The Day-to-Night Capsule Collection of My Dreams
Plus, my chat with the (very thoughtful!) founder and CEO of M.M.LaFleur.
Hello! In an SMT first, I am thrilled to share with you my capsule collection for M.M.LaFleur. This was such fun. Those of you who have followed me for a minute know that I have only partnered with a handful of brands in the last six years. I was immensely flattered when M.M.LaFleur reached out, having admired their assortment of well-made, classic pieces for years. They call it “power casual,” which is extremely well-suited to my Southern California, work-from-home, mother-of-three lifestyle.
The M.M.LaFleur team walked me through their assortment and asked me to pick some of my favorite pieces. I tried them on the minute they arrived and swooned over the quality, which you can feel in the fabric and fit. I was particularly delighted at the extra special design touches, like snaps inside some of the trousers to change the length and the hidden buttons on a shirt dress to adjust the opening. What’s more, most of the fabrics are machine washable (even the silk!) because who has time for dry cleaning?
I put a lot of thought into my picks for the capsule. There are two fantastic dresses in here (with major day-to-night vibes) and so many versatile separates. I’m particularly in love with all of the brand’s knits, including the cozy pink Frederick cardigan, the lightweight ivory McKenzie sweater, and the blazer-like khaki Merritt “jardigan.” And don’t sleep on what M.M.LaFleur calls “better than denim” trousers. The wide-leg Milo jean is polished yet so comfortable.
You can find links to everything here, as well as my interview for MM.LaFleur’s M Dash editorial site here. Use code EHolmes20 for 20% off your first order. Let me know if you have any questions (or favorite styles!) in the comments. Happy to answer whatever I can for you!
My thanks to the entire M.M.LaFleur team for this sponsorship and support of SMT! And to Stephanie Loren Photography for the gorgeous photographs throughout this newsletter. 💫
A Conversation with M.M.LaFleur Founder and CEO Sarah LaFleur
More than a decade ago, when I first started writing about fashion and getting to know the people behind the brands, I found my shopping patterns changing. I was drawn to the executives I found most compelling, those who were thoughtful about what they were doing and the things they were making. You can see it — and feel it — in the clothes!
Today, in that spirit, I wanted to share my chat with M.M.LaFleur founder and CEO Sarah LaFleur. We talked about the journey her customer has been on these last few years (one that is very familiar to me), her infertility struggles (also super familiar) and her embrace of function with fashion (are you sensing a theme here? Because that’s familiar, too!).
Please note: Our conversation has been edited and condensed.
Who is the M.M.LaFleur customer and how has she evolved these last few years?
Sarah LaFleur: Like many of us, I think our customers have been on a journey and our brand has been on a journey, especially during and post-Covid, a period of self-exploration. If we were just focused on marching up that corporate ladder, is that actually enough? Maybe that yields a bigger paycheck, but is that actually what drives us and fulfills us at the end of the day?
When we first started the brand, our tagline was, “The world’s a better place when women succeed in the workplace.” When we went through Covid, that “workplace” felt off. Now we have changed the tagline to “The world’s a better place when women succeed.”
For most of my 20s and definitely the first half of my 30s, my career was everything. And then at some point you wake up and realize, “Oh, maybe there’s other stuff, too? Maybe my fulfillment and my happiness was actually driven by so many other things?” I take my career super seriously and I love my job and I love what I do, but I think Covid has been this period of reflection where both me and my customers are wondering how they can define success on their own terms.
You’ve also dealt with infertility. Would you be willing to share your beautiful, and unique, path to parenthood?
My husband and I have been together since college. We always said, “At some point we’ll have kids.” A girlfriend of mine, who was suffering through infertility, said, “I would’ve done things so differently had I actually gotten a check-up from my gynecologist before I started trying to get pregnant."
So I went to my gynecologist and said, “Can you just test me for basic things?” He asked if we had been having unprotected sex for the past six months. I said, “No, we haven’t. We’re just thinking of trying.” He kind of laughed in my face and said, “That’s ridiculous. Go have sex for six months or a year and then call me if you’re still not pregnant.” Then he added, “But if you’re here, we can do a few tests for you. Sure. Why not?”
And that “Sure, why not,” ended up leading me down this massive journey where I discovered that I had a rare condition called unicornuate uterus. I have half a uterus and one fallopian tube, which makes it difficult to get pregnant. It also makes it difficult for you to keep your pregnancy in your second trimester and third trimester. There were complications that we discovered there; we did about two years of IVF with no success.
We ended up going down the path of surrogacy. The first time we did a transfer with our amazing surrogate it didn’t work out. And so at that point we’re kind of like, “Oh my gosh, we’re at the end of our list of options here.” I went back and did one more round of IVF and miraculously that round worked. But I had had so many miscarriages at that point, I was like, “I’m not going to count on this either.”
As fate would have it, another transfer with our surrogate resulted in our twins. I also miraculously ended up staying pregnant and delivered at 39 weeks, which kind of blew all of my doctor’s expectations out of the water. We ended up welcoming our three kids back-to-back within a six-week period.
What an incredible story! How did you feel welcoming all of your children at once?
I was at this restaurant for a work lunch and it was on the 40th floor. I literally remember thinking, “This is what it means to be on cloud nine.” I was just so full of happiness. Those years were so heavy and so dark. Even though there were so many other good things happening in my life, it was this thing that was constantly wearing my body down.
How did becoming a mom change how you look at, and feel about, fashion?
To put it really plainly, I put on a lot of weight. It was also Covid, so I wasn’t moving a lot. I had basically been pretty much the same size since college and then I suddenly had to get an entirely new wardrobe. I’m not someone who is big chested and I had boobs the size of my face for a good year. I felt like an awkward teenager and I didn’t know how to dress for this body anymore. It was a big loss-of-confidence moment. I ended up working with a stylist at my own company to be like, “What do you think I should wear?”
I really try to never forget that feeling. I feel better about my body now but it’s a different body than the one I had pre-kids. I wear a different size. So many of our customers come through because they’re going through some life change. A big one is obviously kids, but we get customers who are going through cancer, or they’ve just had a mastectomy and they need a whole new wardrobe for that. They’re having a career change and they worked at a very professional office but they’re going to a start-up and they’re feeling nervous about that.
Clothing is so tied to the way you’re feeling about yourself. I really try to remind myself that everyone is going through something and everyone is trying to use clothing as a tool to present themselves in the way that they want to be seen.
At this point in my life, I’m looking to invest more in pieces I really love and I will wear for a long time. When I was trying on your clothes, I was struck by the quality — the feeling of the fabric and the fit.
Every now and then, I cheat on my own company and I go shopping somewhere else. I’m like, “Oh, that’s really cute. Why not?” and I’ll order it online and I’ll try it on. Immediately I can just feel that the fabric is not quite up to snuff or the fit is not quite thought through. It feels awkward and I end up returning it.
Where I derive a lot of confidence from my products is it just feels good on my skin. It feels good even if I’m wearing it all day long and it’s a very, very long and tiring day. I’m not running home to take it off.
One distinct advantage we have over other fashion brands is we’re not fast fashion. Our number one selling pant has been our number one selling pant for seven years. We really perfected the manufacturing. We know exactly how the fabric performs because we’ve literally used it for seven years. We’re not in it for the quick thrill. We’re in it for, “Let’s make sure this piece stays in someone’s closet for a decade if not longer.”
Everyone is talking about quiet luxury. And I would say that’s what we’ve been doing since day one. We just don’t call it that because I think sometimes it’s great to have fun with your fashion — it doesn’t have to just be quiet! But I’m a huge believer in making really, really good things that stand the test of time.
I spend a lot of time thinking about royal fashion, and I think an underrated aspect to a royal wardrobe is how functional it is. I feel that way about your clothes, too!
One of the pieces that you shot for your capsule is the Archie jean, where you can snap it up and change the length. I’m proud to say that’s one thing I thought of — even though I’m not from a fashion background! In some ways, I really came at it from the consumer background. Being a New York City resident, you’re on the subway a lot but when you get to someplace you want to be in heels. The conundrum for me was always: Do I hem my pants to match my flats or my heels? And I was like, “What if you could just change the length?”
When we first brought this to the factory, they were like, “That’s weird. Nobody’s done that before.” But I think the things that traditional fashion designers might find weird is actually where our lived experiences are really coming into play in the clothing.
Dry cleaning is another one. We really, really try to minimize the materials that we need to dry clean. I just know from personal experience, if I put it in the dry cleaning bag, I’m not seeing it for three months at best. I’m just trying to make sure that it’s stuff that you can constantly have in your rotation. Those are the things that are really important to me.
My thanks to Sarah! I hope you’ll check out my M.M.LaFleur capsule collection here; Make sure to use code EHolmes20 for 20% off your first order. And if you want to hear more from yours truly, the team has posted my interview on their M Dash editorial site here. Scroll through for some of their other capsules — I bet you’ll recognize some of the stylish names behind them.
Photos throughout by Stephanie Loren Photography.
Ahhh!! I love this so much. I love MMLaFleur and I love SMT. What a great collab!
How is the sizing of the striped shirt? Such a cute capsule!