeded, to be the vice president off even just have a job. You know, they kind of accept. You know, I think that 90% of the. Of the kids that graduated with me ended up getting married and raised the children and not have a job. Yeah, it's not like that today. And I think girls today go to school and they don't expect to be married or they don't get married till they actually establish their career, or at least a lot of them are. But back then, it wasn't so it needed some of. And it wasn't there yet. So I'm not complaining. I think, in other words, I'm not accusing anyone, but I can at least take it from my experience and implement something different.
- [38:34]
Laura Vinrit Pool
Neely, at the end of every episode, we always ask our guests what they wore to the prom. And I don't know if they have prom.
- [38:40]
Neeli Lotan
Oh, I didn't have a prom. I can tell you what I wore to my wedding.
- [38:45]
Laura Vinrit Pool
I want to hear.
- [38:46]
Neeli Lotan
I wore my cami dress. I wore my cami dress. I mean, my second marriage, right. The one that happened 11 years ago Navy cami, because I didn't want to wear white again. So I had made a special cami that had a very low back all the way, you know, to the lower back. I think I even had a little satin something around my waist. And that's it. And that was my outfit for my wedding day. And then I had some other parties, and obviously I wore other things. But for the actual ceremony, which was taking place in my own apartment with our six kids and our best friends, about 20 people. And then we went and celebrated in Locanda Verde, which is Etrebecca.
- [39:39]
Laura Vinrit Pool
I love it.
- [39:40]
Neeli Lotan
Yeah, restaurant. And it was in the backyard. It was beautiful. And that's what I wore. So probably if I had a prom today and I would be 16, I would wear my cami dress.
- [39:55]
Laura Vinrit Pool
I love it. What We Wore is produced by Capitol and Balto Creative Media. The original song Someone so Enchanting was composed and performed by Brit Drazda. Please follow us on Instagram at what We Wore podcast for additional content and show updates. QueenCityPodcastNetwork.com.