The Insider
Leslie Price
After tackling NYC—Leslie Price was the founding editor of Racked and worked her editorial magic at Lucky and Time Inc.—the shopping powerhouse and girl of the perfect hair headed to L.A. to prove that she could take on both coasts and to helm Racked’s West Coast editorial team. Here, she shares some bi-coastal boutique findings and the issue with leather pants. —jiayi
Q: How did you get started with Racked?
A: I moved to New York right after college, and worked at Time Out New York as a food writer for a while. I loved writing about food, but I had a real love of fashion, even though I didn’t have access to that world. I knew Lockhart Steele from Curbed, and Ben Leventhal—who, with Lockhart, founded Eater—socially. They were interested in doing a shopping site and asked me if I was interested—of course I was, so I started writing for the site. There really weren’t any fashion blogs around then, so it was a really good time to be getting into that space.
Q: How did you approach shaping the editorial voice? Has it changed?
A: It’s definitely evolved. The biggest thing at the beginning was that I was really interested in sample sales. For me, they were just emblematic of the way the industry was closed off to normal people. Things weren’t out there like they are now. Lookbooks weren’t online, and fashion week wasn’t instantly live. You wouldn’t see that side of things—you’d only see what magazines showed you. It was all so secret, and I wanted in.
Q: L.A. and New York are opposites in so many ways. Do you think that applies to the retail scenes, too?
A: I still have to figure out how brick-and-mortar really works in L.A., because there just isn’t really a lot of foot traffic. Unless you’re talking about Abbott Kinney in Venice—then I get it. In New York, I’d constantly discover places by just walking by and going in because they looked interesting. Here, I feel like stores really have to market themselves more. The discovery factor is hard out here.
Q: What’s your favorite place to shop in L.A.?
A: I’ve blogged a lot about Shareen. The woman who owns it used to be a stylist and has a warehouse in downtown L.A.—it’s enormous and full with amazing vintage. It was one of those places that I knew I wanted to go to when I came out here. When I was at Lucky, all the girls were talking about it. Whenever they traveled to L.A., they’d be at Shareen.
Q: Is there anything about fashion that you really hate?
A: I know it’s kind of the nature of the industry, but I wish that I could have a uniform. I’ll be looking at things, and I’ll be like, “Oh, I really need a pair of oxblood, leather trousers this fall.” And I really wish I didn’t want that! I dream of being that person who can find that one great-looking thing, and just wear it over and over again. Carolina Herrera always wears a white button-down, and it looks amazing—and it won’t look silly five years after, either.
